A lame duck. This is, neither more nor less, Istat since August 30th, ie from today.
The presidency of Giorgio Alleva, called to lead the National Institute of Statistics on the same date four years ago, the 45 days of time that the law (law n.444 of 1994) allows for the change of chair have also run out.
Of a successor to date, not even the shadow. A serious fact if one takes into account that precisely for this reason, for a month and a half now the main public research body in the country has had to limit itself to "ordinary administrative acts, as well as urgent and non-deferrable acts with specific indication of the reasons of urgency and cannot be postponed", as provided for by the legislation (Article 3 of the aforementioned law). Not only that, as of today Istat can no longer even do that because Alleva's forfeiture is now definitive and, once the extension is over, from 30 August theThe president has no power of signature because he is no longer even the legal representative of the institution.
Precisely on the eve of the definition of the Government Budget manoeuvre, the Institute therefore finds itself with its hands tied, unable to fully play its role, waiting for the Government to decide to choose a new president, even if obviously the Internal Directorates of Istat carry on the activity of ordinary administration.
The burden of presenting a formal proposal for the position of number one in the research body rests with the Minister of Public Administration, Giulia Bongiorno, who last July 27 (and therefore already 12 days late with respect to the deadline for mandate of Alleva) has launched a public call between experts and technicians in order to find a suitable figure after the hypothesis initially indicated, that of appointing the current deputy director of the statistics and quantitative methods department of the Bicocca University of Milan, Gian Carlo Blangiardo, has failed. How did it go? The deadline for submitting expressions of interest ended on 16 August and everything has been silent since then.
La vacatio it's served and it could still last for a long time. Indeed, the appointment of the president of Istat requires several steps formalities and it could take weeks (if not months) before Alleva's successor could take over the leadership of the Institute. Once the Government has made its choice - which will have to be formalized in the Council of Ministers - the appointment will also have to pass through Parliament, where it will have to be voted on by a qualified majority expressed by the Constitutional Affairs commissions of the Chamber and Senate. Then it will be up to the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, to sign the decree that will make the office executive. In the meantime, the Institute could remain in the hands of a commissioner appointed by the Prime Minister, who will have the task of running the business until the arrival of the new leaders. According to an indiscretion published by the Corriere della Sera, the Executive could also opt for a bridging solution: temporarily entrust the functions of the president to the Istat senior adviser, Maurizio Franzini, professor at the La Sapienza University of Rome.
In this path, there is also another aspect, not at all secondary, to take into consideration. As mentioned, the process is quite long and, calendar in hand, could intertwine with the important appointments that await Italy in the coming months. Any examples? The 21 GDP revision will have to be presented on 2017 September on which the Government will have to base the update note of the Def. Then it will be time for the long-awaited budget law with which it will be discovered whether or not the Lega-M5s executive will keep the very expensive promises contained in the government contract (citizenship income and flat tax are just the two most striking examples).
On the budget manoeuvre, the president of Istat is formally called to express his opinion in a hearing before Parliament. The problem is that, by that date, a president risks not being there. Blame the amateurism of the new government or fear of numbers? The doubt remains.
(Last update: 10:11 am on August 30th).
