Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Announces End of State Role in Monte Paschi di Siena Bank

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made a groundbreaking declaration during a conversation with Bloomberg agency, announcing that the government's public mission in the Monte Paschi di Siena bank has ended. The Prime Minister emphasized that the institution is now a solid entity and has fully recovered, allowing the state to definitively exit its structures. This announcement coincided with the publication of the bank's new strategic plan, which aims to achieve 3.7 billion euros in profit by 2030 and pay out 16 billion euros to shareholders. However, this information triggered a sharp sell-off of shares on the Milan stock exchange. Investors were disappointed by the lack of concrete merger proposals, especially in the context of speculation about integration with the bank Mediobanca, whose securities also recorded declines. The Italian state took control of MPS in 2017, spending over 5 billion euros to save the bank from collapse, which was one of the largest state interventions in the European financial sector after the debt crisis. In the geopolitical sphere, Meloni addressed trade tensions on the Washington-Brussels line. She described the tariffs announced by the Donald Trump administration as mistakes that could harm the global economy. She proposed an alternative solution in the form of establishing a transatlantic free trade zone, which would ease tensions and strengthen cooperation between Western powers. At the same time, the Prime Minister attacked the EU's climate policy, calling some regulations an "eco-coup" (eco-golpe), which in her view undermines the competitiveness of European businesses. The opposition in Italy criticized the Prime Minister's communication method, accusing her of irrationality for publishing key declarations during a stock market session, which deepened chaos in the capital market. „Il ruolo del governo in Mps è finito, nessuna influenza sulla governance.” (The government's role in Mps is over, no influence on governance.) — Giorgia Meloni During an event dedicated to Artificial Intelligence in Rome, Meloni called for developing an "Italian way" in the advancement of modern technologies. She warned that a lack of oversight over AI risks marginalizing workers and increasing the number of "professionally useless" people. She emphasized the need for a European strategy that would make technology an accelerator of work, not a substitute. Representatives of Confindustria and the Ministry of Labor also spoke in the discussion, pointing to the necessity of responsible implementation of innovations to maintain employment levels in Europe.