On Friday 21 November, the European Commission decided to initiate infringement proceedings against Italy concerning the Italian ‘golden powers’ decree (21/2012), which grants the Italian government broad prerogatives to review, block or impose conditions on corporate transactions in the banking sector.
While intended to safeguard national security and public order, “this legislation, as applied by the Italian authorities, risks allowing for unjustified interventions on economic grounds which compromises the principles of freedom of establishment and the free movement of capital within the Single Market”, said the EU institution in a statement. Moreover, the Italian legislation overlaps with the“exclusive competences” of the European Central Bank under the Single Supervisory Mechanism.
A spokeswoman for the Commission, Arianna Podestà, assured us that this initiative was not linked to any specific case.
In July, however, the EU institution had asked Rome to clarify the conditions imposed on the takeover of Banco BPM by its competitor UniCredit, using the “golden powers” decree (see EUROPE 13680/21).
Italy has two months to respond to the letter of formal notice. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)