Chair, Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development
Professor Mario Monti was appointed an Italian senator for life in 2011. He has been President of Bocconi University (Italy) since 1994 (he was on leave while holding public offices). In November 2011, with Italy close to default, President Napolitano asked Professor Monti to form a government of national unity, taking the positions of Prime Minister (2011–2013) and Minister of Economy and Finance (2011–2012). Eliciting cross-party support, the Government overcame the crisis, initiated structural reforms and obtained improvements in Euro-area governance. After months of negotiations under Italy’s pressure, in June 2012 Germany agreed to a Euro summit position calling for hitherto condemned stabilization interventions, thus providing the European Central Bank with the highest political coverage for a shift in monetary policy. As European Commissioner for the Single Market (1995–1999) and Competition (1999–2004), Professor Monti fostered market integration while promoting tax coordination, and sanctioned high-profile cases of abuses of dominance (for example, Microsoft), anticompetitive mergers (for example, GE/Honeywell) and illegal state aids (for example, the German Government’s guarantees to public banks).
