Monti's austerity plans under attack

In protest at the rising cost of diesel, motorway tolls and social security contributions, lorry drivers in Italy paralysed transport across large sections of the country on Tuesday. The liberal daily Tages-Anzeiger sees this and other planned strikes as a first major attack against Mario Monti's government: "But worse still is that this strike has laid bare the political isolation of technocrat Monti. His main weakness is his lack of political backing from society. The transport company lobby is not the only one to have realised this; other interest groups like the mafia and the populists of the Northern League or Italia dei Valori will challenge Monti with increasing frequency in future. If the major parties also start backing off, the miracle of the Monti government will soon be over. Monti urgently needs an economic success. This is also crucial if the monetary union is to be saved. Therefore the pressure on other EU countries, namely Germany, to honour Monti's reform drive and ease the austerity requirements is mounting."

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