By Giuseppe Fonte
ROME (Reuters) -Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti will ask the European Financial Services Commissioner for clarification this week over disciplinary steps the EU Commission is set to launch against the government, sources told Reuters.
At talks in Rome with the EU’s Maria Luis Albuquerque set for Friday, Giorgetti will raise the issue of the planned EU proceedings against Italy’s “golden power” legislation used to preserve national security in strategic sectors, the sources said, asking not to be named.
Reuters reported this month that the EU’s executive arm was expected to act against the way Italy uses its golden powers to vet bank mergers.
Albuquerque also plans to meet Italy’s central bank governor Fabio Panetta and representatives of the banking lobby ABI on Thursday.
Italy’s second-biggest bank, UniCredit, withdrew in July its offer for smaller rival Banco BPM, saying government intervention had scuppered the 15-billion-euro ($17.49 billion) transaction.
Among several conditions, Italy told UniCredit it had to halt activities in Russia by early 2026, to prevent savings collected by Banco BPM from benefiting Moscow’s economy as it continues its war against Ukraine.
The government kept the prescriptions in place despite the collapse of the deal.
The EU Commission will order Italy to withdraw the measures, and will also challenge the overall structure of golden power legislation through a separate infringement procedure, sources have said.
While Brussels believes significant corporate mergers should be vetted at the EU level to prevent member states from taking what it considers to be unjustified measures, Italy argues national security is not for European institutions to judge.
“It is, and must remain, the member states who are the decision-makers in this process,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday, referring to national security.
Besides Giorgetti, the commissioner on Friday will separately meet Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who had tried to oppose the terms set for the BPM deal.
“In my opinion, in this case there was no solid legal basis. Then the government decided otherwise, and I respect its decision. However, it was my duty to warn,” Tajani told reporters in Brussels on Thursday, when asked about the EU’s proceedings.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Editing by Alvise Armellini and Gavin Jones; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
