Italy saves itself in extremis on the golden power. As anticipated by Mf-Milan Finance, the European Commission would stand for withdraw the infringement procedure against the Meloni government regarding special powers. The changes introduced to the legislation, which establish that the exclusive competence of the European authorities prevails on the national level, they would have in fact satisfied Brussels which would have therefore decided to avoid a head-on confrontation with Italy.
How the Golden Power is changing
The Senate approved the vote of confidence requested by the Government Transition Decree 5.0 which also contains the amendment presented by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy, Federico Freni, which change the powers of the golden power, as requested by Brussels. The vote was 88 in favor, 58 against, and only one abstention. The vote of confidence constitutes approval of the decree, which now goes to the Chamber of Deputies for conversion into law by January 20.
The amendment establishes that the competence of the European Authorities, i.e. ECB and Antitrust, It prevails over that of the Italian authorities, as required by EU legislation, and specifically provides, with regard to the "financial sector, including banking and insurance," that if the acquisition "is also subject to authorization by European authorities competent to assess prudential and competition aspects, the special powers cannot be exercised before the completion of the proceedings pending before those authorities." In other words, no interventions regarding Golden Powers can be made until Brussels has given its opinion.
Furthermore, the same amendment confirms that among the criteria that the Government must consider in order to exercise the golden power, in addition to the dangers to public order or public safety, there may also be "national economic and financial security, to the extent that the protection of the essential interests of the State is not adequately guaranteed by the existence of specific sector regulation”.
The infringement procedure
The changes proposed by the Government would have therefore satisfied the EU Commission which, according to what was reported Mf, would stand for withdraw the infringement procedure against our country. "A new decision will be needed from the Board of Commissioners, the body that decided to open the infringement procedure, but the choice would be for a green light from Rome," the newspaper writes.
Lo last November 21st, the European Commission had sent a letter of formal notice to Italy for failure to comply with the Single Supervisory Mechanism Regulation, the Capital Requirements Directive, and Articles 49 and 63 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The decision, which effectively paved the way for infringement proceedings against our country, was based on "the incompatibility of discretionary powers in banking mergers with European Union law in Italy", Brussels had written in black and white.
The dossier had been opened last spring after the government's forceful intervention about the operation Unicredit - Banco BpmIn April, through a Prime Ministerial Decree, the executive had in fact used the special powers on the takeover bid, imposing very heavy conditions on Piazza Gae Aulenti which then led the bank's CEO, Andrea Orcel, towithdraw the offer.
It must be remembered that the issue still hangs the appeal presented by Unicredit to the Council of StateThe bank led by Andrea Orcel has in fact decided to appeal to the administrative appeal judges against the TAR ruling on special powers, which had only partially accepted the objections of Piazza Gae Aulenti, canceling two of the conditions imposed by the government and leaving the other two unchanged. The decision, the CEO of the Milanese bank explained, was not intended to rekindle hostilities with the government, but to underscore that Unicredit does not represent a threat for national security.
(Last update: 14.50 on 8 January).
