When Giorgia Meloni was drawing her team of ministers, she urgently needed a series of names to convince Brussels that her government proposal was not going to arouse as much mistrust as some feared in the European Commission. First on his list was Fabio Panetta, a member of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) executive committee and former director-general of the Bank of Italy, who he courted as super-minister of the Economy of the future right-wing Italian government to take advantage of his unblemished international reputation. But Panetta did not let himself be won over, firstly to keep his record free of partisan connotations, and secondly, to leave open the prospect of becoming Ignazio Visco’s successor as governor of Italy’s central bank, once his term expired at the end of October. .
The wishes of Panetta, who managed to maintain good relations with Meloni despite rejecting her job offer, have been fulfilled. The Italian government recently nominated this reputedly prudent banker as the future governor to be installed in the magnificent palace on Via Nazionale, where his portrait will soon hang in one of several frescoed meeting rooms when he takes over from Visco , whose term will end on October 31, twelve years after Mario Draghi resigned to become ECB president. The early election puts an end to speculation in a country that revolves around a high-profile position in the euro zone’s third-largest economy, as two former Bank of Italy governors, Luigi Einaudi and Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, were fired. becoming presidents of the Republic, a position in which in the future – who knows – Draghi, Meloni’s predecessor at Palacio Chigi, could also land.
Panetta, 63 years old and Draghi’s most trusted, has all the necessary experience behind him. Born in Rome in 1959, he studied Economics and Commerce at the Luiss Guido Carli University and obtained a Master of Science in Monetary Economics from the London School of Economics before receiving a PhD in Economics and Finance from the London Business School. His first contact with the Bank of Italy was in 1985 and in 1999 he became head of its monetary and financial division. He rose through the ranks, aided by a calm and jovial character, until in 2011 he was appointed central director for the coordination of the Bank of Italy in the Eurosystem. The following year he was appointed deputy director general by Visco himself, where he represented the institution in various European and international organizations, including the OECD and the IMF. In 2019 he was promoted to director general, a post he held for just over six months before being elected, in January 2020, to his last post at the ECB, where he was responsible for the digital euro.
Over the years he has gained a reputation as a prudent banker, similar to Visco’s thinking. He is one of the most cautious with interest rate policy in Frankfurt, and according to what they say, he is also one of the advisers that Christine Lagarde listened to carefully. In March, he called for “prudence, because it is having a strong impact on financial conditions and because we want to avoid unwanted financial volatility.” His election, one of the most important economic decisions of this Executive, will have been liked both in Frankfurt and in Brussels, where Meloni continues to strive to be respected as a moderate leader.
Now, Panetta’s return to Rome opens a vacuum in the ECB Executive Committee that Meloni and his coalition will try to retain, following the convention that Italy always appoints one of the six members of this body. In theory, the members of the Executive Committee are elected on merit, but traditionally the largest economies in the Union have representatives to protect their national interests. According to the Italian media, the one who has the most numbers to succeed him is the experienced Piero Cipollone, current deputy director general of the Bank of Italy.
