Italy's cabinet adopts urgent anti-crisis measures

Italy's cabinet adopts urgent anti-crisis measures

Italy's cabinet adopted a package of tax hikes and pension reforms worth 24 billion euros (USD 32 bn) in a rush to ease a crisis that is threatening the eurozone, government sources said on Sunday. The cabinet meeting had been scheduled for Monday but it was brought forward by Prime Minister Mario Monti in a bid to finalise the budget reforms before the markets open in a crucial week for the future of the euro. A former top European Union commissioner who came to power just three weeks ago after the flamboyant Silvio Berlusconi was ousted by a wave of panic on financial markets; Monti said Italy was at a dramatic crossroads. "We're faced with an alternative between the current situation, with the required sacrifices, or an insolvent state, and a euro destroyed perhaps by Italy's infamy," Monti said ahead of the cabinet meeting. "The Italian situation is being followed in Washington, Beijing and Tokyo," the prime minister was quoted as saying during a round of consultations to shore up political and social support for the draconian measures. Final approval of the reforms in parliament is expected before Christmas. Italy is under intense pressure from its eurozone neighbours and international investors to introduce draconian measures to rein in its public debt ahead of a crucial European Union summit on Thursday and Friday.