On the Aventine of the Democratic Party, no one on the Rai board of directors believes it. “We want to see them…”, hiss from the majority. But even in the Five Star Movement they are rather sceptical. Indeed, there is a narrative circulating in Parliament that the Democratic Party, instead of leaving, would double down on RAI.
A procedural premise. On April 21, the names of the contenders to be appointed to the council arrived in the House (70) and the Senate (51). Starting from a month later – and therefore from 21 May onwards – the Chambers can be called to vote on them. Prudence regarding the date is a must because the useful times are running out. With the European elections just around the corner, and the chambers closed for a week of electoral campaigning, there is only the last week to vote. The calendar will be decided by the group leaders’ conference which will meet in the first week of May.
There are 7 members of the council. Two are elected by the chamber, 2 by the senate, 2 are designated by the council of ministers on the proposal of the minister of the economy and 1 by the assembly of Rai employees. The House and Senate vote at the same time, with ‘voting limited to one candidate’. A procedure that gives the opposition the opportunity to vote for two candidates. The majority will have two, voted by the Chambers, and another two designated by the government. Finally there is the member designated by the Rai employees’ assembly, “among the company’s employees who have had an employment relationship for at least three consecutive years”. Among the appointments communicated by the government are also the president and the CEO. The CEO then designates the general manager. The appointment of the president must then be ratified by the supervisory commission with a two-thirds majority.
So far the rules. Politics comes into play primarily on the definition of times. Which are not yet certain. If it is clear that there is only the last week of May as a window before the electoral break in June, it is not clear whether the parties will want to exploit it or not. The League is pushing for this roadmap to be respected. And according to those who don’t think so, he does it because he wants to prevent the repercussions in Rai of a defeat in the European elections. Closing the board of directors before June 8th and agreeing on this for the future CEO gives Salvini a bargaining power that he may not have on June 10th.
In the majority, a scheme is insistently circulating that would see Simona Agnes indicated by the government and future president of Forza Italia. Antonio Tajani would have closed the deal and this explains why he gave orders to his men not to enter into the negotiations.
Giampaolo Rossi, current CEO, would rise in rank to the point of being listed as CEO. And to please everyone he would have to appoint not one, but two general directors, a general manager and a corporate director, one with the Lega share and one with the Fdi share. It must be said that he has so far shown little inclination. But with this agreement, which for now the majority circles are hissing with closed notebooks in Montecitorio, we could proceed with its renewal even before the European elections.
Provided that, in the meantime, the dust that the Scurati case has raised also settles in time in the majority, where Lega and Fdi are at loggerheads. Entertainment director Paolo Corsini, linked to Fdi, ended up in the dock for censoring Serena Bortone. But the League is ready to supplant him with Angela Mariella, current director of institutional relations, who is considered to be at Lega quota, would end up in charge of the entertainment direction.
Despite the internal divisions – with the League raising doubts about Rossi’s management – today in surveillance the two parties were united against the request of the minorities who wanted to hear Serena Bortone and Paolo Corsini to shed light on the censorship of Scurati. We will need to evaluate what they will do on May 8th, when Giampaolo Rossi and Roberto Sergio will report to San Macuto.
In the meantime, they are preparing to name their names on the board of directors. Among the hypotheses, Alessandro Casarin, director of TGR, is considered the favorite in the Northern League, while Fdi thinks about a woman, and the journalist Federica Frangi and Valeria Falcone, former spokesperson for Meloni at the time of the Berlusconi government, are considered candidates. Elio Vito is also a candidate. The center-right are sure of one thing: that the announced Aventine of the Democratic Party will ultimately not correspond to expectations.
After the Scurati case, the Dems made it known informally that they will not give a name that is an expression of the party. Faithful to the Aventine line, Elly Schlein’s party wants nothing to do with Telemeloni. “He will decide the secretary. But let’s be clear, it’s not that we lack names, there are excellent managers and professionals who could fill that role”, explains group leader Stefano Graziano to Huffpost. “But we don’t want any responsibility in a machine that, even beyond the political cases, is doing very badly, both in terms of ratings and results”.
Among the center-left candidates, communicated in recent days to the Chamber and the Senate, the names of Roberto Natale, director of Rai sustainability, of Stefano Menichini, former director of Europa, of Nino Rizzo Nervo with a long past as a Rai director. And precisely on Christmas the reconstructions of those who want to double rather than abandon their presence in Rai would converge. Roberto Natale, who in the past was spokesperson for Laura Boldrini as president of the Chamber, would be elected with the votes of the Democratic Party and also of the Italian Left and the Greens. Furthermore, there would be an agreement to elect Alessandra Clementini as employee councilor, thanks to the Usigrai-Cgil agreement. Clementini is a member of the Democratic Party. From the Nazarene they deny that the plot is underway. But the reconstruction, also relaunched by the website Sassate.it, is considered reliable by Rai. And it is numbers-proof, unless Italia viva and Action, with the support of part of the majority, decide to hinder the plan.
The M5s will also play their own game in this case. And they don’t hide their differences with their opposition comrades. “We are inclined to confirm the outgoing councilor Alessandro Di Majo,” says the supervisory group leader Dario Carotenuto to Huffpost. “So much – he explains – we are moving towards the implementation of the media freedom act and this means that the board of directors will have to be renewed within 15 months”. The Democratic Party will accuse you of plotting under the table with the center-right… “But we don’t fully trust the Democratic Party. We were burned by the way they behaved in Rai when Draghi was there. When we were completely excluded. Does the Democratic Party say it is not represented? And where do we put Orpheus…”. But they blame you for things like the friendship between Conte and the director of Tg1 Chiocci. “Conte focuses on institutional representation and why not, on the relationships that he has built over the years. There’s nothing bad”. Dem Graziano has time to listen. “They got together…” he jokes.
