The Italian government will be hard at work throughout the holiday month of August, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Saturday, after announcing that Rome will speed up austerity measures. "We are continuing our activity without a break," Berlusconi told reporters outside his Rome residence.
Though he was taking the weekend off, he would be back in the capital Monday evening or Tuesday, he said. He would not be following his usual practice of spending the week in his Sardinian villa until the birthday of his eldest daughter Marina on August 10, though he would be going there specially for the occasion. He also denied a report in the Fatto Quotidiano newspaper that he would be staying with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next weekend in a bid to persuade Russian investors to buy Italian government bonds.