The more the UK feels distanced from European construction the less others are able to benefit from the full influence of the many good things that the UK can help us all to achieve, and therefore there are many areas where I think it would be beneficial to have the UK fully at the table.

The austerity package called for increased taxes pension reform and measures to fight tax evasion. He was the founding chairman of Bruegel another European think tank which was formed in 2005. He said that his youth was given over to hard study; spare-time activities included cycling and keeping up with world affairs by tuning in to foreign short-wave radio stations.

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.