http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/28/mario-monti-coalition-italian-elections
Mario Monti to lead coalition into Italian elections
Technocrat ends weeks of speculation by announcing candidacy for elections in February
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Mario Monti says his centrist alliance will try to go beyond traditional political boundaries if it wins Italy's February elections. Photograph: Roberto Monaldo/AP
Outgoing Italian prime minister Mario Monti has said he will lead a centrist alliance in an election in February, ending weeks of speculation over his political future and confirming his attempt at a second term.
The announcement puts Monti in a three-way contest for power with the centre-left Democratic party (PD), which is leading in the polls, and Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party.
The former European commissioner, appointed at the head of a technocrat government last year to save Italy from financial crisis after Berlusconi stepped down as prime minister, said he was willing to accept "being named as leader of the coalition".
Monti said the alliance would try to go beyond traditional political boundaries and unite a broad coalition of political factions and groups from civil society around a reform agenda aimed at repairing the deep problems in the Italian economy.
"The traditional left-right split has historic and symbolic value" for the country, but "it does not highlight the real alliance that Italy needs – one that focuses on Europe and reforms", Monti said after a meeting with centrist politicians.
Monti – a favourite with international investors, the Catholic church and the business establishment – has been credited with restoring Italy's credibility after the scandal-plagued Berlusconi years.
However ordinary Italians have become increasingly tired of the austerity measures he imposed to repair Italy's battered public finances and an opinion poll suggested that 61% did not want him to run in the election.
Monti, whose status as senator for life means he does not have to stand for a seat, said the grouping could win a "significant result" in the election on 24-25 February, but there have also been fears it could lead to a less stable parliament.
Opinion polls suggest the PD, under Pier Luigi Bersani, will win a comfortable lower house majority but may have to strike a deal with centrist forces in the Senate, where the centre left has struggled to gain control in past elections.
The PD, which has pledged to maintain Monti's broad reform course while putting more emphasis on growth and jobs, has been sceptical about his candidacy, but has so far maintained a tone of polite respect for the 69-year-old economics professor.
By contrast, Berlusconi has launched a media blitz against Monti with a series of angry attacks against his "Germano-centric" austerity policies, which he blames for deepening a severe recession and creating record unemployment.
Berlusconi has vowed to scrap a hated property tax, introduced to help cut the deficit and one of the most notable symbols of Monti's year in office, and says he would stand up to German chancellor Angela Merkel.
and Monti can now stand on his record and if Italians re-elect him so be it..... part of that record is of course the economy and how austerity is hitting the non banksters..... crime seems to be rising anecdotally - bands of thieves hitting supermarkets , banks , stores ....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/9767553/Argentine-
showgirl-burgled-after-posting-holiday-plans-online.html
3:06PM GMT 27 Dec 2012
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According to Italian news reports, Belen Rodriguez was headed home to introduce her boyfriend Stefano De Martino to family in South America.
Just days before the break-in she had posted this message about her forthcoming trip on Facebook: "Ok! I got all the presents, in two days we leave! It has been five years since I've had Christmas with my family."
Thieves entered a window in her elegant apartment building during the night between the 23rd and the 24th. A porter noticed the open window the next morning and called police after trying unsuccessfully to contact Rodriguez.
Nearby, thieves also broke into the home belonging to the widow of steel baron Giorgio Falck, stealing 200,000 euros worth of jewellery, gold and certificates of deposit.
"There are worse things," Silvia Urso Falck was reported by the Milan daily Corriere della Sera as saying. "I am sorry to have lost a few memories, but my children are well, and in the safe there certainly was not the treasure of the shah of Persia."
Bands of thieves hit stores, supermarkets and banks in Rome as well, even taking two Nike shop assistants hostage just hours before closing. The employees were held at gunpoint and asked to open a safe containing 50,000 euros, then tied up and left behind as the thieves fled.
