Giorgia Meloni must defend Mps, or maybe not. There are many unknowns about the new phase of the banking risk game, but one thing is certain. Luigi Lovaglio’s counter-move to Intesa Sanpaolo’s takeover bid has completely thrown the PD into chaos, split between the need to exploit the defense of Mps for the electoral campaign in Tuscany and the conditioned reflex to take it out on the prime minister regardless. Pay attention to the timeline.
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On August 19, not a passerby, but Antonio Misiani, the PD’s economic head, a competent and usually serious person, stated that he had “positively welcomed the words of the Prime Minister and her hope to avoid the dismantling of Mps.” This is because Monte “represents a heritage and a fundamental infrastructure for the economy of the affected territories.”
But that’s not all. According to Misiani, the only way the State can keep Intesa Sanpaolo in check, with its aspirations of conquest and possible break-up, because that was the only menu on the table until a few days ago, is to remain “in the capital of Mps to play an active role in safeguarding the integrity of Monte, employment, and presence in the territory.”
A couple of days pass, Mps CEO Luigi Lovaglio launches the double takeover bid to defend precisely “the integrity and identity of the bank,” and here comes the new Misiani: “Politics must not intervene heavy-handedly,” “the prime minister wants to act as a banker,” “reading the position of Deputy Prime Minister Salvini and the rumors from the Fdi world (which defend Mps, ed.) worries us.” Statements on which the PD Senate group leader Francesco Boccia also piles on: “The government must stop behaving like a player in the banking risk game.”
It’s hard to understand what has changed compared to two days ago. Marco Osnato, Fdi’s economic head, also wonders: “Misiani accuses Meloni of wanting to ‘act as a banker'” but “hopes that the Treasury maintains its stake in Mps to ‘give voice to the territories’.” It would be useful, Osnato hopes, to understand not only Misiani’s position but also how his words “reconcile with those of Boccia, who says the government should stay out of the risk game.” Also because on August 25, local authorities, including the Tuscany Region, led by the PD’s Giani, will go to Giorgetti to ask him, guess what, to defend Mps. The PD’s somersaults have just begun.
