Italy’s exiting Monti: no plans now to run for office; no need to dramatize market reaction

ROME – Italian Premier Mario Monti says he is not now considering running for office in elections early next year because he’s concentrating on his job.

Monti said at a televised news conference in Norway that the nervous reaction Monday by financial markets to his decision to step down as soon as Parliament passes the 2013 budget law later this month “shouldn’t be dramatized.”

Monti’s term was due to end by April, and his resignation would move up elections by about two months. Monti, an economist appointed last year to save Italy from succumbing to the eurozone debt crisis, announced Saturday he is resigning early because Silvio Berlusconi’s party, Parliament’s largest, yanked its support for his economic policies.