MILAN: Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Saturday he expected to return to his post as president of a Milan university next year, again quashing speculation that he may stay in politics past 2013 when the term of his technocrat government ends.
"The temporary government mandate will soon be over and I will certainly be in time ... to complete the four-year term for which I was nominated as president of this university," he said at a ceremony at Bocconi University.
A respected economist, Monti was appointed to head Italy's government last November, when spiralling market concerns about the sustainability of the country's 1.9 trillion euro public debt led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The crisis has weakened Italy's political parties and fuelled speculation in the media that Monti may remain in politics after the 2013 general election. He has repeatedly denied any such plans.
Monti has been president of the Bocconi, one of Italy's best-known private universities for more than a decade.
He stepped aside as president when he became Italy's prime minister but his term does not officially end until 2014.
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