30/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - In an interview with the Corriere della Sera on Friday, European Competition Commissioner Mario Monti admitted that he had "been very sad" to hear that we could not continue his "undertaking" as Commissioner (the Italian government having nominated the Minister of European Affairs Rocco Buttiglione for Barroso's Commission). Mr Monti recalled that, at his 4 July meeting with Silvio Berlusconi, during which the Italian Prime Minister is said to have persuaded him to replace Giulio Tremonti at the Ministry of the Economy, "we were ultimately convinced of the opportunity of me pursuing my commitments as a European Commissioner". According to Mr Monti, the presence in the Commission of an "Italian who, in the last few years, has certainly not made many friends in Paris and Berlin quite simply because he applied the rules to France and Germany in the same way as to all the others could constitute an opportunity, which seemed to me to have been noted by President Barroso and European observers". Professor Monti, who will be a Commissioner until 1 November, also answered questions on the Stability Pact, acknowledging that at the Ecofin Council on 25 November 2003 under the Italian Presidency, "we should not, having rigorously applied the standards to Ireland and Portugal, suspended the efficacy of the Pact because on that occasion it hit two big countries like France and Germany".