ROME - Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni’s office have put out a statement saying that Gentiloni is prepared to protect the independence of the Bank of Italy. It was announced that future decisions on this matter will be “based on the prerogatives attributed to him by the law and inspired exclusively by the criteria of safeguarding the autonomy of the institute.”

 On Tuesday, Gentiolini’s center-left Democratic Party (PD), presented a motion in the Lower House that appeared to criticise Bank of Italy’s Ignazio Visco, ahead of his reappointment for a second six-year term as Governor. The Party put forward the view that a “new phase was needed,” following the bank’s handling of Italy’s banking crisis. This move was seen by many as an attack on the independence of the bank.

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