After more than two months of waiting, theAntitrust has a new president: the lawyer Saverio Valentino will lead theCompetition and Market Authority (Agcm). The appointment was formalized in the late afternoon of Wednesday 15 July by the presidents of the Chamber and Senate, Lorenzo Fontana and Ignazio La Russa, putting an end to a stalemate that had dragged on since the expiry of the mandate of Robert Rustichelli.
For the authority, the longest-serving independent administrative authority in Italy with 36 years of activity (second only to Consob in seniority), a new phase is dawning. The selection of the AGCM's president is the responsibility of the heads of both chambers and does not require the government's approval, a mechanism designed to preserve its autonomy and independence. In practice, however, reaching Valentino's nomination required a broader political consensus within the majority. The same consensus that also led to the nomination of Guido Stazi for the presidency of Consob.
For Valentino it is a internal promotion: since 2023 he has already been sitting on the AGCM board and now he takes over its leadership. The mandate will have a duration of seven years and, as established by law, it is not renewable.
Who is Saverio Valentino: the new president of the Antitrust Authority?
Born in 1971, Saverio Valentino graduated with honors in Law at theLa Sapienza University of Rome in 1995. He then perfected his training with a master's degree in Community law at the College of Europe in Bruges and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) to the University of Chicago Law SchoolSince then, he has built his career in Italian and European antitrust law, handling cases before administrative and civil courts, regulatory authorities, the European Commission, and the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Member of the Rome Bar Association since 1999 and of the New York Bar Association since 2001, he also spent six months at the European Commission, in the Directorate General responsible for multilateral trade policies and relations with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
His resume also reflects an intense academic and outreach activity: he is a regular speaker at specialized conferences and the author of numerous legal publications. A technical expert, he was chosen, after his experience on the Authority's panel, to succeed Rustichelli as head of the Antitrust Authority.
Big Tech and the Competition Bill: The First Challenges
At the helm of the AGCM, Valentino will be responsible for managing some of the Authority's most sensitive matters, starting with proceedings involving digital markets and large technology platforms. Among the new president's first responsibilities is publishing the report to the Government and Parliament on the draft annual competition law, postponed due to the delay in the nomination.
With the appointment of Valentino, the board of the Competition and Market Authority now remains to be completed, currently composed only of the new president and Elizabeth Iossa, who has served as acting president for the past two months. And the appointment calendar is far from complete: the mandate of the President of the Anac, Giuseppe Busia, while in 2027 the renewal of the Agcom top management and Privacy Guarantor.
