A reform of the European
Stability Mechanism (ESM) European Union bailout fund "must be
improved," Foreign Minister and ruling anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio said amid a clash between
Premier Giuseppe Conte and nationalist League leader Matteo
Salvini on the issue Friday.
"The issue is not the ESM per se, but whether it is a
save-State or crush-State (mechanism)", Di Maio said.
Salvini on Thursday accused Conte of "betraying" Italians
over the reform and urged President Sergio Mattarella to
intervene, and Conte responded by threatening to sue Salvini for
libel.
In an interview with La Stampa newspaper Friday, Salvini
returned to the attack, accusing Conte of "covering Italy with
lies" and saying "the Italians' money is at risk with the
bailout fund."
Asked about the libel threat, he said "Conte should join the
queue, first comes Carola" (Rackete), an NGO migrant rescue ship
captain.
Salvini reiterated his call for Mattarella to intervene.
Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri told the QN newspaper that
"the reform of the ESM does not introduce any problematic
novelty and does not present any risk for Italy, which does not
need, and will not need, to ask for the ESM's support, since it
is a solid country".
The EU is set to sign off next month on a reform that would
make the ESM more akin to the IMF, with support for States in
financial difficulty made conditional on debt restructuring.
But it is unclear whether the restructuring demand would be
automatic or not.
Italy is considered by experts to be vulnerable to market
turbulence due to its huge public debt of over 2,000 billion
euros.
Premier Conte is said to be thinking about trying to postpone
the reform at an EU summit next month.
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