Ferrara, 26 May 2024 – The Agcom verdict. The order that reaches the Municipality from the communications authority is very clear. “Remove the institutional communication created through the publication of the posts subject to reporting – we read in the provision – on the institutional page of the Municipality, specifically on the online newspaper CronacaComune and on the personal Facebook page Alan Fabbri Mayor of Ferrara“. Not only that. The institution must “publish on the home page of the same institutional page, and on the aforementioned Facebook profile, within one day of notification of this act, and for a period of fifteen days, a message indicating non-responsiveness of posts removed to the provisions of law 22 February 2000, 28. In this message, express reference must be made to this order”.
Agcom’s ruling is the result of the investigation started by Corecom following the reports made, in particular, by the outgoing parent company of the Misto groupAnna Ferraresi, leading candidate on the civic list in support of Fabio Anselmo in the centre-left.
The authority therefore, among other things, noted that “the information and communication activities covered by the report fell within the period of application of the prohibition established by the law after 11 April, the date of convening of the rallies for the European elections of the 8 and 9 June 2024”.
In essence, Agcom points out that “the institutional communication activity carried out by the Municipality of Ferrara does not present both the requirements of indispensability and impersonality to which the law anchors the possible exception to the ban”. Activities which, moreover, were “carried out by the Municipality of Ferrara and its administrator with the means and resources of the institution” and therefore “attributable to the same”. Among the various findings, as well as some posts published on the Fabbri’s Facebook page, Agcom also ‘indicts’ the publication of the end-of-term budget. Also subject to reporting to the regional authority. Lastly, Agcom makes a reference to jurisprudence. “For institutional communication during electoral and referendum periods – we read in the text – impersonality and indispensability of contents are also applicable to the information activities of public administrations”.
In response the Municipality – the one speaking is the general director, Sandro Mazzatorta – is already preparing to present an appeal before the TAR of Lazio (competent for disputes). “In light of the fourteen complaints raised by the Authority – explains the general director – we have already removed the communication of the news both from the institutional website and from Cronacacomune. At the same time, we have the provision notified to us by Agcom has been inserted on the Municipality’s home page. But we didn’t stop here, because we believe that there are some forcings in this ordinance”. And these elements will be precisely at the center of the defensive line that the Municipality will establish in the context of a probable appeal to the TAR. The ‘knot’ is linked to the social page of Mayor Fabbri.
“This – argues Mazzatorta – is a very forced observation as Alan Fabbri, as a natural person and not as mayor, is the owner of that page. It is, in short, a private page on which the Municipality clearly does not have and cannot have skills”. In short, it’s not over yet.
The centre-left candidate, Fabio Anselmo, spoke on the matter yesterday: “I only ask for respect for the rules – thus a note addressed to mayor Fabbri – which are clear and apply to everyone. As mayor you should set an example , instead you use power to humiliate the law and the citizens who respect it. But we don’t agree with it.”
