And with the new year comes nomination season. There are a few hundred offices in publicly owned companies that need to be confirmed or renewed between spring and early summer and, apart from companies in the daily spotlight (such as Enel, Eni, Enav, Mps, Poste, Leonardo, Fs, Rai, Cdp) for their role and for their size, a great many public appointments escape general attention. There are 30 companies directly owned by the Ministry of Economy. Among these is the Amco (asset management company) which deals with the purchase and management of banks' non-performing loans and which will have to confirm or renew its 3 top management members. And then Consap (management of guarantee funds) with the president and 2 members of the board to be confirmed or not.
3 other appointments scheduled at Consip (purchase of goods and services for the public administration), as well as at Equitalia, at the Istituto Luce, at Sogesid (management of water systems). Five offices to be confirmed or renewed at the Ipzs (polygraphic institute and state mint). And then there are Ram (Mediterranean motorway network) whose sole director expired at the end of the year and Expo 2015 where the office of extraordinary commissioner also expired at the end of 2019. Separate chapters for Eni, Enel, Enav, Leonardo, Poste and Mps for a total - with reference only to companies owned by the Mef - of 83 nominations at stake.
But then there are also the companies that see the participation of the Ministry of Economic Development, Defence, Infrastructure, Cultural Heritage and Agricultural Policies. Thus, for example, the president, administrator and the 2 members of the Board of Defense Services which deals with the management of assets not directly connected to operational activities of the armed forces will have to be renewed. And at So.Fi.Coop (a finance and cooperation company, a financial company with the task of institutional investor and a subsidiary of the Ministry of Economic Development) there are 7 appointments on the agenda. And so we arrive at 94.
Which, however, reaches 4 hundreds if the names of the companies owned by the subsidiaries are also included in the account. For example, Leonardo's subsidiaries (where the Mef has 30,20%) are 6, with 31 top positions, as well as the subsidiaries of the Post Office with 27 appointments in perspective. And at Monte dei Paschi, over 68% owned by the Ministry of the Economy, there are as many as 20 subsidiaries for a total of 99 positions. And so on. Extensive privatization operations were carried out in the XNUMXs and XNUMXs. But the legislation has left undetermined the problem of how to exercise public control over the activities of the companies that remain under the control, even partial, of the State.
And it is thus that, in particular for entities that are not known to most, the renewal of the vast majority of offices takes place in total inattention. In any case, it is the Court of Auditors that performs a supervisory role on the entities that benefit from a contribution from the State. For its part, the Ministry of Economy and Finance exercises control over 30 companies, characterized by the performance of activities of a predominantly public nature (e.g. Consip and Invityalia), or because public service providers transformed into joint stock companies (Railways, Post Offices, Inps) or because they carry out activities in strategic sectors (Eni, Enel, Leonardo).
