Giorgia Meloni said she was “extremely satisfied” with the outcome of the Council of Europe. At the press conference he held in Brussels today, he not only claimed Italy’s “great victory” in his opinion on almost all the files discussed at the Summit, but also constantly underlined what a change of pace and direction had taken with Italy. respect for the past. But in reality, especially on the economic level, the leader of the Brotherhood of Italy is fulfilling the demands in absolute continuity not only with the government of Giuseppe Conte and Mario Draghi, but also of Matteo Renzi.
Meloni has essentially two demands at the economic level in Europe: a European sovereign fund for the competitiveness of European industries and a Stability Pact reform that brings more flexibility in budgetary constraints. The prime minister said Italy wanted to “make a proposal for a European fund dedicated to strategic sovereignty”. Basically a new Next Generation EU, the so-called Recovery fund, a joint money fund that serves to help countries with very little budget margins, starting with Italy in response to the wrath of the United States.
The Recovery Fund, on the other hand, is nothing but a tool that the Conte government fought for and our country acquired with the support of Angela Merkel’s Germany. The vehicle was then implemented and completed thanks to his authority in Brussels, technically summoned by the prime minister to lead the executive, who replaced the leader of the 5 Star Movement and opposed by Meloni. Not just.
“The other thing we would like is that in future discussions on the Stability Pact, the fact that the national co-financing introduced affects the deficit/GDP ratio should be taken into account” and should instead be excluded, according to Italy. In practice, if our country uses co-financed cohesion funds, some of the projects are paid by Brussels and some are paid by the government with public money. Second, it counts in Government spending, hence the infamous deficit/GDP ratio, which must be below 3% in order to not comply with EU rules.
The government wants these investments not to be treated as such so that they can use that money to generate growth without violating the Commission’s fiscal rules. Meloni added that at this point the debate was “too long” and claimed that he had to “defend” his position vigorously. With a slogan, he said, “Until now, the Stability Pact has been more about stability than growth. Instead, we want it to be more about growth than stability.”
A sentence reminding a prime minister who came years before you said, “There is stability, but there is also growth. There is no future without growth.” This phrase was pronounced by Matteo Renzi in the Strasbourg Parliament in 2015, after which he launched the six-month presidency of the European Union under the leadership of Italy. Flexibility in the use of European funds was perhaps the main battle that the then leader of the Democrats brought to Brussels; it was a war with varying results, on which others were built over time. Two years later, the then Minister of Economy, Pier Carlo Padoan, introduced a ‘reduction’ of approximately 14 billion euros in the budget adjustment. Renzi called it an “important fact”, albeit “less than” he wanted.
Now, perhaps, praising those before him is not something that provides reconciliation in politics, nor is it a claim to act in continuity with the past. But a little memory wouldn’t hurt.
Source: Today IT
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
