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because his seat costs Italians 10 billion euros – Libero Quotidiano


Sandro Iacometti

The exact accounts will be made in the end. But at a guess the race of Enrico Letta for the seat in Siena it could cost the Italians more 10 billion. Oh yes, because for the umpteenth time the path of the Democratic Party is intertwined with that of Mps. And if we look at the precedents, there is little for taxpayers to be happy about. Be careful not to lose the thread as the weave is intricate. Let’s leave out, to simplify, the ancient history of the Sienese bank, for decades controlled by the red local councils, through the Foundation, and the management messes that blew up budgets. We come directly to the years of the great banking crises, when the Pd-led government found itself in the throes of the Etruria & Ce crashes of the Veneto populations.

When the turn of the Monte dei Paschi, in 2017, the Minister of Economy, Pier Carlo Padoan, puts 5.4 billion of public money on the table. Not to facilitate the liquidation and sale of the institution, as it was for Pop Vicenza and Veneto Banca, but to allow the Treasury to enter the capital directly. After a long negotiation to convince Brussels that it was not about state aid, but about a temporary transaction at market conditions (the precautionary recapitalization), the Democratic Party also tries to pass the move as a bargain for the treasury coffers. Here is the result: the share of 64.2% purchased for 3.9 billion today is worth 700 million. Before burning over three billion of taxpayers, however, Padoan goes to the collection: he shows up and wins (albeit not by much) in 2018 in the Siena college.

This brings us to the most recent years, with the deadline set by the EU forexit of the Treasury from Mps ever closer and the situation of the “nationalized” bank increasingly disastrous. The attempt by the former Piddino minister fits into this scenario Roberto Gualtieri to give up the institution to Unicredit. The then to Jean Pierre Mustier, however, does not want to know. A part of the Democratic Party, especially the Tuscan one, either. And the months go by.

Until there is the twist: in November 2020 Padoan leaves politics (and the seat that Letta wants to take with the suppletives in the autumn) and joins the board of Unicredit to become president. After a while he also capitulates Mustier. In its place goes Andrea Orcel. The rest is history of these days. The new CEO has started negotiations with the Treasury to verify if the conditions for an acquisition exist. Not all of Mps, of course, but only the good part.

Which means leaving all the remaining rotten to the state, from bad debts to litigation, up to branches and excess employees. Analysts and experts are scrambling in these hours to calculate how much the operation will cost for taxpayers. In spans, among the more than two billion in tax credits already allocated by the government, the approximately 2 billion capital increase, the 4 billion in disputes and the charges for NPLs and redundancies the figure will approach 10 billion. In exchange, the state could enter, this time hoping to get something out of it, into Unicredit with a share of around 5%.

It can be done better? Perhaps. But it’s hard to think that Mario Draghie the Minister of Economy, Daniele Franco, who are not really newbies in terms of banks, will venture into a painful operation if it is not the only one available. The truth is that the damage has already been done. And now all that remains is to limit them. Quite the opposite of what the Democratic Party seems to think, which after an initial embarrassment has officially lined up against the negotiation that is unleashing the wrath of the unions and the revolt of the territory.

At the local level with the president of the Tuscany Region, Eugenio Giani, which defines the hypothesis as unacceptable and asks for a table with local authorities, and at a national level with the group leaders of the Chamber and Senate, who have asked Franco to report urgently to Parliament. Mind you, the Dems are not alone in these hours making a noise. But they are the only ones who have eaten for years with Mps and that now, after having brought the bank to its knees and drained the pockets of taxpayers, they come to Siena to ask for yet another dividend. Ten billion, it seems to understand, are already gone. The risk, more than concrete, is that in order to guarantee a seat for the secretary, the Democratic Party makes the bill even more salty.

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