As the world creeps back to some kind of gold standard, Italy makes it clear that their gold belongs to them, and is not under the control of the ECB or anyone else:
A one-line amendment in Italy’s 2026 Budget has reopened the question of who controls the country’s $300 billion gold reserves, potentially threatening central bank independence…
…Under the Eurosystem structure, national central banks such as Banca d’Italia operate alongside — and under the coordination of — the European Central Bank. They implement ECB monetary policy, manage their share of the eurozone’s official reserves, and maintain balance-sheet autonomy. They do not, however, take instructions from national governments, as some believe was suggested by this amendment.
Since the eurozone (and ECB) was formed the ECB has been increasing its hold on the various central banks in the eurozone. This has been going on for some time. This is from an article that is over ten years ago:
Europe took a big step today when EU finance ministers, meeting in Brussels, agreed to put major banks in the euro currency zone under the supervision of the European Central Bank. The move will allow a euro-zone firewall fund to provide direct bailouts to banks, breaking the so-called doom loop in which national governments’ debt ratings are dragged down when they try to aid troubled lenders.
Italy has the third largest gold reserves in the world which gives it some independance from the ECB. I think that this was a message to the ECB saying “keep your hands off our gold”. Some kind of face saving agreement was made between the ECB and Italy:
Italy has resolved differences with the European Central Bank over a draft budget amendment on the ownership of the Bank of Italy’s gold reserves, Italian Treasury sources said on Thursday.
The amendment, sponsored by members of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing party, had raised concerns from the ECB, which said it posed risks regarding the Italian central bank’s independence.
The EU can make more money and the EUR become the dominant reserve currency through such moves, but who owns the gold among the central banks is not of major concern. If Italy or Spain held it, both bolster the EUR.