RETE is once again taking aim at the government’s economic and financial policy, this time targeting Secretary of State for Finance Marco Gatti. The movement’s intervention comes after remarks made by Pdcs group leader Gian Carlo Venturini at the Festa dell’Amicizia (Friendship Festival), which RETE contrasts with the content of a resolution passed by the Finance Commission — initially approved in a closed session and later made public.
“At the Festa dell’Amicizia, Gian Carlo Venturini thanked Finance Secretary Marco Gatti for having, over six years of work, built ‘an economic structure that today allows us to have our accounts in order.’ Too bad that the resolution presented by his own majority in the Finance Commission — approved in a closed session but recently made public — paints a very different picture,” RETE states in its statement.
According to the movement, the document reportedly lists a series of issues on which the government and the Finance Secretariat are still expected to act. Among these, RETE cites talks with Italy and the Bank of Italy on the Clarifying Addendum, the state of the banking system, the securitization operation, the structure of Central Bank supervision, and cooperation with the ECB and other European authorities.
“In short, the Commission still has to ask Gatti and the government today for quite a few things that have yet to be done: to launch talks with Italy and the Bank of Italy on the Clarifying Addendum, to report on the state of the banking system and the securitization operation, to review the structure and operating procedures of Central Bank supervision, to improve cooperation with the ECB and other European authorities, and, above all, to draw up a national strategy for strengthening and modernizing the banking system.”
Hence the movement’s political jab: “In other words, rather than ‘consolidating the economic structure,’ it seems we’re still laying the foundations!”
The statement also addresses the issue of relations with the Bank of Italy. “The memorandum of understanding with the Bank of Italy — which for years Gatti told us was no longer needed given the overriding agreement with the European Central Bank — has once again become necessary and, naturally, after years of inaction it will take time to finalize it,” RETE argues.
Another chapter concerns the securitization of non-performing loans. The movement points to a passage in the resolution which, according to the statement, calls for an assessment of “the results, shortcomings and usefulness of the guarantee provided by the State,” also in light of concerns reportedly raised by the oversight body responsible for protecting the public interest in the operation.
For RETE, the content of the resolution amounts to a negative assessment of the work carried out so far by the Finance Secretariat. “What clearly emerges from the resolution signed — let us repeat — by the majority itself is a long list of unmet obligations, unresolved problems, and objectives yet to be achieved, along with a resounding rejection of Gatti’s work.”
The movement also returns to the initial decision to keep the document confidential, arguing that “now it’s clear why the text was kept away from prying eyes until the opposition insisted on making it public.”
“If we’re not back to square one, we’re not far off — and it is the majority itself that underscores this, by drawing up the list of tasks Secretary Gatti has left undone, a politically highly significant fact. Hardly a financial policy worth celebrating!” RETE concludes.
