Monti, Mario

Monti, Mario,

1943–, Italian economist and political leader. After studying at Bocconi Univ., Milan, and at Yale, he taught economics at the Univ. of Turin (1970–85) and then at Bocconi Univ., where he later was rector (1989–94) and president (1994–). From 1995 to 2004 he also served on the European CommissionEuropean Commission
(EC), institution of the European Union (EU) invested with executive powers; it also is the main EU institution that initiates legislation. Located in Brussels, Belgium, it was founded in 1967 when the three treaty organizations comprising what was then the
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, first as internal markets, financial services, and taxation commissioner and then (from 1999) as competition commissioner; in the latter post he was involved in several prominent antitrust cases. In 2011, amid an Italian debt crisis, he was named premier of a government of technocrats formed to restore confidence in Italy's finances; he also became finance minister (2011–12). His government resigned in Dec., 2012, after it lost former premier BerlusconiBerlusconi, Silvio
, 1936–, Italian business executive and politician, premier (1994; 2001–6, 2008–11) of Italy, b. Milan. His first fortune was made in real estate during the 1960s.
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's support. His coalition placed fourth in the subsequent elections (2013), and disagreements over the direction of the Civic Choice party that Monti headed led to his resignation as party leader later in 2013.