Trichet-Draghi letter

On 5 August 2011, the same day of the letter, with closed markets, Berlusconi and Tremonti summoned a press conference to explain an extraordinary maneuver for Italy.^[8] After this conference, the press began to talk about a "secret letter" of ECB sent to the Italian government.

Andrea D'Ambra, president of Generazione attiva association, asked to ECB to see that letter, but on 7 September 2011 ECB answered that "the letter must remain secret":^[9]

On 29 September 2011, a scoop of Corriere della Sera reveals this letter to public opinion.^[10]

The Italian government during August proposed further economical measures that Parliament approved in almost one month with Legge 14 settembre 2011 n. 148 (Conversione in legge, con modificazioni, del decreto-legge 13 agosto 2011, n. 138, recante ulteriori misure urgenti per la stabilizzazione finanziaria).

Nevertheless, in a political confrontation between Berlusconi, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy on 22 October 2011, these measures were considered insufficient, in a meeting that was "defined in the following days as tense and extremely hard towards the government of Rome by Valentino Valentini, the personal adviser in international relationship of Italian Prime Minister. Merkel and Sarkozy, which evidently did not tolerate excuses about current difficult situation of Italy, pushed on Prime Minister, so that he announced strong and concrete measures, and to apply in order to demonstrate that his government is serious about debt problem."^[11]

The NSA's illegal interceptions of collaborators of the Italian Prime Minister were highlighted by his party to denounce US interference^[12] and to seek confirmation of a conspiracy theory stemming from these events.^[13] According to this theory, the press conference held the following day,^[14] during which the leaders of Germany and France exchanged a wry smile before expressing trust in the responsibility of Italian political, economic, and financial institutions,^[15] triggered the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano.^[16] Allegedly, on October 26, 2011, Napolitano refused to sign a decree containing additional economic measures that would have strengthened the Italian government's position amidst financial market turmoil and an EU meeting in Nice.^[17]

Proponents of this conspiracy theory not only entertain this notion but also entertain other concurrent conspiratorial narratives to rationalize Berlusconi's resignation on November 12, 2011.^[18]