Monti out as Prime Minister in Italy as the election will likely occur in Febuary of 2013...... Meanwhile Cyprus takes the mantle from Greece as the poster child for the woes of Europe....

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-21/monti-out

Monti. Out.

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/21/2012 13:47 -0500

• Bank of England
 
• European Central Bank
 
• Italy

The rumors have been flying around all morning, but now it's news...

• ITALY PRIME MINISTER MONTI RESIGNS, PRESIDENT SAYS - BBG

Italian credit spreads leaked wider all morning and EURUSD lower though the correlation to losing a technocrat is perhaps a stretch. And so the great "Mark-to-Monti" Goldman rotation (as described previously) is complete, with Goldman losing a technocratic scribe, who is no longer needed thanks to yet another Goldmanite now in charge of the ECB, but far more importantly, Goldman has now gained control over that most prized of central planner jewels: the Bank of England.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/dec/21/eurozone-crisis-live-fiscal-cliff-markets

More details on the Italian budget vote, courtesy of Reuters. The chamber of deputies approved the bill by 309 votes to 55,

Prime minister Mario Monti is due to hold a cabinet meeting and is then expected to tender his resignation to president Giorgio Napolitano. An election is likely to take place on 24 February.

A board shows the results of a key budget vote at the parliament in Rome. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

And here, courtesy of electionista, are the key dates leading up to the election once Mario Monti resigns later, as expected:

• December 23 - Monti expected to give end of year press conference.

• December 22-24 - parliament formally dissolved.

• December 31 - election date (Feb 24-25) expected to be formally announced.

  • From January 9 - par condicio kicks in (equal time on television).

• By January 13 - coalitions, manifestos and names of coalition leaders (PM-candidates) need to be submitted.

• By January 21 - names of parliamentary candidates need to be submitted.

• No more polls can be released after February 9.

• February 24-25: General Election.

   More on Cyprus.

Russian Market@russian_market

Vladimir Putin confirms that EU asked him to help Cyprus. He'll think about it, but Russia needs more clarification on bailout.

21 Dec 12

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Russian Market@russian_market

Eurogroup's Juncker on German Radio: Cyprus needs to understand that what EU did to Greece was an exception. No chance for Cyprus this time

   

Cyprus talks in January

European finance ministers will discuss the perilous state of Cyprus early next year, says Merkel official.

Open Europe@OpenEurope

RANsquawk: German Chancellor Merkel spokesman Seibert says finance ministers are to discuss Cyprus in January, says many option on table

     

Cyprus downgrade

It doesn't receive as much attention as its Greek neighbour or the other troubled eurozone countries, but Cyprus has been mired in financial crisis for some time now. As much as Greece, it is in danger of a euro default. In the latest blow, Standard & Poor's has downgraded the state further into junk status, to CCC+, due to a "considerable and rising" risk that the country may default.

S&P said the Cypriot government is running out of money and uncertainty remains over a bailout that is being negotiated with international lenders.