The Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti, approved yesterday evening, for final examination, the decree of the President of the Council of Ministers which regulates the alienation of a share of the participation held by the Mef in Poste Italiane, in order to determine the maintenance of a state participation to the capital of Poste, also through companies directly or indirectly controlled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, more than 50%. This can be read in the note released after the Council of Ministers.
This percentage includes both the portion of the share capital held by the Ministry of Economy, which currently has 29,26%, both that of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti – a public company that manages the postal savings of Italians and is controlled by the ministry itself – which owns 35% of Poste Italiane.
The decree had been preliminarily approved by the Council of Ministers on January 25, and had subsequently obtained the favorable opinion of all the competent committees in the Chamber and the Senate. Initially, a draft of the decree had circulated that contained a clause according to which the State's participation in the capital of Poste Italiane should not fall below 35 percent overall, but after much political controversy the government decided to raise the threshold to 50 percent.
The Post Office is one of the pieces of the plan privatizations through which the executive hopes to cash in 20 billion euros in three years.
