71 Quotes by Mario Monti

There was in Italy a hidden demand for a boring government which would try to tell the truth in non-political jargon.

Try to guess my answer to that question, however temptingly you pose it.

This is certainly not the first case in which a merger approved in one place hasn't gone through in the other. There was a case last year where the merger between two EU companies was approved here and blocked in the U.S.

I know that speaking with parties, which I do, but not very often, is seen by many as a contamination.

If the euro becomes a factor promoting Europe's drifting apart, then the foundation of the European project is destroyed.

I have the most profound respect for the Department of Justice and the FTC. We in Europe are a younger and I would say junior institution to the historical antitrust experience of the US.

First of all, I don't like to speak about austerity. I'd prefer to speak of fiscal discipline. Fiscal discipline, in the end, amounts to austerity if it is not accompanied by other policies.

I have always been considered to be the most German among Italian economists, which I always received as a compliment, but was rarely meant to be one.

Italy has piled up huge public debt because the successive governments were too close to the life of ordinary citizens, too willing to please the requests of everybody, thereby acting against the interests of future generations.