Unicredit-BPM: EU criticizes Italian government, says decree imposing obligations on the bank breaches EU rules

Brussels – Yes to the Unicredit-BPM merger, but no to government control of the new bank. The European Commission issued a stop to the decree that allows the government and its economy ministry to examine the bank’s investments and activities. In a letter sent to Rome, Brussels warns that the measures launched in Italy would breach the community rules on competition, as well as on banking supervision. 

The merger between the banks and the government’s role is two separate and successive things. The twelve-star Antitrust Authority has already given the green light to the Unicredit-Bpm merger, and the deal is not under discussion. According to the Commission’s services, what does not make sense is the issuing of the decree which took place “separately” and which, the EU executive emphasizes, “imposes obligations on UniCredit to complete the acquisition of BPM,” based on national legislation authorizing Italian authorities to examine investments in companies active in specific sectors of strategic importance, including the banking sector (the so-called ‘Golden Power’). “The decree may contravene Article 21 of EU Internal Market Regulation,” the Commission warns.

Italy would therefore have changed the rules of the game while the game was already underway, prompting calls for corrective measures. Not least because, the Commission says, “the preliminary assessment finds also that the Decree may be incompatible with other provisions of EU law, including on the free movement of capital and prudential oversight by the European Central Bank.“

The censure is not good news for the Meloni government, nor for Unicredit, which has launched a takeover bid for Commerzbank. The government is preventing the takeover of the German institution, and the fact that the EU spotlight is shining on Unicredit-BPM for alleged irregularities and violations of the rules strengthens Berlin’s argument against the Italian bank’s advance in the German market.