ITALIAN Prime Minister Mario Monti prepared for a New Year campaign to reassure European partners his technocrat government can boost the ailing economy, with an unexpected and apparently private visit to Brussels yesterday.

FRENCH culture minister Frederic Mitterrand is facing calls for his sacking over a growing scandal involving an old admission that he had paid for sex with boys.

French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand is facing calls for his sacking over a growing scandal involving an old admission that he had paid for sex with boys.

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s governing conservatives trounced France’s Socialists in voting for the European parliament, while an ecology-minded party vaulted to a surprisingly strong third place, according to early official results.

Europe’s car manufacturers are facing their worst crisis since the Great Depression and need government help to survive, the head of Renault said today.