HIGHLIGHTS-Berlusconi, Tremonti news conference on Italy crisis

ROME, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
announced on Friday the government would bring forward its
austerity program to try to balance the budget in 2013 instead
of 2014 in response to market "speculation" against Italy.

The following are some of the highlights of a news
conference he held with Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti:

BERLUSCONI

"There is a very difficult situation on financial markets
.. I spent the afternoon on the telephone with all the main
colleagues from the euro zone, with Van Rompuy, with Chancellor
Angela Merkel, Sarkozy, Zapatero, to co-ordinate our response
to what is happening."

"There is a very particular attention from international
speculation on us that we must try to counter."

"We have agreed our measures with the other European
leaders and international bodies."

"We will immediately work with parliament to introduce the
principle of a balanced budget into our constitution."

"We consider it appropriate to introduce an acceleration of
the measures which we introduced recently in the fiscal
planning law to give us the possibility of reaching our
objective of balancing the budget early, by 2013 instead of
2014."

"Among the measures we will immediately put before
parliament ... the economy minister will go to parliament to
set out the law on tax and welfare reform and we will ask the
presidents of the lower house and the Senate to make sure that
this can be adopted in the coming months, if not by the end of
September."

"This evening I will be telephoned by President Obama and I
want to remind you that nothing that is happening can be put
down to the responsibility of any country, it is something that
regards the global financial situation."

"We have taken the decision with President Sarkozy to bring
forward and hold in just a few days a G7 of finance ministers,
perhaps in preparation of a heads of state G8 if the finance
ministers manage to reach a common plan of action."

TREMONTI

"We have decided to bring forward the contents of our
austerity program, there will not be additional or new
measures. The real political point is the decision to bring
forward our austerity plan."

"Labour market reform is fundamental for growth, for
attracting investment and above all for the future of our young
people. We have a reform plan already drawn up that needs to be
presented to the unions and employers and after being discussed
with them it will be presented to the Senate."

"The talks (with Geithner on Friday) regarded the choice of
bringing forward the balanced budget to 2013 and introducing
the balanced budget principle in the constitution and pushing
for growth with strongly liberal and liberalising measures."

"I spoke at length this morning with Commissioner Rehn and
we agreed the Commission's statements on the Italian austerity
plan. It's not a question of changing it, it's a question of
bringing it forward by a year because in a month it seems like
the world has changed."
(Reporting by Gavin Jones and James Mackenzie; Editing by Dan
Grebler)