The government in front of the wall of the Mes: to reverse or advance quickly?

“After the go-ahead from the German Constitutional Court, only Italy is left not to approve the reform of the Month and we hope that Italy will also ratify it soon”he has declared Christine Lagarde at a press conference in Frankfurt after the communication of the ECB’s monetary policy decisions, also because the reform of the Mes is an integral part of completing the banking union. The spread rises above 205 points and the government protests: “I didn’t understand the Christmas present that President Lagarde wanted to give to Italy”, says the defense minister Guido Crosetto. But the responsibility lies with the government, which should not have put Italy in this position.

Lagarde’s wish comes after the declarations of the Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti who in Parliament rejected the reform of the State-saving Fund, which only needs ratification by Italy to become effective: “The Mes appears to be an institution in crisis and for the moment looking for a vocation. Partly his fault, partly not, it’s an unpopular institution,” she said. And again: “We are aware of the commitment undertaken by Italy and that at present all the other adhering countries have proceeded with ratification, but in the light of the factual data, the need clearly emerges the decision whether or not to proceed with the ratification of the treaty is preceded by an adequate and broad debate in Parliament”.

The Economy Minister’s statements disturbed everyone in Brussels, Frankfurt and in all 18 chancelleries of the Eurozone countries which, after signing the agreement on the new Mes, as Italy did, also ratified it . Until recently, the Pilate position of Italy, always expressed by Giorgetti, was that of “wait for the decision of the Karlsruhe Court”, given that Germany was the other country awaiting ratification because there was an appeal pending. And through this non-sovereign trick, the government thought it could avoid making a political decision, given that Giorgia Meloni And Matthew Salvini they have always declared themselves clearly against ratification.

But the sentence of the German Constitutional Court, which gave the go-ahead for ratification, arrived sooner than Palazzo Chigi and Via XX Settembre imagined. And Giorgetti attempted a further throw of the ball into the stands, speaking of an “adequate and broad debate in Parliament”. Given that the debate on the reform of the ESM has lasted for years and, after Italy has signed it, all that remains is to decide whether to ratify it or not, to have a debate, the law must arrive in Parliament. And this presupposes a political decision, given that the government should approve the ratification law in the Council of Ministers and before taking it to Parliament.

The fear, therefore, is that the government will continue to make melina without addressing the political issue, freezing the reform. But in this case the opposition can intervene to unblock the impasse, because as he reminds al Foglio Stephen Ceccantiformer senator of the Democratic Party and constitutional expert on parliamentary procedures, “Since the 1994 legislature, presentations by individual MPs have been permitted of bills ratifying treaties, which was previously reserved for the government. It was a timely innovation, because it allows Parliament to overcome any obstructionism of divided majorities. Exactly as in the current case of the Mes “. Ceccanti’s advice must have reached the Democratic Party, given that the vice president of the group in the Chamber Peter DeLuca announces that it has “filed a bill authorizing the ratification of the Agreement to amend the Treaty establishing the Mes”.

Beyond the merits of the reform, which does not contain any of the threats feared by Meloni over the years, what is most surprising is the method used by the government. In the debate on Ukraine, President Meloni made it clear that: “Only an Italy that respects its commitments can have the authority to make requests at a European and Western level”. Similarly, Crosetto explained to Parliament that “the state works like this. It doesn’t stop on the day of the change of government, but the various governments that follow honor the agreements that previous governments have made or signed. Not out of political choice, but because states behave this way”.

It is exactly the opposite of what the government is doing on the Mes: Italy isolates itself and blocks a reform agreed by alldishonoring an agreement signed by the previous government. Of course, it is politically expensive for Meloni to reverse a historic FdI battle. But worse, for the government and the country, would be to consistently hit the wall.

• Luciano Capone

• Grew up in Irpinia, in Savignano. Studies in Milan, Catholic University. Liberal by training, journalist by deformation. Al Foglio first as a reader, then a collaborator, finally an editor. I mainly deal with economics, but also with politics, investigations, culture, miscellaneous and possible