Germany saves its banks with public money, we were bail-in

Rome, Dec 8 – With the green light for the public rescue of the German bank NordLB the EU Commission, in case there was still need for it, certifies that in Europe there are more and more children and stepchildren. Or, to quote Orwell, animals "more equal than others". To the former – Germany, in this as in many other cases – (almost) everything is allowed, the others must obey without a word. The umpteenth confirmation that the architecture of the Union and, in particular, of the eurozone, rather than smoothing out the internal divisions is doing nothing but making them now unsustainable.

Germany saves the bank in crisis

3.6 billion. A much amounts the sum that the landers of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt will commit to saving the NordLB institute, struggling with a long crisis. A sanitary cordon that will also feature the German equivalent of the deposit protection fund, the Dsgv. Also present in the assembly are some savings banks, always controlled by local authorities.

The EU Commission, which has always been keen when it comes to public intervention in the economy, has approved the transaction as it would not constitute State aid but it would take place "under the same conditions that a private operator would have accepted". Pragmatic formula though it is not reflected in reality. First of all because at the beginning of the year NordLB refused the offer of a group of private funds, which for obvious reasons would have significantly changed the management address of an institute now run by the public. Secondly, why in Germany itself arise numerous doubts on the feasibility of the proposed scheme: there are even those who, like Christian Grascha of the FDP liberals, have come to fear the risk of the bank becoming "a bottomless pit". In short, the sustainability of the operation is anything but guaranteed.

However, in any case, Berlin is in charge of its own (strategic) credit sector, which no one doubts. What is relevant, however, is the unequal treatment granted to them by the Community bureaucracy.

Italy touched the bail-in

Let's take a step back. We are in 2014 and the interbank deposit protection fund intervened in the affair Tercas, the Teramo bank has long been in difficulty. Despite being a Fitd a consortium of private banks, the EU Commission brought its action back into the state aid scheme by beating it.

If Tercas overcame the rock by arranging a voluntary intervention mechanism, the decision had a devastating waterfall effect when the moment came shortly after to face the events of Banca Etruria, Banca Marche, Carichieti and Cariferrara. On the basis of what was imposed on the Abruzzo institute, the possibility of contacting the Fund was not even assumed. opening the doors to the bail-in with the consequent squeezing of thousands of shareholders and bondholders.

A sacrifice that eventually proved futile. In fact, in March this year, the EU Court of Justice has blatantly denied the Commission: the deployment of the interbank fund could not be defined as State aid, as the Fitd is not directly controlled by our public authorities. In the meantime we have had to clear an army of savers. Those of NordLB, on the other hand, can sleep peacefully. Brussels guarantees.

Filippo Burla