Ferdinando Giugliano, Columnist

Rome Falls (Again) for Industrial Policy

A corporate battle at Telecom Italia may be a sign of Italy's growing appetite for state intervention.

April 19, 2018 at 5:29 AM UTC

Ferdinando Giugliano is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was previously a member of the editorial board of the Financial Times.

Wrong number.
Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

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Seven weeks after an inconclusive general election, Italy is still without a government. A corporate intrigue, however, is showing what kind of economy Italy is likely to get: one where the state reclaims a central role at the expense of foreign investors.

This month, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), Italy’s state lender, took a 4.3 percent stake in Telecom Italia, the former telecoms monopolist. The step was highly symbolic: Telecom Italia had been privatized in 1997 and is now controlled by Vivendi, the French entertainment group. All parties, from the center-left Democratic Party to the right-wing League to the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, were broadly supportive of the decision to claim a stake in the company.