“No to the privatization of Poste Italiane, it is a jewel which must remain in the hands of the Italians”.
So railed Giorgia Meloni in 2018 on Facebook.
Now Prime Minister of Italy, she is however preparing to sell shares to international investors.
Objective of the ultraconservative government: raise 20 billion euros by 2026 through privatizations in order to curb the explosion of public debt which displays the highest ratio in the euro zone after Greece.
In addition to the Post Office, which is very profitable thanks to its insurance and banking activities, the State intends to sell part of its shares in the railway company Ferrovie dello Stato and in the hydrocarbon giant Eni.
But there is no question for Giorgia Meloni of selling off public assets.
“Our approach will be light years away from what we saw in the past, when privatizations meant gifts to lucky entrepreneurs.
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Above all, the State intends to keep control of its jewelry.
“We can sell certain shares in public companies without compromising public control,” assures the head of the post-fascist Fratelli d’Italia party.
If initially the government planned to keep a majority of 51% in the Post Office, Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti mentioned on Friday a minimum threshold of 35%.
The Public Treasury holds a 29.26% share in Poste Italiane to which is added the 35% of the Italian Depository (CDP).
If he sold his entire share, he would collect 3.9 billion euros, or almost a fifth of the 20 billion targeted.
“We believe that the homeland cannot be sold”
This partial privatization mega-plan was strongly criticized by the opposition.
The government “always claims to belong to the homeland and, today, it is starting to sell the homeland.
We believe that the homeland cannot be sold,” said Andrea Orlando, deputy of the Democratic Party (center left), on Sunday.
Giorgia Meloni nevertheless intends to “strengthen the presence of the State where it is necessary”, as in the case of the ex-Ilva steelworks, on the verge of financial asphyxiation.
International investors are “all very interested” in the Italian state’s stakes, Giancarlo Giorgetti assured Wednesday.
Thanks to the expected revenues, Rome, the capital, intends to reduce the public debt ratio from 140.2% to 139.6% of GDP in 2026, instead of 140.6% in the absence of this measure.
Is this enough to reverse the trajectory of a colossal debt which reaches more than 2,800 billion euros?
“It’s just a drop in the ocean.
These privatizations do not reduce the risk of seeing the debt increase.
It is not a structural remedy,” comments Nicola Nobile of Oxford Economics.
Faced with sluggish growth and high interest rates, the government is struggling to reduce the swelling debt through a very generous ecological bonus system.
With these privatizations, “the Meloni government intends to send a signal to the markets showing that it is tackling the problem,” believes Nicola Nobile.
Big downside, the State renounces lucrative dividends, which reach several hundred million euros per year in the case of the Post Office.
“These semi-public companies like Eni are well managed and pay good dividends that the government gives up in exchange for a lump sum,” explains Lorenzo Codogno, former chief economist of the Italian Treasury.
And nothing indicates, according to him, that the amount of 20 billion will be collected: “it is a very ambitious objective which will be difficult to achieve”.