European Central Bank President
Christine Lagarde said Wednesday that the Bank of Italy should
hold and manage its gold reserves when asked about a draft
provision stating that those reserves belong to the State.
An amendment to the government’s 2026 budget bill, signed by the
Senate whip for Premier Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI)
party, says the reserves “belong to the State, on behalf of the
Italian people”.
In an opinion sent to the Italian Economy and Finance Ministry
(MEF) on Tuesday and published on its website on Wednesday, the
ECB said the reason for the provision was not clear and called
for it to be reconsidered.
“This is not a trivial issue, because Italy is the third largest
holder of gold among the central banks,” Lagarde said in
response to a question by Italian MEP Pasquale Tridico of the
leftist populist 5-Star Movement (M5S).
“The treaty states very clearly that the holding and management
of reserves belongs to the national central bank of each member
state, and the Bank of Italy is no different from any other
national central bank or any other member state.
“So the Bank of Italy has a duty to hold and manage those
reserves.”
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