For the time being, Italy is the only country in the euro zone not to have ratified the reform of the European stability mechanism, intended to help European countries in the event of financial difficulties. Rome sees it as an instrument of austerity imposed by the North on the countries of the South.
MO12345lemonde with AFP
The Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was clearly criticized, Thursday, December 22, the European Stability Mechanism (MES), the rescue fund for the euro zone whose reform must be debated in the National Parliament.
“The question I would like to ask, before entering the debate that will take place in Parliament on the ratification or not of something little useful, is: can we make this tool useful?”, A-T -It declared in the Porta television program broadcast on the public channel Rai 1.
“As long as I count for something, I can sign with blood the fact that Italy will not appeal to the MES,” she noted.
Created in 2012, the MES borrows on the financial markets to provide loans at improved rate in the states of the euro zone in difficulty, which must in return implement reforms to improve their competitiveness and clean up their public finances.
“too strict” conditions
This mechanism has a maximum loan capacity of 500 billion euros intended to help, in the event of financial difficulties, countries sharing the single currency. It is the subject of a deep distrust in Italy, where it is considered as an instrument of austerity imposed by northern Europe on southern countries.
At the beginning of 2021, the member states of the euro zone had signed a treaty strengthening the role of this fund, opening the way to its ratification by national parliaments before its entry into force. For the time being, Italy is the only country in the euro zone not to have ratified the reform.
The use of this mechanism is accompanied by strict reform conditions, such as those imposed on Greece during its bailout in 2015, when the left government of the time had lost access to the financial markets.
“Why has the MES have never been used by anyone? Because the conditions are too strict and because the MES is a privileged creditor, that is to say that in the event of difficulty, it is the First to be reimbursed, “added M me meloni.