FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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Italian Elections Debating Issues of Glass-Steagall, Infrastructure vs. EU Budget Rules

Jan. 25, 2018 (EIRNS)—Three Italian political parties, Five Star Movement (M5S), Lega, and Fratelli d'Italia (FdI, Brothers of Italy) have Glass-Steagall in their party platform. Lega and Fratelli are part of the center-right coalition, together with Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia.

M5S and FdI have also called for a Glass-Steagall bank separation between depository commercial banks and speculative private banks in a draft for the final report of the Parliamentary Investigative Commission on banking crises. However, Commission head Pierferdinando Casini (allied to the Democratic Party, PD), told Corriere della Sera that "such a proposal is being examined by the EU Commission, which has no intention of approving it."

FdI head Giorgia Meloni went further this morning in a Raitre television talk show. Commenting on a commuter train derailment due to a rail failure south of Milan early this morning, which left 3 dead and some 50 injured, many seriously, Meloni said that this highlights the idiocy of EU budget laws that prevent investment in infrastructure. It's one thing to have a budget deficit to finance current expenses, but another thing to finance infrastructure. It is legitimate to leave a debt to posterity, Meloni said, when posterity is going to receive something productive. She stressed the importance of infrastructure for Southern Italy.

All three parties in the center-left coalition have targeted the EU deficit rules. Lega head Salvini said that "if it is not good for Italy, the [EU] 3% rule will be ignored."