“We expect the answer yes. We believe we are in the times, I spoke about it again yesterday (Friday, ndr) evening with Minister Lease». The Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti replies to journalists on the green light from the EU Commission to the third installment ofPnrr. He speaks on the sidelines of the informal Ecofin, the meeting of the 27 EU finance ministers, at the Arlanda-Stockholm airport fair. “It’s a matter of hours but I think the situation is defined, we are absolutely optimistic,” she added. In the morning, the EU Commissioner for the Economy enters Ecofin Paul Gentiloni he had said that “the Italian authorities and our services are working in a very positive way, I think”.
Ratification of the treaty of the new European Stability Mechanism
Minister Giorgetti, who only arrived in Stockholm on Friday afternoon due to tensions over the Def, had a series of bilateral meetings in which he addressed the urgency of ratifying the treaty of the new European Stability Mechanism (MES) because we are the only country that has not yet done so and the reform of the Stability Pact. Giorgetti met the president of the Eurogroup, Paschal Donohoe, and the executive director of the Mes, Pierre Gramegna. He explained that Italy is “constructive” but the ratification of the Mes “is not the only part with respect to the various situations that are still under discussion and on which we too have our requests, for example in relation to the Banking Union”. A position that will be difficult to defend, because the widespread belief in the Eurogroup is that ratification is something that is not on the table, since it is a commitment made by signing an agreement on 27 January 2021 and on which the new parachute function of the ESM depends of the single bank resolution fund. The next dossier, according to the road map agreed by the ministers last June, sees as a priority to find an agreement on the reform of the banking crisis management and deposit insurance framework and only then will the European deposit guarantee system be tackled (Edis), the third pillar of the banking union that Italy wants to discuss at the same time.
The Giorgetti-Lindner confrontation
The Stability Pact was not officially on the agenda. But in fact it was anyway, even if the formal start of negotiations will take place at Ecofin in June. Minister Giorgetti also discussed it with his German counterpart, the liberal Christian Lindner, who continues to ask for the introduction of common quantitative parameters for the reduction of public debt in the new economic governance of the EU. Minister Giorgetti reiterated the Italian position, which is contrary to predefined targets and asks as a “counter-proposal to consider investment expenditure, in particular those eligible for the purposes of the Pnrr, and defense expenditure, for example those relating to Ukraine differently than the others”. For Giorgetti “a country cannot be faced with the prospect of choosing whether to help Ukraine or break the rules of the Stability Pact, it seems to me absurd”.
Austria and Finland support Berlin
Germany is not isolated, Nordic countries like Austria and Finland support Berlin. While the Netherlands, usually the leader of the «Frugal», opposed a mandatory minimum parameter. The countries are divided but there is the awareness of having to reach an agreement by the end of the year before the Stability Pact is restored in January 2024. Elisabeth Svantesson, Finance Minister of Sweden, who holds the EU presidency , was frank at the press conference: «Will it be easy? No. Will it be possible? Yes”.