Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti held a highly unusual separate news conference for foreign reporters on Monday to explain his economic programme, according to Reuters. Monti, the respected head of a technocrat "Save Italy" government, impressed investors with a 30-billion euro package of painful and rigorous austerity measures unveiled on Sunday. Italian bond yields, which had flirted last week with eye-popping rates above 7 percent, dropped back almost a full percentage point on Monday. But it was difficult to separate the impact of Monti's measures from a broader mood of optimism that euro zone leaders may finally have summoned enough resolve to provide a concerted plan to restore investor confidence in the euro at a summit at the end of this week. All along, much of Italy's fate has remained outside the control of Monti despite the sighs of relief that met his appointment last month after mounting exasperation over the antics of his billionaire predecessor Silvio Berlusconi. So Monti's decision to hold a long and detailed news conference on Monday for the foreign press before he presents his measures to parliament was astute. He knows they play a vital role in the crucial foreign perception of whether Italy can fight the two-headed dragon of huge debt and a decade of almost stationary growth. In a clear drive to win over the foreign reporters, Monti said he had brought forward his cabinet meeting by a day specifically so he could talk to the foreign media on Monday before going before parliament. He also emphasised that he was speaking to them before his scheduled appearance on Tuesday night on one of Italy's most watched television programmes to explain his austerity package to the nation.
