Everything remains unchanged until the sentence of the Constitutional Court. This is the decision of the Council of State which arrived today, 13 January, which once again freezes the transformation of cooperative banks into joint stock companies. According to the judges, it will be necessary to wait for the opinion of the Consulta and, only later, in the Council of State itself, will the council chamber be celebrated.
Today's ordinanda therefore confirms the suspension of the terms decided in mid-December. Popolare di Sondrio and Popolare di Bari, the only institutions in possession of the requisites that have not yet transformed into a joint stock company, will have time to comply (the original deadline was set for 27 December).
The president of Assopopolari, Corrado Sforza Fogliani, is satisfied with the decision: “This morning's decision of the Council of State does justice to a situation created by the law against the Popolari. Politics had not done so and justice took care of it, resolving a situation in which the banks that have not yet converted were unexpectedly placed, and this by assuming a role of substitute for politics that was not only legitimate but which would have been a duty on the part of others. Now the question is completely open - continued Fogliani - and the conditions certainly exist today for it to be resolved by safeguarding the essential function of the territorial banks and the irreplaceable role that they play in favor of the areas to which they belong, also by safeguarding competition from any oligopoly".
