False redemption

20 October 2008 By Rachel Sanderson

The Italian prime minister has a new target: sovereign wealth funds. He wants rules to stop their building stakes without his say. Berlusconi is not alone today in defending national interests. But his populist statism is uglier than most. It threatens Italy more harm than good.

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Since he came to power in April this year, Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, has repeatedly said he wants to defend the Italianness (Italianità) of national industries.

His latest step in this campaign has been to ask for new rules to stop sovereign wealth funds from investing in Italy without his agreement.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on October 19 announced any sovereign wealth funds would have to liaise with the government if they wanted a stake in an Italian company. The government is creating a new committee made up of 12 people split between the foreign and finance ministries to mediate with the funds.

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