The European Court of Justice confirms that Vestager was wrong with Tercas. Who will pay the damages now?
The European Court of Justice has flatly rejected the Commission's appeal in the Tercas case. Let's remember what had happened: Tercas, a small bank in Molise, was in difficulty and had to be saved in conjunction between Banco Popolare di Bari and the Italian Deposit Protection Fund (FITD). The FITD was a fund financed on a voluntary basis by banks to intervene directly in bank bailouts such as the Tercas case.
The solution, however, was blocked by the European Commission, specifically by the Competition Commissioner of the time, Mrs Vestager, because the intervention of the FITD was judged as a public fund, and her intervention as a state aid, as the president he was appointed by the bank of Italy, even though registration was voluntary and not compulsory. The government of the time, the Renzi government, instead of going ahead with the bailout plan anyway, stopped everything, only intervened Popolare di Bari, sending it into crisis, among other things. The fund was practically put into liquidation, complete with the resignation of the president, Professor Paolo Savona, while the government passed the approximate and devastating legislation of the Bail Out.
On the basis of this legislation, therefore, the FIDT, Banca Etruria, Carife, Carichieti and Bancamarche were resolved without any intervention of the now forbidden. So the fact that no one would ever intervene again to avoid crises in the credit system amplified the crisis already present in Veneto Banca and Banca Popolare di Vicenza.
The commission's decision was submitted to an appeal to the European Court of Justice by Banca Popolare di Bari, and this first appeal saw the commission unsuccessful in 2019. The Commission appealed, and now we have the final sentence: the Commission, and specifically Commissioner Vestager, they lost. The FIDT was a private fund, its intervention was in no way a state aid, the Commission was completely wrong.
And now, who will pay the damages? We are not talking about those directly linked to Tercas – B Pop in Bari, but those brought to the whole Italian banking system and to the trust of savers. Who will pay for the life of suicides for both Banca Etruria and the Venetian banks? At this point, the Commission should be expected to fully repay these damages, which, by eye, amount to at least tens of billions. It could then be added that, at the very least, one could ask for the resignation of those who made such a devastating choice and of all the managers who recommended it. But no one ever resigns in Brussels, even in the face of the most glaring mistakes.
Now someone will have to pay, at least hopefully. As it is hoped that all those who have been part of the decision-making chain will be jointly and severally called to respond, depending on the doors in the question. In the first Conte government, a motion was approved in which the government was asked to pursue the responsibilities of anyone who had taken this decision in order to obtain full reimbursement for damages. Perhaps it is time to see a similar new motion approved, to strengthen the will of the Government, which must be firm on this matter.
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The article The European Court of Justice confirms that Vestager was wrong with Tercas. Who will pay the damages now? comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-corte-di-giustizia-europea-conferma-che-la-vestager-aveva-torto-con-tercas-chi-ripaghera-ora-i-danni/ on Wed, 03 Mar 2021 06:30:57 +0000.