The European Central Bank (ECB) has written to the Italian government saying for a provision stating that the Bank of Italy's gold reserves belong to the State should be reconsidered.
An amendment to the government's 2026 budget bill, signed by the Senate whip for Premier Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, says the reserves "belong to the state, on behalf of the Italian people".
The amendment does not say why this is being specified, although the move has sparked speculation that it could potentially open the door to the gold reserves being used by the government, perhaps selling part to bring down Italy's huge public debt of over three trillion euros.
"It is not clear to the ECB what the concrete purpose of the draft provision is," the ECB said in an opinion sent to the Italian Economy and Finance Ministry (MEF) on Tuesday and published on its website on Wednesday.
"For this reason, and in the absence of any explanation as to the purpose of the draft provision, the Italian authorities are invited to reconsider the draft provision, also with a view to preserving the independent performance of the basic ESCB-related tasks of the Banca d'Italia under the Treaty".
