Tremonti: "There are no conspiracies against the executive"

“There is global chaos, not a conspiracy.” Giulio Tremonti, who was the Minister of Economy of the last centre-right government led by Berlusconi, debunks in an interview with "Repubblica" the theses that are spreading in government circles about an international direction behind the problems (from the increase in the cost of money to the immigration bomb) which distress the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. “The current situation – he specifies – is not comparable to that of 2011”. Tremonti, exceptional witness of the Knight's fall, explains why. “We are experiencing a shock that alters social structures, comparable, if you like, to the effect that explained the conquest of America in the 500th century, together with the other phenomenon which was the invention of the press, comparable today to artificial intelligence . We are in the midst of a new mundus furiosus, with the end of the utopia of globalization and positive and progressive development. Today you see wars and violent asymmetries.

Our government finds itself in the midst of these phenomena." He seems to take it at a distance. "Not too much. The war had an anesthetic effect, it reduced international political-financial tensions in the name of the common front. In the previous decade, on an economic level, the recipe had been to print money, reduce rates to zero, the ECB had violated the rules of the euro by buying government bonds. As a result, inflation was artificially compressed." “But now – urges theformer minister – everything is changing, that trend is the opposite. You have to manage it. The Prime Minister must be acknowledged for having understood the intensity of the mutatis rerum".

However, the issues are now coming home to roost. There is the maneuver, the rise in rates, a huge public debt. “The situation is difficult, someone had hoped that Italy was the locomotive of Europe and that's not true. But I don't think that our economy is worse off than others, for example the Germany, forced to face the crisis of its economic model: import of low-cost energy from Russia and export of high-value products to Asia. And France also has a significant public debt." As for the end of the honeymoon with the Italians: “Economic and social conditions are deteriorating across Europe, and this has an effect on citizens' confidence everywhere. But the Italian government's pact with the social partners seems to me to be an intelligent move. The mistake not to be made would be to not make a prudent, reasonable move, without electoral concessions. We could pay dearly for it. But I don't think we will." Analysts say that the markets are losing confidence, especially after the law that cuts banks' extra profits. “We also introduced a tax on extra profits – recalls the former minister – in 2008 but he did not provoke these reactions. Let's say that this time it could have been formulated better. Among other things, the limit was to exclude small banks from the measure, ignoring that they too can derive profits from the differential between interest on mortgages and deposits. But the modification is already under discussion,” concluded Tremonti.