Barring new twists and turns, tonight the Council of Ministers will pass the decree law that will allow the rescue of Banca Popolare di Bari, commissioned by the Bank of Italy for serious financial losses, in order to reassure account holders and savers before the branches of the Apulian bank reopen tomorrow.
The idea of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is to immediately allocate one billion to central Mediocredito, which is controlled by the Treasury, to have it intervene in the capital of Popolare di Bari, avoiding its bankruptcy and giving it the necessary time to restructure itself under the guidance of the Bank of Italy.
But the banks are an exposed nerve for Italian politics especially when – as in this case – not only the money of their customers but that of all taxpayers is at stake and above all after the fiery and often specious controversy waged by the League and Five stars against the Renzi government for past bailouts.
Precisely for this - as well as for the sudden convocation of a Council of Ministers on Friday evening - Renzi initially balked and refused to approve a blind rescue decree. Renzi's move had the clear purpose of not signing blank bills and above all of flushing out Luigi Di Maio and the Five Stars and highlighting all of today's contradictions with respect to yesterday's controversies and attacks. An interview published today by Corriere della Sera testifies that, after yesterday's outburst, the leader of Italia Viva has no intention of creating difficulties for savers and account holders of the Popolare di Bari and which counts the bailout of the Apulian bank despite the fact that it has not yet been transformed into a joint-stock company as Renzi's reform of cooperative banks foresaw.
But Renzi's offensive on the banks, closely followed by the Five Stars, he infuriated the Democratic Party and the secretary Zingaretti who has already warned Conte that in the next few days he will demand clarification from the allies in order to continue to govern.
It is clear that the fire is smoldering and that the banks can act as a detonator for a tension that has grown over budgetary maneuvers and taxes but which now concerns above all the reform of the judiciary and even more so the new electoral law, where the proposals of the Democratic Party to propose the Spanish system - a system that has caused four early elections in four years and which guarantees everything except government stability - have alarmed Italia Viva di Renzi and Leu because they would penalize minor parties and split the majority.
This is why it is very probable that the rescue decree of the Popolare di Bari will see the light in the next few hours but it is equally probable that the controversies and tensions within the government majority are far from destined to cool off.
