E.I.R. GmbH

Glass-Steagall Bill Introduced in Italian Senate by Sen. Peterlini

Italian Sen. Oskar Peterlini has presented a draft bill for the reintroduction of a banking separation system following the Glass-Steagall model in Italy, with the stated goal of both helping the Italian economy immediately and serving as an example for the rest of the world.

Peterlini's bill, No. 3112 in the Italian Senate, has 11 co-signers so far, from both his group, which includes various small parties in Italy's autonomous regions, and also from other major parties, such as the Democratic Party (PD), the Northern League (Lega Nord) and Italy of Values (Italia dei Valori). Of these only the Lega Nord consistently opposes the current technocratic government led by market darling Mario Monti.

Peterlini has a long history of introducing resolutions calling for serious reform of the global financial system, with campaigns for a New Bretton Woods starting in the early 2000s and a resolution on Glass-Steagall in 2010. The introduction of a bill is an important step forward, which will jump-start a public campaign in favor of the proposal, and comes at a time when the issue of saving the productive economy from financial speculation is taking center stage in Italy, due to both the ongoing financial crisis and the recent interventions of former Economics Minister Giulio Tremonti.

The bill, which was written in concert with Movisol, the LaRouche movement in Italy, is short and simple, calling for the complete separation of banks that accept deposits from those that participate in the financial markets in any manner.

Peterlini's office issued a press release on his initiative titled: "Sen. Peterlini: “Ensure Credit for Enterprises.” It notes that: "'Firms are suffering from liquidity problems because of a credit crunch. Above all, small and medium enterprises can no longer make investments.”

The release says that with such a reform, “Italy can pave the way for other countries: let us go back to a separated banking system in order to make sure that common people no longer have to pay for global speculative bubbles.”

"Specifically, Peterlini's bill commits the government to adopt, within 12 months, one or more legislative decrees to establish rules for separating commercial banks from investment banks, including a ban on chartered banks performing any activities related to trading of securities in general.... Peterlini states. 'We need to save the real economy from speculative finance, through a separation between commercial banks and investment banks. It will be an essential first step to regaining control over the economy and building the basis for a future of stability and progress.'"

Weitere Meldungen

Top

Schiller-Institut e.V.

Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität

LaRouche Political Action Committe

EIR Online

Impressum