What can Meloni combine with golden power? Giulio Napolitano speaks

One of the major concerns of economic operators towards a government with a sovereign tendency is the use it could make of golden powernamely special powers to block foreign investments in sectors considered strategic. In the hypothesis of an executive led by Giorgia Meloni, this concern would be justified by the positions that her party, the Brothers of Italy, has always taken on this issuejust remember the 2020 report by Copasir chaired by Adolfo Urso who raised the alarm on the invasion of the French in Italian banks but also, more recently, the pressure exerted on the Draghi government for the interest of the American fund Kkr for Tim.

In the language of the sovereignists, the concept of Italy’s attractiveness is replaced by that of protection of the national interest and goes to the limit of protectionism. So it is legitimate to ask if a Meloni government could do excessive use of golden power making it more difficult to attract foreign capital to Italy when there is a prospect of economic recession with a forecast of negative GDP for 2023. “I believe that in this field the choice will be in continuity with what has been done by the Draghi governmentwhich has intervened several times on Chinese operations, but without ever questioning the importance of welcoming new capital and new technologies that are essential to help our companies compete on global markets “, he tells the Sheet Giulio Napolitano, full professor of administrative law at the University of Roma Tre and partner of the Chiomenti law firm.

In 2021 alone, according to the annual report on golden power, 496 notifications were received at Palazzo Chigi, an average of 1.3 per day, compared to 343 in 2020 and 83 in 2019. several operations with Chinese groups blocked, also preventively, by Draghi, one above all that of Iveco (Exor group) with Faw Jiefang. “It is probable that the new center-right government that is about to be formed will continue with this direction; it would instead be counterproductive if it aimed at a broader and more stringent application of the legislation, blocking or discouraging investment operations of European or even American companies, unless, of course, these are not really detrimental to an essential public interest. The golden power procedure is useful for obtaining more information on those who set foot in our country but it cannot become an instrument of interdiction – continues Napolitano – Its too extensive interpretation would jeopardize the compatibility of the Italian legislation with the European one it sought. to harmonize the rules set by the countries of the Union ”.

Yet, with the outbreak of the pandemic and the economic crisis that followed the tendency of states to protect their economies has increasedcountries like Germany and France didn’t have too many problems in placing stakes on foreign investors. And it is undeniable that the golden power umbrella has grown a lot in Europe since the need to protect communication infrastructures was born in the face of China’s imposition in the 5G sector.. The post-Covid recovery then left more room for merger and acquisition operations, also thanks to the abundance of liquidity available to private equity funds. With the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the rush of inflation and the prospects of economic recession, is there a risk that the need for states to protect banks and domestic companies will return? “A government has other tools to affect the economic structure of its country; if, for example, it believes that the state should be more present in the management of businesses, it can give life to an economic and industrial policy with this orientation, obviously also clarifying how it intends to find the related resources. It would be misleading, however, if he used the golden power discipline only to emphasize his own political identity ”.

Among other things, one of the most recent measures of the Draghi government was that of streamline procedures and also to allow a pre-notification to verify in advance if a transaction is subject to golden power control. We can go further along this path: “To help economic operators understand and interpret the scope of application of the golden power, the French government has drawn up very detailed guidelines. It is an interesting experience that could also be replicated in Italy ”.