By Giuseppe Fonte and Angelo Amante
ROME, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Foreign shareholders of Italy’s central bank should not be able to claim rights over the country’s gold reserves, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s nationalist party said in an internal document, amid a mounting spat between the ruling coalition and the ECB over the matter.
The European Central Bank twice urged the ruling coalition – including Meloni’s Brothers of Italy – to reconsider an amendment to its 2026 budget law, under which the Bank of Italy’s gold belongs to “the Italian people”, citing risks to the central bank’s independence.
“Italy cannot run the risk of private investors claiming rights over the Italian gold reserves. This is why we need a law that clarifies ownership,” Meloni’s party said in the internal report, stressing some of the Bank of Italy’s stakeholders were foreign.
THIRD-LARGEST NATIONAL GOLD RESERVES
The Bank of Italy, a public institution independent from the government, holds the world’s third-largest national gold stockpile, behind the United States and Germany.
Its 2,452 metric tons of gold are worth some $300 billion, equivalent to roughly 13% of Italy’s national output.
Shares in the capital of the central bank are held by 175 financial stakeholders, including Italian banking heavyweights Intesa SanPaolo and UniCredit as well as France’s lender Credit Agricole and German insurer Allianz.
“Gold reserves are owned by the people who have accumulated them over the years, and therefore, in this case, by the Italian people. This is a provision that everyone takes for granted. Yet it has never been codified in Italian law, unlike in other countries, including EU member states,” the document added.
The party’s position was laid down in a “non-suitable for distribution” five-page internal document sent to lawmakers and seen by Reuters.
While opposing the initiative, the ECB said in both its legal opinions that national central banks and their decision-making bodies should not seek or take instructions from any member state government.
Frankfurt also warned that a transfer of gold reserves off the Bank of Italy’s balance sheet would circumvent the prohibition on central banks financing the public sector.
Senator Lucio Malan, one of the amendment’s sponsors, said the government was working on a rewording to take into account the remarks from the ECB.
Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti is expected to discuss the matter with the ECB’s chief Christine Lagarde on the sidelines of this week’s finance ministers’ summit in Brussels, politicians said.
(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte and Angelo Amante; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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