The head of Mario Nava – president of Consob until 13 September and temporarily replaced by the most senior commissioner, Anne Genovese from today 14 September – it is not the first to roll under the pressure of the spoils system of the yellow-green government. They preceded it Claudius Costamagna president of CDP Renato Mazzonicini CEO of Ferrovie, to name the most prominent managers (and different stories among them) who recently left. Certainly, however, Nava's head is the one that makes the most noise: in fact, it had never happened that the president of an independent Authority - appointed for 7 years by the President of the Republic and therefore potentially far from the schemes of political struggle - was forced to leave office a few months after his appointment under pressure from the newly installed government.
And now? The interim is assured, as has been said. But the negotiations between Lega and M5S are already underway and could concern Consob and Antitrust jointly. In fact, in the case of the guarantor for competition John Pitruzzella he follows the reverse path of Nava: on 30 September he leaves the Antitrust and moves to Brussels where he will work at the European Court of Justice as advocate general. For Rai, however, everything is still open and the negotiations concern the Lega and Forza Italia on the name of Marcello Foa to the presidency. After the split with FI in July, the agreement on Foa would take place within the framework of a political agreement between the two parties in view of the next regional elections, and which could receive the green light next Sunday in a meeting between Matteo Slavini and Silvio Berlusconi.
For Consob one of the first names in the running – according to FIRSTonline reports – to fill the vacant seat, would be to Marcellus Minenna, manager of the Authority close to grillini and former councilor of the Giunta Raggi in Rome. Again as part of an internal solution, Il Sole 24 Ore then mentions the name of the current commissioner Filippo Maria Berruti who would have shown little harmony with Nava.
For the Antitrust, on the other hand, Giovanni Pitruzzella's seven-year term is starting to end a few months in advance by his choice but his replacement could take place before the natural expiry of the end of November. And the seats at the top of the two Authorities would be discussed in a single round with the 5 Star Movement claiming Consob while the League would set its sights on the competition guarantor.
Just Thursday, Pitruzzella - during a seminar dedicated to the role of the Antitrust in the fight against inequalities - gave an account of the judgment of the European Court of Justice which proved her right for the interventions to protect consumers in the mobile telephony sector. In practice, the Antitrust had sanctioned Wind3 and Vodafone for activating unsolicited services on their customers' Sim cards. The operators had appealed claiming that the exclusive competence belonged to Agcom but the European Court instead affirmed the opposite, agreeing with the competition guarantor. It is an important decision that will have long-lasting effects in the fight against aggressive commercial practices and, indirectly, therefore also in the fight against inequalities.
