ROME. When the first signs of the collapse of stocks in Piazza Affari arrived in the morning, the legs trembled a bit, “we should have acted on a Friday evening so as not to terrorize the markets”, reasoned aloud an executive of Fratelli d’Italia. Piazza Affari, as feared, has responded to the levy on banks and now what is done? Claim or reverse?
Extra profits, Meloni’s blitz. The discontent of bankers: “We will see what he will say in Parliament” ALESSANDRO BARBERA, FRANCESCO OLIVO 07 August 2023
There is great confusion in the coalition, Forza Italia sees populist traces in the provision, the secretary and deputy prime minister Antonio Tajani promises “changes in Parliament”. But the allies think differently. Giorgia Meloni observes the signals of the markets, avoids exposing herself with public statements and orders to go ahead. Matteo Salvini, who had the stage available to announce the most popular tax ever, knows he has bent his Economy Minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, who does not marry the government’s slogan “take from the rich to give to the poor”. at all.
The wrath of the Berlusconi can be explained by reasons of positioning, of historical ties (with the Association of Banks, for example), but also by the feeling of having been cut off. The summer blitz was born from an axis between Meloni and Salvini. But the tax bears the fingerprints, at least in its first version, of Giovanbattista Fazzolari, the undersecretary for the implementation of the program that sets the ideological line for Palazzo Chigi. The operation is not free: in addition to the obvious coldness of the institutions, with the notable exception of Intesa Sanpaolo, a tear is consumed with Forza Italia, the first of the post-Berlusconi era. New secretary Tajani is concerned about the reaction of the markets, but also of institutions and their representatives. Thus, returning from Marcinelle, the foreign minister begins a twofold task: on the one hand there is an attempt to mend the rift with the banks, and on the other he exhibits himself in a different position than that of the allies.
Tajani speaks with the president of ABI Antonio Patuelli to reassure him, “the measure will not be punitive”. In the association they recall how the deputy premier himself had, last spring, assured that there would be no interventions of this type, and therefore now the commitment is to be maintained when the decree will be converted. As stocks plummet, the deputy prime minister believes the time has come to send internal and external signals: “We will work in Parliament so that this is a balanced measure – he tells The print –, if corrections are needed, there will be». The other request from the deputy prime minister is “to understand where that money will go: our idea is that the resources should be used to reduce the tax burden, detax thirteenth month payments, overtime and bonuses”.
The first discontent had been expressed in a meeting on Monday, when Tajani informed some executives of the upcoming news, “what does it have to do with us?”, was one of the reactions. The group leader in the Chamber, Paolo Barelli, a loyal follower of the deputy prime minister, interviewed by Rainews 24, goes down hard: “I wouldn’t want the collapse of the shares to have depended on a provision that the government should have evaluated better”. Even his predecessor, Alessandro Cattaneo, underlines: “Those ten billion burned in an hour worry us”. In short, the liberal wing of the government fears that the international reputation of the executive is at stake: “If investors see that, without warning, things like this are done in one evening – says a senior executive of the majority – there is a risk of frustrate the complicated work done in recent months to overcome the distrust towards us ». It’s a bit like what Francesco Giavazzi, former economic advisor to Mario Draghi, says to the Financial Times: “You don’t put a tax on banks without telling them and without the Finance Minister going on TV to explain it”. It is the finger in the sore: Giorgetti’s doubts are known to all and the photo of the meeting of the economic cabinet of the League, with Salvini and Giorgetti himself, disseminated by the Carroccio communication, cannot be enough to dispel them. Only at 20, almost 24 hours after the end of the Council of Ministers, Giorgetti sends a note to claim authorship of the measure and reassure the institutions, trying to underline how it is convenient for all institutions to collaborate on the lowering of mortgages.
But the only one to claim substance and form of the decree is Fazzolari. The strong man of the party at Palazzo Chigi, after the first moments of communication impasse, goes on the counterattack: «With the levy on the extra profits, not only is an operation of justice carried out, but also a distortion is reduced, where demand and supply of investment do not meet», he says in an interview withAnsa. Fazzolari attacks the 5 Star Movement and the Democratic Party: «Now do they listen to us? But with Conte and the Democratic Party, not even one euro more in taxes has ever been levied on the banks. This is the only government that has the power to tax the banks because it’s the only one that doesn’t have privileged relationships with the banking system». It is an invitation card to the opposition in view of the meeting on Friday.