What will the new president of Isvap, the private insurance supervisory institute, do with regard to the rescue of Fondiaria-Sai?
This is the question asked by columnist Massimo Mucchetti in Corriere today. There are two alternatives: passively affix the seal of the Authority, thus approving the shotgun wedding with Unipol and putting an end to the Ligresti era, or decide to see better, with the risk of uncovering embarrassing truths, analyzing the accounts of the operation and shedding light on the cone of shadow in which, in addition to a whole system, Isvap itself ended up.
Sai's conquest of Fondiaria had initially been thwarted when Isvap was chaired by Gianni Manghetti. It was authorized only at a later time, when the Authority passed under the presidency of Giancarlo Giannini, still in office but whose mandate was about to expire. What surprised the observers was that certain laxity, that wide sleeve shown by Isvap both before and now on the Fonsai merger, now on the verge of the abyss.
However the Fondiaria-Premafin case develops, at this point the other crucial discourse on the subject opens, a discourse which, starting from a particular question of immediate relevance (who will be the new president?), immediately expands to the wider problem of the mechanisms and power games that lie behind the appointments of the top authorities.
An important first step in this sense. The Monti government did so, rejecting the plan that intended to extend the mandate of the controversial Giannini at the head of Isvap for another two years, separating the two offices of president and general manager, both currently held by Giannini himself, and promoting immediately, as director, her pupil Flavia Mazzarella.
But now we expect above all a reaction, or an action (depending on the point of view), also on the part of the parties, and especially of their secretaries, because the rules, on which we must also work to make them as penetrating as possible, from alone is not enough.
If politics wants to regain its credibility, it is also from here that it must start again, demonstrating that it has the courage and sense of responsibility to face the business corporations, pruning dead branches if necessary.
