Analysis-Deep distrust of EU leaves Italy's Meloni in a corner over bailout fund

FILE PHOTO: Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni delivers remarks after arriving for a meeting with France's President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on June 20, 2023. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

ROME (Reuters) - The reluctance of Italy's right-wing coalition to ratify reform of a vital euro zone bailout fund is rooted in a deep distrust of the European Union, analysts and lawmakers said, leaving Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni no easy way out of a political mess.

Italy is the only euro zone country that has not yet given a green light to a treaty that revises the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) - a fund created in 2012 after the euro zone sovereign debt crisis to provide a financial firewall for members of the currency bloc.