(by Massimiliano D'Elia) "It is still not enough. And it won't be enough until we get quickly accessible European bonds, the rest matters little". This is the position expressed by the Italian premier, Giuseppe Conte which does not move the position maintained towards Brussels by one millimeter. No to Mes, Yes to corona bonds. Today at 17.00 a new teleconference between the members of the Eurogroup.
The game is still postponed until later Easter when the definitive pact between the heads of state and government should be signed.
Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte insists on affirming a principle: "The overall European tax leverage must be adequate in size, long-term maturity of the securities and rapid availability of funds". The Netherlands is against the whole line of credit proposed by Italy.
The position of Holland is really unusual, as it has a GDP (year 2019: 800 thousand billion euros) slightly higher than that of our Lombardy alone. The contribution of the Netherlands to the EU and the Mes, due to GDP, is lower than that of Italy, which is the third largest economy in the European Union with its approximately 1800 thousand billion euros of GDP. Italy has the highest private savings in the European Union, amounting to approximately 1600 thousand billion euros and holds the gold resources among the most conspicuous in the world. Thinking and stating that they are not sure that we can pay our debts is really a colossal "hoax". Behind there is certainly more. Our openness to China, Russia, loyalty to the USA, our strategic position in the Mediterranean and our entrepreneurial ability are our business card. These are our strengths for a possible exit strategy (ITALEXIT). Perhaps it is precisely from these considerations that the intense denigration activity towards Italy (article in the German newspaper Welt: "IN ITALY THE MAFIA IS ONLY WAITING FOR A NEW RAIN OF MONEY FROM BRUSSELS") and the uncommunal will to encourage harming economic measures.
The suspicion is that Germany is using Holland as a ram's head, in order not to expose itself in a “face to face” confrontation with Italy and in a certain sense also with France. The transalpines are cleverly supporting on the one hand the Italian line (coronabond) and on the other they are whispering to Germany that they are in favor of a less rigorous Mes. In the end, the line of financing through ESM funds will prevail, with apparently watered down conditionalities, and with the issue of bonds with medium-long repayment terms.
The divergences in the Eurogroup
After a 14-hour nightly conference call, EU finance ministers reached no agreement. The positions of Italy and Holland are too far apart. The Dutch parliament yesterday also approved two resolutions prohibiting their representatives at the EU from compromising on credit lines other than the ESM, with certain, stringent and short recovery conditions.
The Dutch hostility spokesman is the finance minister Wopke Hoekstra which refused to withdraw the request for stricter conditions on credit lines. "The Dutch insist on macroeconomic conditions for ESM loans”, He told the press officers present.
European finance ministers will meet again today at 17.00pm to present a series of recommendations. Everyone agrees that extraordinary measures must be launched to combat the economic crisis, while remaining in their positions with regard to the methods of financing the common effort for reconstruction.
IERI (Yesterday) Olaf Scholz, German finance minister, urged EU governments "not to refuse to solve difficult financial problems " and find a “Good compromise for all citizens".
Bruno Le Maire, his French counterpart, said: "We are counting tens of thousands of deaths, while the finance ministers play on words and adjectives. It is a pity for the finance ministers, a pity for the Eurogroup and a pity for Europe. We should have a common understanding of the severity of the crisis and decide on a strong common response ".
The talks, most of the time, focused on the role of the Mes (the fund saves states). On those 500 billion euros that the fund should inject into the economy of the EU countries, through trust loans. Italy and the Netherlands clashed over how to plan the disbursement of these loans. The Italian finance minister Roberto Gualtieri he reiterated the Italian line: the credit lines deriving from the ESM must not be conditioned to subsequent economic reforms within the requesting countries (troika, austerity).
The Dutch Hoekstra instead he insisted that his government would never accept an unconditional mechanism. "We consider it sensible to combine the use of the Mes with certain economic conditions", Adding that it was"too early to agree on an overall package".
In the meantime, the internal debate in Holland on the Mes has become increasingly intense. Hoekstra said that the Netherlands will not prevent immediate financial aid from being granted to Italy and other countries for their health systems. But he also insisted that funding must be followed by post-crisis reform plans to ensure that the funds are repaid.
Mario centeno, president of the Eurogroup, said the differences in the terms of the ESM credit lines were too great for an immediate agreement. Officials also said Germany and France are putting pressure on The Hague and Rome to find a common path.
Yesterday, the German Scholz said that the credit lines of the Mes "they will not involve the sending of EU commissioners or Troika (ECB, Commission, IMF), to check compliance with the strict budgetary rules of the Maastricht Treaty".
Debate within Italy
Now Italy must try to get the most out of Brussels on common debt securities, but also from the ESM, trying to obtain really light conditionality and not watered down to art. In the end, in order not to bring down the European Union's house of cards, the credit measures that will be approved will be of a different nature, including those of the ESM. The approval of a plan with the Mes inside could, however, create problems for the Italian government. The positions of a part of the majority (intransigent of the M5S) and of the opposition, already on a war footing, are worrying.
It is no coincidence that a few days ago Luigi Di Maio, to soothe the spirits, showed himself reasonable on the subject MES, as did the ministers Federico D'Incà and Stefano Patuanelli.
Among the intransigent of the Movement of the Stars there are, however, Alessandro Di Battista, always against the Mes and supporter of universal income relaunched by Beppe Grillo, the Undersecretary for Economy Alessio Villarosa, the deputies Raphael Raduzzi e Alvise Manor, the MEPIgnatius Corrao, the senators Danilo Toninelli e Barbara Lezzi.