NFollowing the ECB’s latest decisions, several Italian political parties have offered a foretaste of what the country, and by extension Europe, faces in the coming year: they are trying to create an anti-European mood that rejects any outside interference.
The right-wing populist party Lega, which is part of the governing coalition and led by former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, has called an emergency meeting for Monday. “An attack on Italy has begun,” lamented Salvini. The ECB’s decisions were aimed at “burying Italy”.
On Thursday, the central bank announced interest rate hikes and the end of bond purchases, from which Italy particularly benefited. Now it is necessary, according to Salvini, “to react immediately in order to defend the jobs and savings of the Italians”. There would be “someone who wants Italy to be worse off than Greece. We will fight back with all means,” he announced. Because: “Italy will not be sold.”
“The ECB’s initiative comes at an inopportune time”
Georgia Meloni, leader of the right-wing opposition party Fratelli d’Italia, took the same line. According to the latest polls, her party shares the lead with the centre-left Partito Democratico. It cannot be ruled out that Meloni will become prime minister after the general elections in spring 2023, if she manages to forge a right-of-centre coalition.
“In my opinion, the ECB’s initiative is untimely and betrays a short-sightedness on the part of the European institutions and the monetary institutions that should be questioned,” Meloni said at a campaign rally. Prime Minister Mario Draghi must intervene. The ECB’s loose monetary policy helped a lot against the “two shocks – the pandemic and the war” and should not be abandoned now. Otherwise, Italy and Europe would be “governed by a ruling class incapable of recognizing reality”.
Parts of the Italian press were the echo chamber of these attacks. “Europe is bombing itself,” headlined the daily Il Giornale, owned by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s brother. “Lagarde is destroying the stock exchange” was the headline of the young financial newspaper “Verità & Affari”, which accused the ECB President of the collapse in share prices on the Milan Stock Exchange of more than 5 percent on Friday.
The political center lacks a coalition partner
There was also criticism from the left, albeit more moderately. Giuseppe Conte, leader of the Five Star Party, lamented that the interest rate intervention would “create new difficulties for families”. “We have all the ingredients for an explosive mix, and after two years of the pandemic, we cannot afford a recession on the backs of families and businesses,” Conte said. Only Enrico Letta, leader of the Partito Democratico, held back and called for further structural reforms from the government.
The PD is also quite popular with Italians at the moment, but may lack a strong coalition partner as the Five Star Party falters. New signals are expected from the local elections this weekend. Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is working on a “field of supporters” for incumbent Prime Minister Mario Draghi. He hopes for a broad alliance of small parties in the political center. It is completely open whether the alliance has a chance and whether 74-year-old Draghi wants to continue at all.
The government held back with statements on the ECB. Finance Minister Daniele Franco said that rising interest rates were to be expected and expressed his hope that “this increase will be without tension, without a shock”.
