Mes: Forza Italia will not support the reform but remains in favor of using the funds

• Di Maio "As long as the Movement is in government, the Mes will not be there"

• Mes, Eurogroup agreement on reform

• Mes, Gualtieri: ok to the reform, but on use the Parliament decides

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01 December 2020 "On 9 December we will not support the ESM reform in Parliament because we do not believe that the modification of the Stability Mechanism approved by the Eurogroup is satisfactory for Italy and does not even go in the direction proposed by the European Parliament".

So Silvio Berlusconi at the end of a day in which strong pressure from Lega and Fratelli d'Italia was recorded.

"There are two reasons that mainly concern us. The first: the decisions on the use of the fund will be taken by majority vote by the States. This means that the money paid by Italy can be used elsewhere even against the Italian will - underlines the President of FI - The second: the Fund will be European only in form because the European Parliament will have no power of control and the European Commission will be called upon to play a purely notarial role. Unfortunately our proposals for an indispensable reform of the Mes which have been confirmed by the vote of the European Parliament. And this certainly does not represent a positive fact. For these reasons therefore Forza Italia will not vote in Parliament for this reform of the Mes ".

But Berlusconi is also keen to clarify: "The reform in question has nothing to do with the use of the 37 billion for the fight against Covid".

And this remains the fundamental issue that divides him from the position of the League.

"I am not shirking the debate on the MES. The MES is debt and Minister Gualtieri, with whom I work very well, has clearly stated that it is not 37 billion euros, but 300 million euros. Not only is the ESM useless, it does not even give 37 billion. However, it binds with ties and snares that we cannot afford, reminiscent of the times of austerity. it will be used, also because there are no numbers in Parliament. The debate has no reason to exist either ".

Luigi Di Maio said it in a direct on facebook.

At Palazzo Madama, after Berlusconi's no, the votes are small.

The Democratic Party will try to follow the pattern adopted in the other resolutions already voted by Parliament, but the pentastellati ask that there be black and white no to the use of funds.

It is also true that some Italian senators (the intergroup on the yes to the MES is largely composed of members of the force) could deviate from the line decided by the Knight.

"I don't know if the paths of Salvini and Berlusconi will separate, I know that if Forza Italia voted against the Mes after invoking it, it would exhaust all political functions".

Said the vice president of the group of Fi in the Chamber, Gianfranco Rotondi.

But the risk that on December 9 the red-yellows will split over Prime Minister Conte's communications, in view of the European Council, remains high.

The dem do not back down, they ask that Italy's signature on the reform does not reserve shadows.

"Minister Gualtieri has a clear mandate. The credibility of the country is in danger", explains a member of the Democratic Party who will contribute to drafting the document.