Italy split on EU Stability Mechanism ahead of key summit

Italy could stall ratification of the European Stability Mechanism, likely to be approved by the end of the year, as coalition partners Forza Italia and Lega remain divided on the issue ahead of this week’s crucial EU summit, where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will have to present Italy’s position.

While expected to come into force in 2024, Matteo Salvini’s Lega (ID) remains opposed to the EU stability mechanism, while Forza Italia (EPP) is strongly in favour – leaving it to Meloni (Fratelli d’Italia/ECR) to decide ahead of Friday’s EU Council summit. However, it is unlikely to be discussed in the chamber on Thursday, as government representatives confirmed that more urgent measures must be discussed first.

“Lega’s position is known: we think it is an outdated instrument, but we will wait to understand Meloni’s indications on the matter”, said group head in the Chamber of Deputies Riccardo Molinari, referring to Lega’s position -already known for some time – with Forza Italia leader and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani calling for Italy to approve the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and to then get a derogation.

“I am in favour of ratification, but we must not be conditioned by the haste of others either (…) We must not get bogged down in the ESM because it is a fund that is not needed at the moment (…) Our banking system is solid, and we do not need it, but there is a need for fiscal harmonisation to complete the entire banking union”, Tajani said at the Italy-Germany summit in Berlin.

“The first thing to do is to find an agreement on the Growth and Stability Pact. We want to reach it, but it must be a pact that does not penalise Italy,” Tajani said.

“There is great agreement with France, but I hope that thanks to the work of Minister Giorgetti, we can reach the goal of a new pact before the end of this year”, he added.

Forza Italia’s position was also echoed by its leader in the Chamber of Deputies, Paolo Barelli, who said it could be approved “if it is useful to obtain a derogation from the Stability Pact, as Italy wants”.

On the side of Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia, European Affairs Minister Raffaele Fitto said he wants to wait for the EU Council decision on budgetary policies before making a choice, despite Italy still being the only EU member state to have not yet ratified the ESM.

Criticism has already come from the opposition, which says the right-wing parties in government are spreading “fake news”.

“(Right-wing parties) have been spreading fake news about the ESM for years, and now they don’t know how to get out of it. The problem is that they are playing with Italy’s international credibility. It is not possible for ideological reasons to block the rest of Europe from ratifying a treaty,” Elly Schlein, secretary of the Democratic Party (PD/S&D), has said.

(Federica Pascale | Euractiv.it)