Monti says Italy a different country today from one year ago
'I am confident in the future' says caretaker premier
23 January, 19:41
(ANSA) - Davos, January 23 - Italy today is "very different"
from the struggling economic basket case of just one year ago,
outgoing Premier Mario Monti told a gathering of the world's
business and financial elite Wednesday.Thanks to his government's reforms, "Italy is a very different country from a year ago," Monti said as he delivered the keynote address opening the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort town of Davos.
He outlined a list of changes made by his technocratic government, appointed 14 months ago to replace Silvio Berlusconi's amid a peak in the euro crisis. "Today the atmosphere in Italy is changed...I see real interest in investments in the country," added Monti, who is now campaigning for office in next month's Italian general elections.
Italy knows that it must continue on the path of reform if it wants to become a strong, competitive economy, he said.
"I am confident in the future of Italy".
He hinted that the country, and certainly the economy, would be better off without Berlusconi, one of his main rivals in the current election campaign.
Monti suggested that he has taken the approach that "leadership is the opposite of short-termism", implying that that was instead a failing of the previous Berlusconi governments.
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