EU welcomes regime change in Rome, Athens
Uploaded by EUXTV on 14 Nov 2011 - Brussels is pleased to see that Italy and Greece have changed their governments and picked technocrats to lead their countries through the euro crisis. European leaders have warmed greeted the appointment in Italy of former EU commissioner Mario Monti and of former European Central Bank Vice President Lucas Papademos in Greece.
Monti made his name as the powerful Competition Commissioner who took on U.S. corporate titans General Electric and Microsoft. Monti blocked plans for one the biggest mergers between two US corporate giants, General Electric and Honeywell, and has imposed massive fine on Microsoft.
His technical expertise, sharp intellect and diplomatic skills and his refusal to bow to intense lobbying pressures made him one of the most highly regarded officials the Commission has seen.
At the launch of EurActiv Italy last month, Monti argued that there is no crisis of the euro, because the symptoms of a weak currency, inflation and exchange rate, are not there. Instead Europe is going through a public debt and banking crisis, and that, he said, can only be tackled through rigorous structural reforms.
While Italy's problems have pushed the collapse of the much smaller Greek economy backstage, the IMF and European leaders will keep the new Prime Minister Papademos under pressure to implement radical reforms.
Polls published in Sunday's newspapers show Papademos has the support of three in four Greeks.
