page_title: Mario Monti
section_title: Labour market reforms
hierarchical_section_title: Mario Monti / Prime Minister of Italy / Labour market reforms
caption_attribution_description: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti in Munich, Germany, on February 4, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]
context_page_description: Mario Monti, OMRI is an Italian economist who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, despite never having been an elected politician, leading a government of technocrats in the wake of the Italian debt crisis.
  Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the Internal Market, Services, Customs and Taxation from 1995 to 1999 and for Competition from 1999 to 2004. Monti has also been Rector and President of Bocconi University in Milan for many years. On 12 November 2011, in the midst of the European sovereign debt crisis, Monti was invited by President Giorgio Napolitano to form a new technocratic government following the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi. Monti was sworn in as Prime Minister on 16 November 2011, just a week after having been appointed a Senator for Life by President Napolitano, and initially became Minister of Economy and Finances as well, giving that portfolio up the following July. From 16 May 2013 to 17 October 2013 Monti was the President of Civic Choice, a centrist political party.
context_section_description: On 20 January 2012, Monti's government formally adopted a package of reforms targeting Italy's labour market. The reforms are intended to open certain professions (such as taxi drivers, pharmacists, doctors, lawyers and notaries) to more competition by reforming their licensing systems and abolishing minimum tariffs for their services.  Article 18 of Italy's labour code, which requires companies that employ 15 or more workers to re-hire (rather than compensate) any employee found to have been fired without just cause, would also be reformed. The reforms to Article 18 are intended to make it easier for companies to dismiss or lay-off employees, which would hopefully encourage companies to hire more employees on permanent rather than short-term renewable contracts. The proposals have been met by strong opposition from labour unions and public protests. In early January 2012, consultations between the government and labour unions commenced and on 13 February it was reported in the Italian media that a compromise on the proposals was very close and the government was hopeful that reforms could be approved by the Italian parliament in March.
caption: Prime Minister Monti with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 2012.
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