By Sudip Kar-Gupta and Giselda Vagnoni
BRUSSELS/ROME (Reuters) -The European Commission on Friday issued a formal warning to the Italian government that its so-called ‘golden powers’ over some takeover deals could breach EU law, as Brussels tries to stop member states from obstructing banking sector consolidation.
Rome’s powers are aimed at safeguarding the national interest in strategic sectors such as defence and telecommunications. Italy is one of a number of EU countries which have also applied that legislation to the banking sector.
“The Commission has raised concerns over the so-called ‘Golden Powers’ legislation, which grants the Italian government broad prerogatives to review, block or impose conditions on corporate transactions in the banking sector,” the Commission said in a statement.
Italy’s UniCredit has blamed the government’s intervention for its decision to drop a takeover bid for smaller lender Banco BPM.
Italy has now two months to respond and address the shortcomings raised by the Commission.
On Friday, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said that Rome would respond to the EU’s objections in the appropriate forums and draft a legislative proposal to clarify the situation and overcome the objections.
“We are convinced that this will enable us to establish a shared framework of competences,” he said in a statement.
Reuters reported in October that Italy was ready to make some changes to its golden power rules without radically altering them.
Rome’s prime concern is to maintain the principle, which has been confirmed by some Italian court rulings, that the government has the right to defend its national interest in business matters.
European Commission spokesperson Arianna Podesta told journalists in Brussels that Friday’s decision was about the Golden Power legislation in itself, and does not refer to any specific case.
Reuters reported this month that, that in a separate procedure, the EU was preparing to order Italy to withdraw a government decree that set conditions on UniCredit’s bid for BPM.
Among several prescriptions, Italy told UniCredit it had to halt activities in Russia by early 2026.
“Article 21 of the merger regulation procedures is separate, and there we have not taken any decision,” Podesta said.
A decision stating that Rome’s prescriptions are unlawful would potentially expose the state to billions of euros in damage claims by UniCredit, Reuters has previously reported.
(Reporting by Dheeraj Kumar in Bengaluru, Sudip Kar-Gupta in Brussels, Giselda Vagnoni in Rome; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Mark Potter)
