ROMA – A pandemic not yet defeated and a devastating war in Europe will push our government to tighten the rules on golden power (perhaps already in the Council of Ministers of tomorrow). These are the special powers that the executive exercises when a foreign company buys shares of an Italian company in “strategic sectors of national interest”.
The government can affect share acquisitions, sometimes it can even forbid them. Over the years, the protected sectors have become more and more numerous including – with the decree 105 of 2019 – also food, water, health, artificial intelligence, microprocessors, robotics.
Roberto Garofoli, Undersecretary to the Prime Minister, explains that Italy – obviously – will encourage foreign investors to bring capital into our country. At the same time, “he wants to keep control over strategic operators in vital economic sectors“. His words, yesterday, was followed by a meeting on the subject, present:
– Daniele Franco, Minister of Economy,
– Vittorio Colao, Minister for Digital Transition,
– Giancarlo Giorgetti, Minister for Economic Development,
– Garofoli himself,
– the State Accountant General, Biagio Mazzotta;
– the deputy director of the Information and Security Department, Alessandra Guidi;
– the deputy director of the Cybersecurity Agency, Nunzia Ciardi;
The goal of Palazzo Chigi, more concretely, is to secure even more 5G networks from overwhelming power of Chinese suppliers (since 2019, 5G communications are already classified as strategic “for national defense”).
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Palazzo Chigi also fears that Russian computer and anti-virus software may act as a Trojan horse and as a vehicle hacker attacks against us. Now, a government doesn’t ban the use of a specific brand of anti-virus. It can encourage public administrations to practice prudence to protect theand digital infrastructuresgiven the moment.
Finally, the hypothesis of making permanent the emergency rules introduced with the Liquidity decree (issue 23 of 2020). The rules – which would leave the scene on December 31, 2022 – would thus permanently enter our legal system.
They expect a non-European company to notify the government even of a minimal acquisition (equal to 10% of the voting rights or capital). They impose the obligation of notification and information even to EU companies that gain control of one of our companies.
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The government also wants to identify raw materials at risk of supply, including the ferrous scrap. If an Italian company wants to export them to non-EU countries, it will have to notify the operation to the Ministry of Eco-Development and obtain a green light. of the Presidency of the Council.
If they fail to comply with this procedure, they risk it a penalty of at least 100 thousand euros. Finally, the government wants to extend special protection to hydroelectric plants, which are essential for the production of energy.
The rules on golden power, therefore, serve to protect strategic sectors and sectors of national interest. To understand how delicate the issue is, we need to look at our Intelligence, in particular at Information System for the security of the Republic.
It is the set of bodies and authorities that ensure information activities to safeguard the country “from dangers and threats from both inside and outside”.
In his latest report to Parliament of February 2022remember the sun 24 hours, the Information System for the security of the Republic reports an exponential growth in the acquisitions of strategic national companies by foreign hands. The figure is deducted from the number of notifications to the Prime Minister’s Office that buyers must send.
On the law in the report: “In 2021 there was a trend of further growth of notifications received at the
Presidency of the Council: at 31 December 2021 there were 496 (of which 458 preliminary investigations already concluded), compared to the 341 of the whole of 2020 with an increase of 45% compared to the previous year “.
From the table below, we deduce that the government banned takeovers in two cases (in 2021) and imposed “conditions and prescriptions” in two cases.
