Obama calls Monti on eurozone debt crisis

US President Barack Obama called Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti on Tuesday to ask about the latest developments in the eurozone debt crisis and prospects for the future, the Italian government said. Obama "asked for his views on the situation on the eurozone and on the likely developments," the government's press office said in a statement. At a campaign donor event in New York on Monday, Obama said that "decisive steps" needed to be taken by eurozone leaders to tackle the crisis. "I don't think ultimately that the Europeans will let the euro unravel. But they're going to have to take some decisive steps," he said. Monti earlier on Tuesday said he was "light at the end of the tunnel" for the eurozone before meeting with French President Francois Hollande at the start of a mini-tour of Europe that will also take him to Finland and Spain. Monti said his trip would help "secure the euro and give a decisive boost to European growth." There are growing hopes that Europe is readying decisive action, including direct intervention by the European Central Bank and EU bailout fund on the bond markets that would lower the borrowing costs of Italy and Spain. ECB chief Mario Draghi last week vowed to do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro.