the beacon of the EU for the Italian delay on the Mes-Corriere.it

BRUSSELS – The president of the Eurogroup, the Irishman Paschal Donohoe, who coordinates the body that brings together the economy ministers of the euro area, arrives at the Council in the same minutes as Giorgia Meloni. No one asks him, but he himself speaks of Italy: “It is very important that we move forward with the full ratification of the reform of the European Stability Mechanism”. The second day of the European summit is dedicated to monetary policy and economic issues, while the stock exchanges of the Old Continent waver again on the weakness of banking stocks. A moment is enough, and the words of the Irish politician give their contribution, to light a beacon on our country. Christine Lagarde, president of the ECB, is also present at the Council, everyone says that the EU banking system is free from imbalances, Giorgia Meloni also repeats it in front of reporters, “we have solid fundamentals, which do not cause concern”.

Yet Donohoe’s statements stand out more than in other days, Italy is in fact the only country in the euro area that has not ratified the Treaty which has as its last resort that of intervening precisely in the event of systemic banking crises. A little later, at lunchtime, Donohoe repeats that the concept, even if “it is a matter on which we are ready to collaborate, but falls within the competence of the Italian Parliament and government”. A prudence that is intertwined with the attention dedicated to our country: the first international visit of Donohoe’s second mandate, in January, was not by chance in Rome, to the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti. In his press point, Meloni repeats the position of our executive, which is currently interlocutory: «The matter of the Mes should not be discussed upstream but downstream and in the context in which it operates. The reference to economic governance is not made by chance, and also to other tools, which are more effective at the moment. This morning we discussed the banking union and on the subject of backstops, the Mes is a sort of Cassation, the banking union is of the first and second degree. It is a reasoning that must be done in an overall picture ».

The second day of the premier in Brussels is then an assessment of the progress made, or not, on the most sensitive dossiers for our country. The night meeting with Emmanuel Macron went well for both of them, he talks about it in front of French reporters underlining the possible coordinated action of Italy and France on the stabilization of Tunisia, she says in front of Italian reporters that she shares Paris’s position on nuclear technology as complementary to the energy transition and to have found with the head of the Elysée «full alignment on the question of the rules of the Stability Pact», but also willingness to deal with the migratory matter in a convergent and «structural» way. The Council also discussed the negotiation underway on technologies capable of guaranteeing zero emissions in the EU car fleet by 2035. Italy has to catch up, but according to Meloni «the game on biofuels is not lost at all. We are demonstrating how even biofuels respect zero emissions: if a technology meets the targets we have set for ourselves, that technology can be used».