Italy - Factors to watch on May 23

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The following factors could affect Italian markets on Friday.Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy. New items are marked with (*).For a complete list of diary events in Italy please click on .POLITICS Nine European countries, led by Italy and Denmark, called on Thursday for the European Union to make it simpler for member states to expel foreign criminals. The countries signed a letter which was presented to journalists at a Rome news conference held by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen.ECONOMYItaly is confident the United States will agree to a trade deal with the European Union similar to the one Washington has already struck with Britain, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said on Thursday.Italy's defence spending is slightly above NATO's target of 2% of gross domestic product target, Giorgetti said. He added that the European Union should work on ways to promote the defence industry through the involvement of private investors. Italy fully supports European Union efforts to stop Russian gas imports into the bloc by 2027, the country's Energy minister told reporters on Thursday, adding any decisions by Rome to boost LNG imports from the U.S. were up to private buyers.DEBTMoody's and Scope rating agencies conduct scheduled reviews of Italy's sovereign debt rating.Italy's Treasury announces sale of 6-month BOT bills, with relative amounts to be auctioned on May 28.The Treasury said on Thursday it would sell up to 4.75 billion euros ($5.36 billion) in short-term and inflation-linked BTP bonds at May 27 auction.COMPANIES(*) UNICREDIT MIL:UCG, BANCO BPM MIL:BAMI UniCredit said on Friday it would fight the terms imposed by Italy's government to clear its offer for rival lender Banco BPM, by filing an appeal to an administrative court. It added it would also support the European Commission's review of the "golden powers" used by Italy to impose conditions on the bid.The CEO of Banco BPM, Giuseppe Castagna, said in an interview with Friday's Il Sole 24 Ore daily that his bank would also appeal to an administrative court against a decision by bourse regulator Consob to suspend UniCredit's takeover bid.GENERALI MIL:GItaly's top insurer Generali appointed on Thursday Deloitte Financial Advisory and law firm Advant Ntcm as advisers for the bid launched by merchant bank...

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