Belusconi’s Party ready to support Monti

Italy's premier-designate Mario Monti held crucial meetings Tuesday with the leaders of the country's biggest political parties as he worked to put together a cabinet that can win parliamentary backing and steer the eurozone's third-biggest economy through its debt crisis, businessweek.com reports.

Monti met Tuesday morning with the heads of the center-left Democratic Party and ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's Peoples of Liberty party. The votes of their lawmakers will be crucial in a confidence vote, likely this week, which would signal the start of Monti's government.

President Giorgio Napolitano tapped Monti on Sunday to try to form a government after Berlusconi resigned after weeks of market turmoil over Italy's stagnant growth and high public debt, which at euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion) is nearly 120 percent of GDP.