Prime Minister Mario Monti is asking Italians to swallow 30 billion euros ($40 billion) in additional emergency economic measures even as the nation's fifth recession in the last decade looms next year.

Monti, whose Cabinet approved the package yesterday, is due to present the plan to the legislature at 4 p.m. in Rome, with Parliament voting on it in the coming weeks. The premier has vowed “shared sacrifices” to cut the euro area's second-biggest debt and regain investor confidence after Italian borrowing costs topped the 7 percent that led Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek aid. Italy's 10-year yield declined 52 basis points to 6.16 percent, its biggest drop in four months.

“The huge public debt of Italy isn't the fault of Europe, it's the fault of Italians,” Monti, who took over last month after former Premier Silvio Berlusconi resigned, told a news conference as he detailed the package yesterday. “Together, we will make it.”