Sources at Premier Paolo
Gentiloni's office said Thursday that the head of government's
decisions would protect the independence of the Bank of Italy.
On Tuesday, Gentiloni's Democratic Party (PD) caused a huge
furore by presenting a motion in the Lower House that came out
against Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco over his handling
of Italy's recent banking crisis, saying a "new phase was
needed".
Many saw the move as an attack on the independence of the
central bank.
The sources said that the premier's decisions will be "based
on the prerogatives attributed to him by the law and inspired
exclusively by the criteria of safeguarding the autonomy of the
institute".
Visco is coming to the end of his first term at the helm of
the Bank of Italy and, before the PD motion, had been expected
to get the nod for a second.
PD leader Matteo Renzi said in an interview published
Thursday that Gentiloni knew about a motion and had no
objections.
"The government was not simply informed: it was in
agreement," ex-premier Renzi told Quotidiano Nazionale.
"The government was not just aware of the parliamentary
motion, those who know parliamentary law, know that this motion
featured the government's opinion.
"This was there and it was positive".
Renzi added that he did not consider the motion an attack on
the central bank's independence.
"Doesn't parliament have the right to discuss things, while
stressing there there is no personal issues with Governor
Ignazio Visco?", he said.
Lando Sileoni, the leader of bank workers union FABI, on
Thursday blasted the motion.
"(PD leader Matteo) Renzi is trying to make the Bank of Italy
do the twist," Sileoni told an ANSA Forum.
"I don't think it deserves this treatment. The election
campaign has started".
He added that the motion was a "position that seeks to pass
the buck".
Amid reports of a rift between Gentiloni and Cabinet
Secretary Martia Elena Boschi, whose father was the deputy head
of one of four failed and rescued banks, sources at Gentiloni's
office voiced "full confidence" in Boschi.
On Thursday evening Renzi said on Italian TV:
"Between institutional etiquette and the rights of savers,
I'm on the side of the savers."
He said "then, what Gentiloni decides will have my support."
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