by Andrea Di Stefano
Other than Italianness. Institutional propaganda is a perfect vehicle for financial operations that we would once have defined as strong powers. The actors have changed in part, but not the objectives and, above all, the “victims”: savers, territories and common goods.
In the era of Enrico Cuccia, Mediobanca was the custodian, according to some the true deus ex machina of the temple of Italian capitalism: reserved, silent, disrespectful of the rules except for those that it wrote in total autonomy, enemy of transparency but also of the political system, capable of imposing on the world a rule that has become the law: shares are not counted but weighed.
Mediobanca, yesterday and today
Thus, since the 1960s, Mediobanca has dictated the law by governing not only the financial system built around the Bin (Banks of National Interest – Banca Commerciale Italiana, Banco di Roma and Credito Italiano) and some large groups that were headed by the historic families of capitalism (Pirelli, Agnelli, Orlando, Pesenti, Marzotto, Ferruzzi). The categorical imperative of Cuccia and his men has always been that of financial unscrupulousness accompanied by obsessive confidentiality with a touch of real contempt for politics, especially that interpreted by Giulio Andreotti and his system of power.
Today’s Mediobanca has a very different DNA from that of the Cuccia era but remains the custodian of a crucial stake in Assicurazioni Generali being the first shareholder with 13.11% followed by Delfin (the Del Vecchio financial company) with 9.93% and the Caltagirone group at 6.92%.
The interests of Meloni and Caltagirone
The assault by MPS with the support of the Meloni government therefore has a clear objective: to allow Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone to become one of the main European players in the banking and insurance sector without great effort.
The axis with politics has always been the strong point of the Roman property developer, financier and publisher who made available to Palazzo Chigi the four newspapers of the group (Messaggero, Gazzettino, Mattino and Corriere Adriatico) that began the barrage on the defense of the savings of Italians by hiding any criticality inherent in a risky operation and dimensionally very distant from the real financial capabilities of Monte dei Paschi.
The battle, which promises to be no holds barred, will be characterized by propaganda rather than by the reality of the facts.
