Italian caretaker Prime Minister Mario Monti has said he will be ready to run for a second term in next year's election if he is asked to do so by political forces that adopted his reform agenda.
The former European commissioner, appointed to lead an unelected government to save Italy from financial crisis a year ago, resigned on Friday, but has faced growing calls to seek a second term at the election in February.
Speaking at a year-end news conference, Mr Monti stressed he was not now entering any political movement and that he was more concerned about his policy prescriptions being followed than personalities standing in the election.
Nonetheless, he said that, if a political force or coalition offered a programme he supported, he "would be ready to offer ... encouragement, advice and, if necessary, leadership".
Asked if that meant he was ready to stand as prime minister again, he said: "If a credible political force asked me to run as prime minister for them I would consider it."
Both Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party and Pier Luigi Bersani's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) have urged him not to stand in the election.
However, Mr Monti rejected suggestions he was motivated by personal ambition to win political power. "If I accept, it's to try to change the moral culture of the country. It's obvious it's not for my personal convenience," he said.
Mr Monti has been urged to stand by centrist groups ranging from disaffected former Berlusconi allies to the small UDC party, which is close to the Catholic Church.
While Italy's business elite have called for his economic agenda to continue, ordinary Italians, weary of tax rises and spending cuts imposed to cut a huge public debt, are less enthusiastic.
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