Giorgetti: 'In the Unicredit case on national security, the EU will not decide'

Unicredit's offer on Banco Bpm, to which the government has placed limits with the golden power, concerns national security and therefore does not leave room for intervention by the European Union. This is the message from the Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, on the eve of the board of directors' meeting on the accounts of the bank led by Andrea Orcel.

"Brussels has competences in banking and competition matters. The Italian state has decided on national security, not Europe, up to this point," Giorgetti said on the sidelines of a meeting in Tirano, regarding a possible intervention by the European Commission after the obstacles placed by the government on Unicredit's road to Piazza Meda. "I think the golden power has been evaluated. It is a decision that was taken by the Council of Ministers, now as the golden power says there is monitoring. The interested parties must do things and demonstrate things and we will evaluate those," he added, speaking of Unicredit. At stake are the different visions of the government and the Commission offices on the operation, so much so that a letter arrived in Rome from Brussels over a month ago on the use of the 'special power' and on compliance with European rules that essentially delegate to the ECB the task of evaluating bank acquisitions.

It happened before the Council of Ministers of April 18, where there was a bitter confrontation between the majority forces on the stakes at Unicredit. So much so that Forza Italia had its reservations recorded on the legal basis for the exercise of the 'special power' on the exchange offer for Banco Bpm. The Directorate-General for Competition of the EU Commission will express its opinion by mid-June in the antitrust area. And there is no doubt about this. The doubt is rather whether the government should notify the EU of the decision of April 18. According to the European regulation on concentrations, a State can intervene with national rules - specifically the golden power - when national security is at stake.

For Giorgetti this is the case, consequently Italy decides on Unicredit and not Europe. In the banking risk that has thrown the Italian financial system into turmoil, involving shareholders such as the Caltagirone group or Delfin of Del Vecchio, present in several institutions involved, the national interest for the offer of MPS on Mediobanca has not been recognized. On the takeover bid between two banks, evidently considered fully Italian, the government has not used the golden power. While waiting to understand if it will use it for the offer of Piazzetta Cuccia on Banca Generali, which in addition to being a defense of Mediobanca from Siena aims to create an Italian champion in managed savings, Giorgetti was asked for an opinion on the takeover bid of Bper on Popolare di Sondrio.

"Everyone calls the government into play on all the issues. The government intervenes, when the law calls for it to intervene, with evaluations and then there are market situations. Of course Sondrio means a lot to this territory and this cannot be ignored. My hope is that this operation, I don't know if it will be concluded and how it will be concluded, takes into account the specificities of the territory", replied the minister on the sidelines of the meeting with the students of Valtellina on the 2026 Olympics. Meanwhile, on Sunday the spotlight will be turned towards Piazza Gae Aulenti where the board of directors will approve the quarterly results that will be communicated on Monday. It is expected that the meeting will also touch on the topic of golden power while the shadow of a withdrawal of the offer on Banco Bpm remains. But Orcel can take his time to decide.