The junta of the new mayor Virginio Merola, met yesterday for the first time, has taken the path of merit and transparency with regard to the appointments within its competence. The identification will in fact be entrusted by the mayor himself to three wise men, of proven experience and morality, who will be able to choose the right people for the right position on the basis of the curricula presented.
Expiring posts (from councilors to presidents) will be published on the Municipality's website and anyone can decide to participate in the selection. The wise men will examine the applications and have their say, after which Merola will have the last word. "It looks like a small step - observes the deputy mayor, Silvia Giannini - but it is a pebble that moves mountains and the municipality of Bologna is, as far as I know, the only one to have started a path of this type".
Until today, the selection criteria have in fact been above all political, to participate in the ball you had to be invited and the choice always revolved around more or less well-known names. From now on, however, the dances should be more open and what previously passed through the secret rooms or corridors will, it is assumed, have a clear and linear process. Naturally the wise men and the mayor will not be able to do everything by themselves. The Municipality has shareholdings in 18 companies, but controls only eight of them and will also have to take into account the other shareholders, coordinating the choices.
The first testing ground for the new procedure should be important appointments: in the international fairs company of Bologna (where the Municipality has 11,5%) and in Marconi Airport (16,75%). Provided that the process will not suffer any hitches: the City Council is in the middle to dictate the guidelines, but if everything goes smoothly, the decision will become operational in a couple of weeks.
