The Italian premier Giuseppe Conte from London, in the middle of the NATO summit, he was interviewed by the press: "On the Mes I reconstructed what happened, and until there is a signature there is always room for improvement in a treaty, I don't care if the other countries consider the agreement closed. Not a chance, there are 19 countries that are writing a reform, there is a national synthesis to do and then a European one. If you bring me to the banking union a project that I don't like Italy I don't sign the Mes, and it's not blackmail, this is package logic, questioning everything. Be sure we won't be fooled".
"I do not exclude a postponement of the Mes. We have already avoided so many pitfalls, I did not embrace the Mes in a parliamentary manner. But it must be said that it already exists. We must avoid the propaganda fanfare that raises the spread, Italy has a sustainable debt and the Mes is activated on a voluntary basis. We fought to have the debt valuation not be automatic. We have avoided deterioration, aid is given directly to the banks and not to the State, without influence on the debt".
"On the accusations of Di Maio to stay close to the Democratic Party I say it is not standing, I am not close to anyone, I am a head of government who is carrying out a program of 29 points, I have an easier relationship with the Movement, but a comparison cannot be made. I'm knowing the Democratic Party now, it is foolish to say that the Mes are closer to the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party has arrived now. Gualtieri on a course of 100 kilometers is making the last mile".
Gualtieri's last mile
The Italian Minister of Economy, Roberto Gualtieri, thanks to his adhesions in Brussels is looking for a way out to soften the tones that have been created in Italy due to the agreement on the European Stability Mechanism.
The Minister of Economy is aware that the treaty cannot be changed because every change should be approved by the nineteen member countries. Also because with every request for a change in Italy, any other country could ask for other changes in turn, inevitably plastering the beginning and the effects of the agreement. The only thing Gualtieri can do is work on the bank on some documents linked to the Mes treaty which can still be modified. In particular, writes the Corriere della Sera, much of the criticism of the M5S has focused on certain legal commitments to be attached to government bonds to regulate their restructuring if a country declares default. In particular, the "single limb" collective action clauses are at fault.
They require the audience of all creditors to decide in a single vote whether to accept the terms of a debt restructuring offered by a state (for example, the government undertakes to repay 90% instead of 100%). If a majority of creditors accepting the offer is reached, the new repayment terms apply to all in the single limb. M5S is against this declination because it would make a default easier and therefore more probable. In fact, prior to the agreement on the ESM, there were so-called "double limb" or double voting clauses: on a restructuring the creditors of a state all speak together, but also the holders of each series of securities separately. With the "double limb", bondholders of a specific bond can reject a government's restructuring offer and seek full redemption through the court.
As happened in Argentina and Greece. The loss, Corriere della Sera specifies, must therefore become more onerous for the other bondholders, for the State to reduce its debt sufficiently. Brussels is unable to explain why the MES issue has become exasperated in Italy since it does not risk any default. Gualtieri, however, must hurry to save the government by working on the documents annexed to the Mes treaty. The hypothesis is to distinguish also in the "single limb»Some categories of government bonds which in default would suffer a minor scissoring. For example, there is the idea of protecting bonds whose yield is linked to inflation, such as Italian BTPs. Gualtieri must hurry, as mentioned, because the Italian Parliament on 11 December will have to give the government a mandate for the European summit two days later.