by Angelo Amante, Giselda Vagnoni and Crispian Balmer
ROME, Aug 25 (Reuters) – The Italian right-wing alliance’s public spending plans will respect European rules and will not increase the state debt, says Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the Italian Brotherhood party ( FdI), favorite to lead the government after next month’s elections.
The one who could thus be the first woman to chair the Council of Ministers declared that she wanted to favor investment to boost economic growth while promising to manage the finances of the State responsibly.
“I am very cautious,” she said in an interview with Reuters in her parliament office. “No responsible person can imagine sinking the country’s finances until they have a full picture of the resources that can be invested.”
The September 25 poll was called after the fall of the government of national unity led by Mario Draghi, of which the IDF, led by Giorgia Meloni, was the main opposition force. According to polls on voting intentions, the alliance led by the nationalist party, which also includes the League and Forza Italia, should win.
This prospect worries the financial markets, reassured on the contrary by the figure of Mario Draghi, ex-president of the European Central Bank (ECB). A concern that has resulted in a sharp increase in state financing costs in recent weeks.
The program of the alliance of the rights includes important reductions of taxes and duties, a lowering of the retirement age and a tax amnesty, measures which seem difficult to implement without damage in a country whose public debt already represents 147% of gross domestic product (GDP).
“We have put on paper a few subjects that depend on the state accounts (..) The first thing we would have to do would be the draft budget, and we clearly intend to do so while respecting the required parameters,” said Georgia Meloni.
“We want a different attitude from Italy on the international scene, for example in relations with the European Commission (but) that does not mean that we want to destroy Europe, that we want to leave Europe, that we want do crazy things,” added the one whose party has in the past defended positions hostile to the euro.
“It just means explaining that the defense of the national interest is important for us as it is for the French and for the Germans.”
FOR AN ADJUSTMENT OF THE STABILITY PACT
She refused to answer a question about the possibility, raised by several media, that Fabio Panetta, one of the members of the ECB’s executive board, would join a right-wing government, contenting himself with qualifying him as a personality “of the highest quality”.
For Georgia Meloni, the European Stability and Growth Pact, which provides for a ceiling on public deficits at 3% of GDP and public debt at 60% but which has been suspended since the start of the coronavirus crisis, cannot be applied again without being fitted out.
She suggested that government spending on cushioning the impact of the energy crisis on households and businesses should be excluded from deficit and debt calculations.
“On the energy file, the countries facing the biggest difficulties because of their past debts could be better helped,” she said.
Georgia Meloni has also ruled out any plan to nationalize 100% of the oil company Eni and the electricity giant Enel on the model of the project launched by France for EDF, considering that the two Italian groups had demonstrated their success in their current configuration.
For her, however, it is up to the government to protect activities of strategic importance, in particular from the greed of foreign predators.
Among other things, the FdI want the public group Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) to take control of the former telecommunications monopoly Telecom Italia, in which it is already a shareholder, and to manage its national broadband network.
“My goal is a non-vertical integrated network owned by the state and private operators who operate within the framework of free competition”, said Georgia Meloni.
The FdI are also opposed to the plan to sell the majority of the capital of the airline company ITA Airways launched by the Draghi government and want the case to be settled by the next government.
“I asked for a break because it is very important to know (..) if it is possible to keep a national company”, said Georgia Meloni.
(Report Angelo Amante, Giselda Vagnoni and Crispian Balmer in Rome, with Yoruk Bahceli in Amsterdam, French version Marc Angrand, edited by Kate Entringer)