New Italian leader near presenting government

ROME - Prime Minister-designate Mario Monti of Italy said Tuesday he was ready to present his new government to the president after winning wide backing - and important pledges of sacrifices - from political, business, and union leaders during two days of intense consultations.

Monti said he still had to put the final touches on his cabinet and economic program, which he will outline to President Giorgio Napolitano on Wednesday. His government must receive votes of confidence in both houses of Parliament, expected this week, to take office and begin steering the eurozone's third-largest economy through its debt crisis.

Monti expressed his "serenity" and "conviction" in Italy's ability to overcome the difficult phase in its history.

"I was impressed by the sense of responsibility and willingness to back social growth," Monti said. "Everyone offered concrete contributions of possible partial sacrifices in exchange for a more general positive outcome."

Monti, a respected economist and former European commissioner, is under pressure to reassure financial markets that Italy will avoid a default that could tear apart the 17 countries that use the euro currency and push the global economy back into recession. The European Union and the European Central Bank have outlined measures Italy must take - many of them reforms blocked in the past by special interests.

Monti, 68, has already shown his determination to press through deep reforms by making it clear he intends to serve until regularly scheduled elections in 2013, rejecting calls for an early vote.

On Tuesday, after rounds of meetings, Monti garnered support from the center-left Democratic Party, former premier Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party, and the Confindustria, a powerful business lobby.

"We strongly support the birth of this government because for us it is the last chance to regain credibility," Confindustria leader Emma Marcegaglia said.

Union leader Raffaele Bonanni said Monti was close to completing his cabinet at the time of their meeting Tuesday afternoon.

The yield on Italy's 10-year bonds jumped again to 6.94 percent. Last week's spike above 7 percent - a level considered unsustainable in the long term - raised fears that Italy would eventually need a bailout like Greece, Ireland, and Portugal.

But a financial debacle in Italy raises a whole new set of problems because the country is considered too big for Europe to bail out.

Monti was asked to form a government Sunday after Berlusconi resigned amid weeks of market turmoil over Italy's stagnant growth and high public debt, which at $2.6 trillion is nearly 120 percent of GDP.

Many of those debts are coming due soon, with Italy having to roll over more than $410 billion of its debts next year alone.