ROME — Ahead of a series of critical meetings with other European leaders, Prime Minister Mario Monti has pledged to introduce measures to revive Italy’s long-dormant economy, but is also raising pressure on Europe to shore up the single currency against continued speculative attacks.

In an interview on national television on Sunday, Mr. Monti said he would unveil a package of growth-enhancing measures — in particular, loosening the powers of professional guilds and changing labor laws to encourage hiring and firing — at a meeting of European Union finance ministers on Jan. 23.

“We want to create more space for competition and merit in varying sectors,” he said in an interview on the state-owned Rai national broadcaster. “That involves reducing protection and the different ways that industry sectors, in Italy more than in other countries, try to create advantages for those who are inside the fortress to the detriment of those who are outside.”

Italy is facing the twin, and in some respects conflicting, imperatives of lifting growth while reducing its public debt, which is at 120 percent of gross domestic product, the highest in the euro zone after Greece.