BRUSSELS. Stability Pact, full steam ahead with the new rules. After the green light from the Chamber of the European Parliament, the Council of the EU also approves the reform of the common budget rules, with Italy joining its partners and supporting the file. The final approval came at the Agriculture Council meeting, where the ministers of the Twenty-Seven voted on the legislative texts without discussion. The opportunity to speak out against the new pact was missed. On the contrary, the Meloni government gave its “yes”. It was the Undersecretary of Agriculture, Luigi d’Eramo (Lega), who supported all three measures that modify the economic governance of the European Union, marking the divide between the government and the majority parties.
At the end of December, the Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti (Lega), signed the provisional agreement to reform the stability pact, which calls for clear debt reduction commitments (countries like Italy, with a debt/GDP ratio above 90% will have to reduce this excess by 1% every year). An agreement that does not convince the government parties, who abstained en masse during the vote in the European Parliament last week. Not only was there no negative vote in the Council, but the abstention offered in Parliament was not even confirmed. Only Belgium abstains, but only on one provision, the regulation on the effective coordination of economic policies and multilateral budgetary surveillance. For the rest everyone agrees. D’Eramo does not disavow his party colleague Giorgetti, but there are divergences between the declarations and political decisions, which highlight difficulties and contradictions within the Fratelli d’Italia-Lega-Forza Italia alliance on the file.
From the opposition rises Pasquale Tridico, candidate for the Southern constituency in the European elections for the 5 Star Movement. By voting in favor «Giorgia Meloni has shown that she is a patriot, yes, but of the austerity hawks», the criticism of the Five Star Movement, worried about the practical repercussions that the new pact will have on the national economy. He cites estimates from the Confederation of European Trade Unions, according to which the new budget constraints «will lead to 100 billion in cuts for all European countries and Italy will be the most affected with a reduction in public spending estimated at at least 13 billion per year for seven years.” Giuseppe Conte, leader of the 5 Star Movement, is even harsher. «Today the Meloni Government had the possibility of stopping cuts of 13 billion a year in Europe to the detriment of Italy with one vote. Minister Lollobrigida had the opportunity to vote as a “patriot” but evidently he is better at stopping trains than at stopping an unfortunate pact for Italy. He didn’t even show up at the meeting and sent an Undersecretary.”
The real challenge actually seems to be the implementation of the pact which comes into force immediately. Publication in the Official Journal is scheduled for tomorrow (30 April), and from that same moment the new economic governance framework will be law. By September 20, each country will have to notify Brussels of its plans to reduce macro-economic imbalances, and there is therefore no time to waste, especially as partners are already starting to apply pressure. «Now is the time for rapid implementation», urges Vincent van Peteghem, Belgian Finance Minister and rotating president of the Ecofin council, who asks us to start doing our homework immediately given that, he insists, the new rules « they will safeguard balanced and sustainable public finances and increase the focus on structural reforms.”