of the EMS and of the Monetary Union
5. From the EMS to the Single Currency: Elements of Continuity
If Andreotti’s role was fundamental in Italy joining the EMS, it would be equally so in the country’s entry into the monetary union�
Historiography has in large part reconstructed the main stages that led the Italian government to join the single currency�67 However, in concluding this paper, it is useful to recall a couple of important episodes that place Andreotti’s actions regarding the EMS within the context of a vaster and lengthier project of his for the economic and monetary unification of Europe�
An important decision in the negotiations for the EMU was taken at the extraordinary session of the European Council in Rome in October 1990�
The meeting was called by Andreotti to determine the contemporaneous start of two intergovernmental conferences: one on the economic union, the other the political union� As in the case of the EMS, the objective here was clear: maintain a close connection between supranational progress in the area of economic and monetary authority and transfer the relative powers of management and control to the political union� In particular, Foreign Minister De Michelis,68 supported by Andreotti, asked for a broadening of the European Parliament’s powers and the extension of the majority vote to the Council�69
At Rome Andreotti succeeded in getting the entire substance of the Delors Report to be considered in the Council’s concluding statement�
The strongly supranational approach of the Italian government was manifested by the repeated request for the creation of an independent European Bank� However, the Italian presidency pushed above all for the monetary unification process to become automatic and irreversible, thereby laying a solid basis for setting a precise date (1994) for
67 Varsori, Antonio, L’Italia e la fine della guerra fredda. La politica estera dei governi Andreotti (1989-1992), Bologna, Il Mulino, 2013; Neri Gualdesi, Marinella, L’Italia e la CEE: la partecipazione italiana alla politica d’integrazione europea, 1980-1991, Pisa, ETS, 1992; Neri Gualdesi, Marinella, “Il contributo dell’Italia alle riforme istituzionali� Dall’Atto Unico al Trattato di Lisbona”, in Morelli, Umberto and Preda, Daniela (eds�), L’Italia e l’unità europea dal Risorgimento a oggi. Idee e protagonisti, Padua, CEDAM, 2014, p� 447-468; Id�, “L’Italia e l’Europa negli anni Ottanta: tra ambizioni e marginalità”, in Craveri, Paolo and Varsori, Antonio (eds�), L’Italia nella costruzione europea. Un bilancio storico (1957-2007), Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2009, p� 79-108�
68 See Giulio Andreotti’s letter to Jacques Delors, 24 October1990, in Asils, AGA, Europa – Consiglio Europeo di Roma, 27-27 October 1990, b� 383�
69 Letter from Gianni De Michelis to Giulio Andreotti, 23 October 1990, in ibid�
transitioning to the second stage of monetary unification (which it held had to be decided by majority, not unanimous vote) and succeeding in getting the Council to recognize in the end the objective of the “single”
currency, as opposed to the “common” currency, as many had suggested�70 In this regard, it is worth mentioning an episode recounted by Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa that is not well known� On the morning of the approval, Andreotti re-opened a chapter which apparently had been closed: the dilemma, long discussed in the preceding weeks by the representatives of the European countries during numerous meetings, of having to choose between the “common currency” and the “single currency”� The Italians had sought to get the latter accepted, but to no avail� During a meeting of the Italian delegation before the summit, Andreotti again raised the question: “What does common currency mean? Let’s use single currency� You say you have already tried unsuccessfully? No matter; I’ll speak with Kohl”� And so he did� When he arrived at the summit, Andreotti read the conclusions sentence by sentence� “When he came to the word “single”, the meticulous Prime Minister said: “Why ‘single’? Hadn’t we decided on ‘common’?”�
Andreotti said nothing, making only a small gesture by spreading out his hands and tightening his lips, as if to say: ‘What does it matter; we won’t discuss such things here!’� The text was approved”�71
During the negotiations leading to the accord, Italy fought “for a full political union that included justice, internal affairs and foreign and defense policy, and which would give greater powers to the Assembly at Strasburg�72 Moreover, in April 1991 it promoted, along with Germany, a declaration in favor of strengthening the powers of the European Parliament through a legislative co-decision-making procedure regarding a limited number of questions�
Of significant importance even when the Maastricht Treaty was signed on December 1991 were actions by economists from the federalist school to clarify the situation� As well-reconstructed by Alfonso Jozzo in an interview, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, who along with the Governor of the Bank of Italy, Ciampi, was part of the Italian delegation
70 Dyson, Kenneth and Featherstone, Kevin, The Road to Maastricht: negotiating Economic and Monetary Union, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999, p� 514-517�
71 Padoa-Schioppa, Tommaso, “La costituzione economica europea”, Il Federalista, XLIV (2002), No� 3, p� 200� On the EMU, see also Id�, The Road to Monetary Union in Europe, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1994�
72 Fagiolo, Silvio, L’idea dell’Europa nelle relazioni internazionali, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2009, p� 163�
led by Andreotti, met a friend, Gianni Ruta,73 finance director of the STET telephone company, in front of the Central Bank headquarters in Rome� Ruta, who was very active in the EFM, heading the Rome section of the organization, indicated the decisive point to work on in the negotiations: the setting of the date for transition to the third stage, which was not included in the preparatory documents� During the flight to Maastricht, Padoa-Schioppa spoke of this with Andreotti: without the date the project would not have survived� Once he had arrived in the Netherlands, Andreotti spoke of this first with Mitterand and then again the following morning at breakfast with Kohl, before the start of the meeting� The German Chancellor agreed with Andreotti, but asked both his interlocutors: “Do you know what the date means to you?”� “It was clear,” Jozzo commented, “that he would say that we would have to begin to balance our trade accounts”� Andreotti answered: “Yes, I understand”�74 At the meeting shortly afterward the date would be set for 1997, in any event, no later than 1999� Jozzo also recalls that, at around 9 p�m� on the evening the Maastricht Treaty was drafted, Padoa-Schioppa telephoned him to say that the federalist line had passed�75
73 Secretary of the federalist section in Rome, Ruta conceived of and carried out the first issuance of ECU-denominated bonds, an important step toward the European currency� See Europa moneta sviluppo. Scritti di Gianni Ruta, Rome, Cisu, 1991�
74 Interview by Renaud Dehousse with Alfonso Jozzo, 16 October 2012, in www�
CVCE�eu�
75 Ibidem�