Quotes By Mario Monti

I understand that Italy could have been associated with the idea of an undisciplined country in the past.

That statement was not addressed to the authors of political statements. I said that I deplore attempts to misinform the public and to /trigger/ political intervention. And there were such attempts.

All I am saying is I will be a senator - should there be any special circumstance where the political forces would believe that there might be a need for my service, I would consider it.

So I think democracy, in the long-term, in our countries will survive if it comes to be associated with leadership, will not survive if democracy plus media brings to us more and more followship rather than leadership.

I have always been considered to be the most German among Italian economists, which I always received as a compliment, but was rarely meant to be one.

I have the most profound respect for the Department of Justice and the FTC. We in Europe are a younger and I would say junior institution to the historical antitrust experience of the US.

As to the question of elected or not elected, each member of the European Commission has been appointed jointly by the governments of the 15 member states, and undergone individual scrutiny and a vote of confidence from the European Parliament.

Italy needed structural reforms to become more competitive.

I don't believe we're seeing the beginning of a divergence. We have seen a partial divergence on this case.

I hope that my government can help change Italian mentality.

Like other antitrust agencies we make our assessment of a merger or antitrust case based on its impact on our jurisdiction, and not on the nationality of the companies. This is exactly what the U.S. antitrust agencies, the Justice Department and the FTC, do.

Italy has piled up huge public debt because the successive governments were too close to the life of ordinary citizens, too willing to please the requests of everybody, thereby acting against the interests of future generations.