ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti met party leaders on Saturday to drum up support for new measures aimed at shoring up public finances, helping growth and calming the debt crisis in the euro zone’s third largest economy.

Italy’s cabinet is set to approve the package of reforms on Monday, a step seen as vital for re-establishing Italy’s shattered credibility with financial markets after a series of unfulfilled promises by the previous government.

ROME/ATHENS (Reuters) – Italy’s parliament is rushing through austerity measures demanded by the European Union to avert a euro zone meltdown, after U.S. President Barack Obama ratcheted up pressure for more dramatic action from the currency bloc.

Italy’s Senate approved a new budget law on Friday, clearing the way for approval of the package in the lower house on Saturday and the formation of an emergency government to replace that of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

ROME/ATHENS, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Italy’s parliament is
rushing through austerity measures demanded by the European
Union to avert a euro zone meltdown, after U.S. President Barack
Obama ratcheted up pressure for more dramatic action from the
currency bloc.

Italy’s Senate approved a new budget law on Friday, clearing
the way for approval of the package in the lower house on
Saturday and the formation of an emergency government to replace
that of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

ROME (Reuters) – Former European Commissioner Mario Monti emerged on Thursday as favorite to replace Silvio Berlusconi and form a new government to stave off a run on Italian bonds that is endangering the entire euro zone.

Monti, a highly respected international figure, has been pushed by markets for weeks as the most suitable figure to lead a national unity government that will urgently push through painful austerity measures.

ROME, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Former European Commissioner Mario
Monti emerged on Thursday as favourite to replace Silvio
Berlusconi and form a new government to stave off a run on
Italian bonds that is endangering the entire euro zone.

Monti, a highly respected international figure, has been
pushed by markets for weeks as the most suitable figure to lead
a national unity government that will urgently push through
painful austerity measures.
In a key development on Thursday, Berlusconi’s ruling PDL
party softened its insistence on early elections as the way out
of a deep political crisis and said it was considering the
option of a Monti-led government.

ROME (Reuters) – Italians greeted Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s pledge to resign with a mix of joy, resignation and skepticism on Wednesday.

“He’s up to something,” said 57-year-old office worker Mirella Maturani. “If he quits tomorrow, then I’ll be happy,” she said, adding that she felt his immediate departure was the first step needed to solve Italy’s economic woes.

ROME, Nov 9 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on
Wednesday confirmed he would resign after implementing urgent
economic reforms demanded by the European Union, and said Italy
must then hold an election, in which he would not stand.

“We have to give Europe and the world an urgent, strong
signal that we are taking things seriously,” he told a morning
television show by phone.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy looks set for lengthy political uncertainty after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s pledge to resign, with his center-right party calling for elections and the main opposition for a national unity government.

After failing to secure the majority in a vote in the lower house, Berlusconi said he would quit as soon as parliament passed budget reforms urged by European partners to help Italy stave off a debt crisis that is threatening the euro zone.

ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, under massive pressure to resign, faces a crucial vote on public finances in parliament on Tuesday which could sink his government if enough party rebels desert him.

Berlusconi has denied reports that his resignation is imminent as he struggles to hold his center-right coalition together, but the increased political uncertainty in Italy has added to turmoil in Europe, hitting global markets on Monday.

ROME/ATHENS (Reuters) – Financial markets held their breath on Tuesday as Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s reform-shy government teetered on the brink and debt-crippled Greece’s leaders struggled to put together a national unity government.

Rome has displaced Athens as the epicenter of the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis, with government bond yields nearing unsustainable levels that could force the bloc’s third largest economy to seek a bailout that Europe cannot afford.