TeleMeloni is also about to take on the employee advisor. The period for renewing the board of directors starts today. As is known, there are 7 members of the council. Two are elected by the Chamber of Deputies, 2 by the Senate of the Republic, 2 are designated by the council of ministers on the proposal of the Minister of Economy and 1 by the assembly of Rai employees. The expiring board of directors had been formed in the Draghi era, on 15 July 2021, when Simona Agnes (Fi share) and Francesca Bria (Pd share) were elected by the Chamber, Igor De Biasio (Lega share) and Alessandro di Majo (in M5s quota) from the Senate, Carlo Fuortes and Marinella Soldi from the government, Riccardo Laganà from the employees. Fuortes will then be appointed CEO and Soldi president.
Political appointments are still at a standstill. The conferences of the House and Senate group leaders did not put the election of their respective members on the agenda for the next two weeks. We will therefore move on to after the European Championships, with Rai entering the post-vote spoils system. The 12 thousand Rai employees are ready to elect their representative. At 2 pm, 3,787 had voted, 34 percent of those entitled to vote. Voting will end this evening at 9pm, when the name of the workers’ councilor will be known. The favorite is Davide Di Pietro, 50 years old, camera operator. Outgoing councilor, Di Pietro makes the leap from Grillo to Meloni and is in fact the first ‘official’ name of the entirely Melonian Rai. More: he could be the first elected official who will refer to the right-wing union, Unirai.
Di Pietro had been elected to the previous board of directors after the death of Riccardo Laganà, with whom he had founded the Rai Bene Comune – Indignerai association. But unlike Laganà, he immediately made it clear that he was on the side of the new parliamentary majority. In January he voted on the industrial plan together with the centre-right councillors. “I found a willingness to listen that wasn’t there before,” he explained. And when the new union of right-wing journalists, Unirai, was born, Di Pietro participated in the installation meeting. “United we can once again courageously propose changes in this Rai and promote more efficient management. Never before has the public service truly needed it more than ever,” Di Pietro wrote to Francesco Palese’s union. “The next few years will be crucial and we will need to oversee the company’s evolution and the challenges we will face with authority and conscience. Therefore, on May 20th, I am counting on each of you to be able to continue the work started on December 5th in the board of directors”. In short, the 300 Unirai journalists will vote for Di Pietro.
Against him is Alessandra Clementini, a DAMS graduate, Rai author, but also secretary of the PD section in Monterotondo, where she is a municipal councilor. Clementini has the support of the CGIL and Usigrai, a part of which, to tell the truth, would have liked to support another candidacy. Among the others in Viale Mazzini they hypothesized that of Vittorio Di Trapani, current president of Fnsi. But in the end Maurizio Landini prevailed: Usigrai and CGIL sided with Clementini. This evening, after 9pm, we will know who will have prevailed in the right-left challenge between Rai employees. But as mentioned, the favors on the eve go to Di Pietro.
If he were to prevail, only one representative would remain on the left in the future board of directors. For the prime minister it is “a rebalancing”, compared to the time when Mario Draghi was in Palazzo Chigi, and, as she herself recalled, Fratelli d’Italia was the only party outside the management body of public television.
Moreover, Schlein has chosen not to officially align the party with any candidate. But despite the announced Aventine, internal counting has already begun in the party in view of the parliamentary passage. The candidates on the internal left are Roberto Natale, director of Rai sustainability and the former director of Rainews24 Antonio Di Bella, while the reformists look to Stefano Menichini, former director of Europa and Nino Rizzo Nervo, with a long past as a Rai director. Also in this case, the electoral results of the two dem areas will weigh on the choice. For the centre-right majority, among the hypotheses, there are Alessandro Casarin, TGR director, in the League, while Fdi thinks about journalists Federica Frangi, Guido Paglia and Mauro Mazza.
To close the spoils system, the hypothesis is strengthened that Simona Agnes indicated by the government is the future president, in favor of Forza Italia. Giampaolo Rossi, current CEO, would rise in rank to the point of being listed as CEO. If Forza Italia does not overtake the League, Rossi could 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. All things considered, therefore, in the new board of directors, the left would have only one representative. In fact, for the M5s the confirmation of the outgoing councilor Alessandro Di Majo is almost certain, who however is not in opposition to Telemeloni in Viale Mazzini, given that in May 2023 he did not vote against Roberto Sergio’s new course. And even now that Giampaolo Rossi’s ‘brand new course’ is approaching, many are betting that the Five Star Movement will not side with the Democratic Party.
