Mario Monti handed in his resignation to Italy's president in Rome on Friday, bringing to a close his "difficult but fascinating" 13-month technical government and preparing the country for national elections.

With the short trip to the president's office after bidding a farewell to foreign diplomats and then his Cabinet, Monti kept his pledge to step down as soon as Parliament approved a budget law.

President Giorgio Napolitano, who tapped Monti in November 2011 to draft reforms to shield Italy from the continent's debt crisis, asked Monti to stay on as head of a caretaker government until the national vote, expected in February.

Napolitano will meet with leaders of Italian parties Saturday morning before dissolving Parliament.

The question facing Italy, the eurozone's third-largest economy and with the second-largest debt as a proportion of GDP, is if the vote will mark a return to politics as usual, or if the government of technocrats succeeded in some measure in preparing the way to continue the path of reforms and sacrifices.

Monti is expected to announce Sunday whether he will run to head a political government — backed by a collection of small centrist parties and movements, and perhaps even Silvio Berlusconi.

Berlusconi has been toying with a return to electoral politics — after first pulling support in Parliament for Monti's government then inviting him to run under a conservative banner. The leader of the center-left, Pier Luigi Bersani, is among those critical of a Monti candidacy, saying that parties built around personalities "is not good for Italy."

A survey by the Demopolis institute for La7 private TV aired on Friday showed that two-thirds of Italians believe the Monti government had succeeded in restoring credibility to Italy and more than half said it had made progress in the fight against tax evasion.

On the minus side, a huge majority of 80 percent, however, criticized his government's restoration of a tax on primary residences. The survey polled 1,040 Italians.

In what was his last official public act as premier, Monti told foreign diplomats in Rome Friday that his year-old technical government had rendered the country "more trustworthy."

He called his tenure "difficult but fascinating."

"The work we did ... has made the country more trustworthy, besides more competitive and attractive to foreign investors," Monti told diplomats, who gave him a standing ovation. "I hope that it can continue this way also in the next legislative session."

Monti cited structural reforms, such as measures to improve competition and liberalize services, as well as the recently approved anti-corruption law.

Monti's address to diplomats coincided with the lower house of Parliament's final approval of the budget law, which the premier promised to see through before stepping down.

Monti took over as head of a technical government in November 2011 as Italy's borrowing costs soared in a clear market vote of no-confidence in then-Premier Berlusconi's ability to reform Italy's economy.

Monti announced he would resign after Berlusconi's parliamentary party withdrew its support for his government, accelerating national elections initially set for April and now expected in February.

Earlier Friday, Monti quipped that the impending end of his technical government "was not the fault of the Mayan prophecy," though it came to an end on the same day as the ancient Mayan calendar, which had prompted unfulfilled doomsday predictions. (AP)



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이탈리아 몬티 총리 사임, 내년 2월 총선

마리오 몬티 이탈리아 총리가 21일(현지시간) 사임했다. 지난해 11월 취임한 지 13개월만의 일이다.

조르조 나폴리타노 이탈리아 대통령은 이날 몬티 총리의 사직서를 수리했다.

이탈리아 대통령실은 성명을 통해 나폴리타노 대통령이 22일 정당 지도자들을 만나 정치 일정을 상의한 뒤 곧바로 의회 해산을 발표할 예정이라고 밝혔다. 이에 따라 내년 2월 24일 이탈리아 의원 선거가 치러질 가능성이 높다.

몬티 총리는 23일 기자회견을 열어 사퇴를 공식 발표할 계획이다. 사직서 제출에 앞서 몬티 총리는 외국 외교관들을 만난 자리에서 그동안 정치인 없는 전문관료 정부를 운영해 온 일이 "어려웠지만 환상적이었다"고 말했다.

그는 "경제지표 뿐만 아니라 국제적 수준에서 이탈리아의 권위와 신뢰도가 상승 했다는 점에서도 성장이 이뤄졌다"고 덧붙였다.

이탈리아 정치권 소식통들은 몬티 총리가 총선을 앞두고 중도 성향의 정치 연합을 지지하거나 그동안 자신이 추진해 온 긴축 기조의 경제 정책을 다음 정부에서도 이어가야 한다는 의견을 표명할 것이라고 내다봤다.

현재 이탈리아 의회에서는 실비오 베를루스코니 전 총리가 주도하는 중도우파 자유국민당(PdL)이 최대 다수를 점하고 있다. 하지만 여론조사에서는 중도좌파 성향인 민주당(PD)이 앞서고 있다.

몬티 총리는 나폴리타노 대통령의 요청에 따라 차기 정부가 구성될 때까지 임시 과도 내각의 수반 역할을 맡는다.