On the Salvastati fund, the notorious Mes, the government is still postponing the decision. In practice, after last week’s go-ahead from the German Court, Italy remains the last country in Europe not to have ratified the treaty. And it’s not certain that he will do it in the coming weeks. On the contrary. The majority is divided, with his intervention at question time the Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti threw the ball forward again. On the Mes, explained the minister in response to the question by Luigi Marattin of Itali Viva, “the need clearly emerges for the decision to proceed or not with the ratification of the Treaty to be preceded by an adequate and broad debate in Parliament, also taking into account of what emerged from the recent act of address approved by the Chamber”. In his opinion, in fact, “the current structure of the treaty establishing the Mes appears not to take into account the different context of reference and it seems appropriate that, upstream, modifications relating to the content of the mechanism are evaluated”.
In addition to this, Giorgetti wanted to recall “that the amendments to the Treaty establishing the Mes were the subject of a negotiation closed in December 2020, the amending agreement signed on 27 January 2021 by Italy and by eighteen other member states adhering to the euro and starting from that date the governments that preceded us have not brought the relative ratification bill to the Council of Ministers and this figure appears important also in consideration of the fact that as of 18 January 2022 all adherents except Italy and Germany had proceeded to ratify it”. Thus highlighting the need for a parliamentary debate before proceeding with the ratification, the minister nonetheless underlined that “we are aware of the commitment undertaken by Italy and that at present all the other members have proceeded with the ratification”. «I would also add, as highlighted by many, that the ESM “appears to be an institution in crisis and for the moment in search of a vocation. Partly its fault, partly not, it’s an unpopular institution. None of the European countries wanted to ask for your health credit line”, concluded the Minister of Economy, hypothesizing “by way of example” that in his opinion the Mes is an instrument for protection against sovereign debt crises and banking crises it should be transformed “into a driving force for investment financing and for support to face challenges such as that of high energy prices and the international crisis connected to the Ukrainian events, updating the currently envisaged conditionalities or the methods of using resources”.
The Giorgettis’ response left Marattin stunned. «The words pronounced by Minister Giorgetti on the Mes are very serious: does the government really intend not to proceed with the ratification? – asked the group leader of Action-Italia Viva in the Budget Commission during the reply – Last week Giorgetti deferred any decision on the Mes to the pronouncement of the German Constitutional Court. Today, after the Karlsrhue Court has expressed itself, Giorgetti himself told us that since the Mes is an institution in crisis, perhaps it will no longer be ratified. Is the minister aware of the consequences of these words? Does the government intend to remain the only country in Europe not to ratify? If the problem is a parliamentary debate, we are very ready. But the fact remains that the words spoken today are serious. I only hope that they have not been listened to in Europe”.