Can Monti ring in the changes needed?

WITH the eurozone close to the cliff’s edge, elected politicians are giving way to the technocrats, or else being forced to kowtow to them.

Along the continent’s soft southern underbelly, unelected experts are occupying cabinet positions in droves, raising a storm of criticism among those now questioning the whole European project.

Central banker Lucas Papademos, a member of the ECB governing council up until the past couple of weeks, has accepted the ultimate poisoned chalice as caretaker prime minister of Greece following the rapid departure of the hapless George Papandreou.