Overview

• Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani publicly distanced Forza Italia from Matteo Salvini’s call for a voluntary bank contribution at the August 2 Stati Generali del Mezzogiorno in Reggio Calabria Tajani insisted that banks must pay taxes like all entities but should not be cast as the public enemy or subjected to threats of extra levies
• He warned that threatening new bank taxes risks frightening foreign investors, which could destabilize Italy’s financial markets
• Salvini’s proposal aims to secure voluntary contributions from banks to fund support for workers and entrepreneurs after earlier coalition debates on wage and tax reforms
• The dispute highlights widening fiscal policy disagreements within the center-right coalition over balancing market confidence with reform demands