Official Stats
- Official Title: Prime Minister
- Government: Well-established democracy
- Years Left in Office: till 2013
- Political Classification: Center
- Education: BA/MA Economics
- Age: 82 (born March 19, 1943)
Mario Monti Facts and Information
Important Points
- Mario Monti is a chill dude who is well respected in the European Community. He was nominated to replace Silvio Berlusconi who basically drove Italy’s economy into the ground.
- Monti specializes in economics and has held all kinds of important positions in the European Union.
- He came to power in 2011 basically to fix the Italian economy (They didn’t really care about his political views).
- Monti has an ideology that is more agreeable with the United States and Western economic philosophies.
- December 10, 2012: Monti just quit. Italy is screwed.
The Rundown
Mario Monti was born right in the heart of Italy, growing up in a small town and studied economics at an Italian University. After studying at Yale University for a while, he returned to Europe and dove deep into the pool of European and international affairs.
After teaching at various Italian Universities for a couple of years, Monti was appointed as a Commissioner for the European Union. This is a pretty big deal. He was in charge of the Internal Market, Financial Services and Taxation for most of Europe! Later, he was appointed Commissioner for Competition and was in charge of several famous cases that involved a number U.S. companies doing business in the E.U. His most famous case tackled a General Electric merger with Honeywell, Europe’s version of GE. Monti said “No. Hold your horses, we do not want this merger to happen because it will certainly become monopolistic and dominate the competition.” He gained a lot of respect in the European community for his stance against powerful corporations and his ability to stand up to them. One of his most notable legacies as Commissioner is the International Competition Network, which is a series of controls on antitrust and merger laws on companies that conduct business in the European Union.
In addition to his work for the E.U., he also has had several personal projects going; he’s serving as international advisor to Goldman Sachs and serving on the board for Coca-Cola. Obviously, this guy has a lot of credibility when it comes to economics and he is well respected in the international arena for being tough, but easy to work with. This type of attitude is what has made him so successful at implementing effective policy measures! It’s no wonder that he was hand picked to replace the Prime Minister of Italy in 2011. Rewind to 1 year ago…
Silvio Berlusconi was the Italian Prime Minister for three terms, most recently from 2008 to 2011. He was a pretty well liked guy by the Italians considering he was elected three different times, but his last term was just plagued by controversy and scandals. He also owns a huge media company, but the Italians didn’t really like that his corporation was a conflict of interest with his role as Prime Minister, not to mention the frequent sex scandals and ensuing European Debt Crisis. He ended up resigning at the end of 2011.
This brings us back to Monti who is the complete opposite of Berlusconi, which is a good thing. Monti was appointed by President Giorgio Napolitano solely based on his economic credibility; it probably also helped that he is a low-key dude. He’s even said himself he is not very social and only spends his time reading about world affairs and studying. He took over at the beginning of 2012 and enacted many austerity measures. He cut spending and increased taxes. He raised Italy’s retirement age. He stood up to dominant interest groups such as taxi drivers, pharmacists, and railway workers, who usually have a lot of influence to implement these reforms and to thwart the recession in Italy.
In the future, Monti will probably be credited with saving Italy from impending doom, but as of right now, Italy’s economy hasn’t shown much promise. While it hasn’t really gotten worse, it isn’t getting better and that’s the whole reason Monti was brought in. Italians and the rest of Europe are disappointed in the stagnant economy and Monti knows this. He has announced that he will not actively seek another term because, remember, he is not a politician but an economist. He could be reappointed in the spring, but it is all up in the air.
UPDATE!!! December 10, 2012: Monti announces his immediate retirement, which unsettles stock markets and bankers across Europe. Who will fill his shoes? Unfortunately, the ego-maniac extraordinaire Silvio Berlusconi (billionaire former Prime Minister, playboy, megalomaniac, and all around clown who drove Italy into the toilet) has announced he will return to save Italy once more! And the works reaction is horror, and financial markets are spooked, but the Italians love to play with fire, so maybe the madman will be back!
