ROME — Italy’s new premier urged Parliament on Monday to swiftly approve his anti- crisis package, including new taxes and pension reforms, warning that the survival of the euro depends on whether the nation makes “strong sacrifices.”
Premier Mario Monti, an economist whose technocratic government came into office last month to save Italy from financial disaster, must depend on Parliament’s political parties for his success. But the reaction from Italian lawmakers was mixed, even cool, and he was even heckled at times during his appeal.
He told the Chamber of Deputies “there are no alternatives” to the emergency package, which includes $40.5 billion in spending cuts and tax hikes, of which $13.5 billion would be invested in growth-boosting measures for Italy’s flat economy.
The reforms were adopted late Sunday by his Cabinet and go into immediate effect but must be passed within 60 days by Parliament or they expire. Failure to approve the measures would push Italy “into the abyss,” Monti warned in a solemn, almost grim voice. The Associated Press
