EU applauds Monti nomination

(BRUSSELS) - EU leaders welcomed the decision Sunday to ask ex European commissioner Mario Monti to form Italy's next government as a move slated to beat the crisis, but stressed Brussels would continue to monitor Rome's performance.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and European Union president Herman Van Rompuy said President Giorgio Napolitano's decision to ask Monti to form the government "sends a further encouraging signal ... of the Italian authorities' determination to overcome the current crisis".

In a joint statement, they also said Brussels would maintain its surveillance of Italy's pledges to reform.

As agreed at a summit October 26 and 27, "the Commission will continue to monitor the implementation of measures taken by Italy with the aim of pursuing policies that foster growth and employment", they said.

In Rome, Monti said Italy would overcome the debt crisis and return to be a major player in Europe.

"Italy must again be and must be increasingly an element of strength, not weakness in a European Union that we helped found and in which we should be protagonists," the 68-year-old economics professor told reporters.

Monti's designation was also welcomed by the European parliament president Jerzy Buzek, who said the change gave "renewed belief that Italy will restore its financial credibility and return to solid economic growth".

"I am confident that Italy will take all the necessary measures to overcome the debt crisis," said Buzek. "Mario Monti has all the right attributes to form a new government of national unity in Italy in these times of crisis, his wide experience, including as European Commissioner and broad support will serve Italy and Europe well."

Monti said he would work "to get out quickly of a situation which has elements of an emergency but which Italy can overcome with a united effort".