With the reform of the Month we ended up in a trap ”. Interview with Claudio Borghi

If the reform of the MEDE is approved, Italy would end up “in a dead end, worse still, in a trap”. Claudio Borghi, deputy of the League and former president of the Budget Committee, speaks on the eve of the parliamentary hearing of the Minister of Economy Roberto Gualtieri and the Eurogroup.

Mr Borghi, this reform of the ESM was agreed at the Eurogroup level from 2018 when you were in government. Today the League is opposed, why?

Even then we strongly objected. Let’s take a step back: in the meantime, I would like to say that the hearing of Minister Gualtieri, scheduled for Monday, as it is always late and insufficient, on these things we discuss and vote calmly, no informal reports are made on the morning of the summit . Second point, until now we have always talked about the 36 billion of the Health Month, but here we must specify that we are talking about something much more radical, that is, the reform of the Month, but nobody has understood it. Having concluded the necessary premises, this reform began in 2018 and was one of the causes of the end of the yellow-green government because it was that very strong point of friction between us and the 5 stars on the one hand and the technical part, on the one hand that’s the minister. Tria and Prime Minister Conte, on the other.

To explain better.
We had given a very precise mandate to both Tria and Conte, that is, to oppose at the European level. And in fact Salvini said ‘we did not sign it’ and the M5S exalted the veto in the blog of the Stars. And now, after a year of pandemic, we are talking about the reform of the Month, which if approved, Italy would end up in a dead end.

Why would it end in a dead end?
Because at that time it would be like having built a trap with our own hands, because the new Mes system marks a path for states of high debt, like ours, which will lead to a result similar to that reserved for Greece. Then Troika and debt restructuring via Mes. It was already a suicide in 2019, much less after the pandemic with its relative increase in debt. Madness.

The executive argues that the Next Generation EU program is a historic achievement and not accepting the reform would be counterproductive.
If you do a reform where good and bad are believed, and only we are among the bad guys, it is obvious that all other countries agree. How is it possible that other countries have veto power and we never exercise it? The problem is that Gualtieri cannot say no to anything the EU is asking for because it is his job: our Minister of Economy is actually the servant of the Eurogroup.

The League also says no to the use of the Mes toilet. Don’t you think the 36 billion could be useful right now?
We have already shown that it is not logical, at this moment we are financing ourselves in the market at zero interest and without restrictions. Attention: I have read that the 5stelle have proposed an exchange for which the reform can be approved but not the money of the Month. No! The reform is much more dangerous than the 36 billion. If the reform were swept away in exchange for the collection of a few billions of Health Month, you could even think about it.

Palazzo Chigi is creating a Working Group and a very large structure for the management of the Recovery Fund money. Do you ask in any way to be part of it and collaborate?
It’s ridiculous, everywhere, in every financial institution, there is money to hire for the presidency of the Council. It is becoming a monster, a kind of centralization of power management, a super-ministry for Ceausescu, and it goes hand in hand with the exhaustion of Parliament. If the government is equipped to rule with just the Dpcm, it obviously needs a billion people, but our democracy shouldn’t work like that. There is the staff of the ministries, there is the Parliament and there are the committees.