(by Massimiliano D'Elia) Just enough time to congratulate the government for having given the Italian consent to the Eurogroup to start the work of the ESM reform, in the bank-saving version, which Berlusconi he shuffled the cards again in view of the vote in the Chamber on 9 December: "We will not support the ESM reform in Parliament because we do not believe that the modification of the Stability Mechanism approved by the Eurogroup is satisfactory for Italy and does not even go in the direction proposed by the European Parliament ”. However, Forza Italia continues to be in favor of using the funds made available by the Mes for the health emergency linked to Covid-19.
There is a risk, therefore, of the rejection in parliament of the approval that the economy minister Gualtieri has already given in Brussels on a reform that already in January 2021 would have been presented for ratification by the 19 EU countries adhering to the single currency.
The warning to the softness shown in recent days by Forza Italia towards the Mes directly by the leader of the League, Matteo Salvini who had thrown an out out: "If an allied force approves this outrage and damage to Italy, it will end up being the league's traveling companion."
Many within the center-right parties argue that the League is weighing the vote given for the save-Mediaset amendment and for the further budget gap of 8 billion euros.
According to an indiscretion of the Republic within the walls of Forza Italia, deputies and senators were disoriented by the latest positions taken by their president, the chats of parliamentary groups yesterday were literally in turmoil. They did not like submission to the will of the League.
This time the ESM reform, especially supported by Germany, really risks being delayed due to the Italian ups and downs. To corroborate the thesis of the fragility of the Italian Ok already given by Gualtieri, the confusion that the MES question generates even within the ranks of the Movimento delle Stelle. Between for and against is now total tussle. The Five Stars are almost all against it and you can read it from the words of Luigi Di Maio"It is pejorative and as long as the M5S is in government it will not be used, also because there are no numbers in Parliament. The debate has no reason to exist either ".
The wing headed by Vito Crimi however, it continues its support for the approval of the reform of the European stability mechanism. The numbers are, therefore, increasingly narrow in the Senate of the Republic where the surprises will be revealed by the vote that will make evident the votes of the members of Forza Italia and M5S contrary to the line of their respective parties. A group of parliamentarians, the latter, composed in a transversal manner, which in doing so would work alongside those who want this government to reach the end of the term without ifs and buts.
The reform of the Mes in the save bank version
It will come into effect earlier than expected, i.e. in 2022 instead of 2024.
The reform aims to strengthen and simplify the use of the tools available to the ESM before the rescue of a country, i.e. the precautionary credit lines, which can be used in the event that a country is hit by an economic shock and wants to avoid ending up under stress on markets. The reform eliminates the highly contested Memorandum - the one that went down in history for having imposed very strict conditions on Greece - replacing it with a letter of intent that ensures compliance with the rules of the Stability Pact.
The reform also entrusts the ESM with another task, to protect taxpayers: it will provide a financial parachute (backstop) to the Srf bank-saving fund, if, in extreme cases, the resources available to complete the 'orderly failures' of the banks run out in difficulty. It is one of the missing pieces of the banking union that Italy had strongly wanted.
The start of the advance of the backstop shows that for ministers there has already been a significant reduction in banking risks, a good starting point for the discussion on the last pillar of the Banking Union, that is the common deposit insurance scheme . The ESM reform will now have to be formally signed by all the states adhering to the treaty, that is, those of the euro area, and the national ratification procedures can then start.