Monti meets workers as campaign forms Italy's election date is not yet known, nor have the candidates formally declared themselves. But a visit to a Fiat car factory on Thursday by technocrat prime minister Mario Monti was widely seen as the starting point of his campaign trail. Mr Monti, who rarely makes forays into the real Italy outside the narrow confines of Rome and Milan, joined Fiat bosses at their Melfi plant in the far south to mark the launch of a €1bn investment to produce two new SUVs. Defending his 13 months in office and delivering sound bites rarely heard from the usually long-winded former economics professor, Mr Monti said work to overcome the national crisis had just begun, even if his technocrat government was in its last days. It would be "irresponsible" to throw away the results of the "sacrifices" that Italians had had to make, he added. The assembled workers gave Mr Monti a warm round of applause, even if opinion polls suggest a hypothetical centrist alliance under his name would struggle to win 15 per cent of the vote. Much less enthusiastic was the billionaire media mogul who resigned under duress in November last year to make way for the unelected Mr Monti. Silvio Berlusconi called into a radio programme to express his "surprise" that Mr Monti intended to enter politics, warning that he would become "a little protagonist of politics among other little protagonists." He then challenged him to a television debate. Mr Monti has not formally declared his hand, but expectations are mounting that he will run for a second stint as prime minister backed by an alliance of small centrist parties, including a civic movement led by Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, head of Ferrari which is part of the Fiat group. Back in Rome, the senate approved the 2013 budget law on Thursday and sent it to the lower house for a final vote on Friday evening. Mr Monti is then expected to step down, in line with his pledge on December 8 to resign early after losing the support of Mr Berlusconi's centre-right party. This will pave the way for President Giorgio Napolitano to dissolve parliament and call elections. February 24 is seen as the most likely date. In depth Italy elections Commentary on the latest political manoeuvring ahead of Italy's general election That leaves this weekend, when markets are closed, as the moment when Mr Monti may finally announce his political intentions. "Mario Monti today began his electoral campaign at Fiat's Melfi," declared Giorgio Cremaschi, a retired left-wing union activist. He slammed the prime minister for giving his blessing to Sergio Marchionne, calling the head of Fiat "the biggest lying boss of Italy" for resisting a court order to reinstate three sacked workers. "This has its logic," Mr Cremaschi blogged on the Huffington Post's Italian website. Monti has done to the country what Marchionne has done to Fiat. Both have in their hearts only the interests and profits of big shareholders, themselves included, promising a radiant future while creating unemployment and exploitation. Mr Monti, warned the ex-unionist, was much more dangerous for workers than the "ridiculous" comeback of Mr Berlusconi who had no chance of winning the elections. Polls show Mr Berlusconi's People of Liberty just ahead of a centrist Monti alliance, but well adrift of the centre-left Democratic party led by Pier Luigi Bersani who is also wary of Mr Monti's expected arrival on the political scene.