Daniele Franco is the new state accountant. This was announced by Prime Minister Enrico Letta during the press conference at the end of the council of ministers which he launched the decree to postpone the Imu and refinance the redundancy fund.
Franco leaves the role of Central Director of the Bank of Italy for the Economic Research and International Relations area. Born in Trichiana (Belluno) in 1953, he graduated in Political Science at the University of Padua in 1977 and holds two masters: one in business organization, also in Padua, and one in economics at the University of York, in Gran Brittany. This was followed by his entry into the Bank of Italy, with a position in the Research Department (1979-1994), and his appointment as Economic Advisor at the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission.
Between 1997 and 2007 Franco was director of the Public Finance Department of the Via Nazionale Study Service. From 1999 to 2007 he also held the position of chairman of the public finance working group of the European System of Central Banks. From 2007 to 2011, however, he was head of the Economic and Financial Structure Studies Service. Finally, from July 2011, the role of Central Director of the Economic Research and International Relations Area.
The office of General Accountant is a key role in the ranks of senior public officials who have the concrete management of the Italian state in hand. A broad debate has been going on in recent weeks over the opportunity to remove Franco's predecessor, Mario Canzio, and to reform the relationship between politics and the bureaucracy.
