Consob, Minenna: the 3 defects of an unsustainable candidacy

If we recall that at the presidency of Consob characters of the caliber of Guido Rossi, Tommaso Padoa Schioppa e Luigi Spaventa, one's heart aches at the thought that the candidate of Beppe Grillo and part of the Five Star Movement at the helm of the Authority that supervises the Stock Exchange and the financial markets could be a guy like Marcellus Minenna. So far, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and above all the Quirinale have pretended not to hear the petulant requests of the most barricade wing of the Five Stars and let's hope they continue like this.

The appointment of Minenna to the presidency of Consob would be a slap to common sense and the credibility of the institution. To common sense why choose a candidate who has often trumpeted all his talents to the rooftops euroscepticism it would already be madness in itself, but it is twice as mad when even the yellow-green government has discovered the need to negotiate with Europe to neutralize the revenge of the markets.

This is the first reason for the inappropriateness of Minenna's candidacy, but it is not the only one and it is no coincidence that the Qurinale has always nourished and still nourishes perplexity and concern regarding the rise of an official such as the head of the Quantitative Analysis service of Consob itself , That led the internal revolt against the previous president Mario Nava, forcing his resignation, and helped tear the Authority apart.

But there is a third and decisive reason which casts more than a shadow over Minenna's candidacy and which risks even more undermining the institution's credibility: just read the law establishing Consob of 1974 and paragraph 3 of article 1 governing top management appointments. It is there that it is said that the president and the members of the board of Consob must be "chosen among people of specific and proven competence and experience and of undisputed morality and independence“. That doesn't seem to be the case with Minenna, which has been for a few months councilor for the budget of the Giunta grillina of the Municipality of Rome and what time is it openly supported by the founder of the 5 Star Movement Beppe Grillo and a part of the Grillini parliamentarians. With these assumptions, Minenna could guarantee impartiality and independence and would be perceived as above suspicion? Supporting him is, to say the least, a gamble.