Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced a painful mix of tax hikes and spending cuts on Friday to meet European Central Bank demands for action on shoring up Italy's strained public finances, Reuters reported. After days of criticism for a lack of clarity over how it intended to meet an ECB-imposed target of balancing the budget by 2013, Berlusconi and Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti delivered a harsh dose of austerity for Italy's fragile economy. "We are personally very pained to have to adopt these measures," Berlusconi told reporters after the cabinet had approved the plan. The package, adopted by emergency decree, imposes austerity measures worth 20 billion euros in 2012 and a further 25.5 billion euros the following year through a mixture of public spending cuts and higher taxes, Berlusconi said. It must now be approved by parliament within 60 days.
