So someone in Brussels still objects that the Italian government shouldn't help the banks get rid of non-performing loans. Otherwise it would give state aid which distorts competition. It is a wrong thesis. There is a distortion if the state helps a bank to get out of a crisis it is in due to its wrong management choices. In fact, this would be doing that bank a favor against the other banks.
There is, however, no distortion if the state helps the entire banking system to recover its functionality by getting rid of excessive non-performing loans. Pray, what else should the government do in a country where the long economic depression has inevitably produced a flood of suffering? Should it resign itself to the implosion of its banking system with its disastrous economic consequences? No, dear Brussels technicians, saving one's banking system is not state aid, it is the only thing to do to avoid the abyss!