ROME, July 11 (Reuters) – Italy’s technocrat Prime Minister
Mario Monti, appointed last year to steer his country through a
debt crisis, said he was confident a stable government would be
formed after elections in 2013, playing down fears of deadlock
after he steps down.

The former European Commissioner, who repeated on Tuesday
that he had no plans to stay on after the vote early next year,
said the support that parties had given for his unpopular
austerity-minded reforms meant that the prospect of a new
government next year could be looked at “with serenity”.

ROME (Reuters) – Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco called on euro zone policymakers on Wednesday to do more to support its third largest economy while urging Italian banks raise more capital and better manage credit risk and liquidity.

In a speech at the Italian banking association’s annual assembly, Visco said Italy’s top five banks had met the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) capital requirements and had Core Tier 1 capital ratios of 10 percent.

ROME, July 11 (Reuters) – Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio
Visco called on euro zone policymakers on Wednesday to do more
to support its third largest economy while urging Italian banks
raise more capital and better manage credit risk and liquidity.

In a speech at the Italian banking association’s annual
assembly, Visco said Italy’s top five banks had met the European
Banking Authority’s (EBA) capital requirements and had Core Tier
1 capital ratios of 10 percent.

ROME (Reuters) – Pope Benedict on Monday appointed German bishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller to head the Vatican office in charge of Church doctrine, one of the central bodies responsible for enforcing Church discipline at a time of exceptional upheaval.

Mueller’s appointment to a powerful job the pontiff himself held for more than two decades – prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – comes at a time when the Vatican is beset by controversies including allegations of corruption and internal intrigues, as well as a lingering child abuse scandal.

ROME (Reuters) – A television gadfly who has been making jokes at politicians’ expense for three decades, Beppe Grillo’s sharp tongue, shaggy hair and rasping Genoese accent have created one of the most distinctive personal brands in Italian politics.

His 5 Star Movement has campaigned on an eclectic mix of policies including scrapping perks for parliamentarians, setting limits on press ownership (a swipe at former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi) and improving broadband connections. Its anti-establishment appeal has propelled it from the fringes to become Italy’s second-strongest political force in the space of a few months.

ROME (Reuters) – Prime Minister Mario Monti’s success in winning an agreement from European partners to help contain Italy’s borrowing costs may also help relieve the rising political pressure he has faced from fractious parties at home.

Following increasing speculation about the possibility of early elections in the autumn, Monti left for Brussels with dark warnings from parties which support his technocrat government in parliament that he had to bring home a deal.

ROME, June 25 (Reuters) – Antonio Fazio, the disgraced
former governor of the Bank of Italy, warned half-jokingly in
1998 that the euro would not be paradise but a “purgatory” that
would demand years of pain and sacrifice.

Currently appealing a conviction for improperly trying to
influence a bank takeover in 2005, Fazio is not much listened to
these days, but his words have turned out to be frighteningly
prophetic for Italy.

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s centre-right New Democracy party will try to form a coalition on Monday with other parties backing the international bailout after a narrow election victory over the left that eased fears of a sudden exit from the euro.

The euro rose and European stocks were poised to open higher after Sunday’s vote and the Athens streets were quiet after New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras pledged to move swiftly to form a government, telling supporters: “There is no time to waste”.

ROME (Reuters) – Gerry Scotti is a reassuringly cheerful television presenter, well known in Italy for advertising a popular brand of rice, but it is a measure of the turmoil in the political system that he was recently also seen as a potential prime minister.

Scotti, a stalwart of Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset TV empire, was mentioned this week by the former premier as a possible leader of his center-right PDL party, shell-shocked after its local election beating last month by maverick comedian Beppe Grillo.

ROME (Reuters) – Juventus coach Antonio Conte is under investigation and Lazio captain Stefano Mauri has been arrested as part of an Italian police probe into a widening match-fixing scandal, officials said on Monday.

Italy defender Domenico Criscito, left out of the squad for Euro 2012 in Ukraine and Poland which starts in less than two weeks, has also been targeted in the investigation.