Habemus managing director. After weeks of back and forth, the government has found the square on the new Rai top management. Marcello Foa will be chairman and director, Fabrizio Salini the seat of managing director.
The announcement came during the Council of Ministers which began today at 12. "Today we are starting a cultural revolution", said the deputy prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, explaining that both figures were considered "up to this great challenge to get rid of the recommended and the parasites”.
"In compliance with the provisions of the law and the articles of association and to complete the designations already made by Parliament and by the company, for the renewal of Rai's Board of Directors, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Giovanni Tria, has proposed to the Council of Ministers the following names: Fabrizio Salini, indicating him for the position of managing director, and Marcello Foa for the position of director. This is what can be read in a note from the Ministry of the Economy.
Salts, born in 1967, he has been general manager of Stand by Me since January 2018, previously he was director of La7 and Fox International Channels Italy. Foa, on the other hand, is a former journalist of the Newspaper and director of the Italian-speaking Swiss newspaper Ticino Courier.
For the #Rai we made our choices. With Fabrizio Salini and Marcello Foa we guarantee the relaunch of the country's main cultural industry.
— GiuseppeConte (@GiuseppeConteIT) 27 July 2018
After days and days of waiting, the Rai's board of directors is therefore complete. In addition to Salini and Foa, the four councilors elected by Parliament will sit on the board of public television: Igor De Biasio (Lega), Rita Borioni (Pd), Beatrice Coletti (M5S) and Gianpaolo Rossi (Forza Italia). To these names is added that of the councilor voted by Rai employees: the production technician Riccardo Laganà, founder of IndigneRai.
The shareholders' meeting of Rai has already ratified the appointments. Instead, we will have to wait until 1 August for the binding opinion on the new Rai president of the parliamentary supervisory commission. At this juncture, the votes of the opposition will also be needed, given that the numbers are in hand, the majority can count on 21 preferences, five fewer than the necessary votes (26). The Pd meanwhile promises battle: “No guarantee appointments: Salvini and Di Maio go against the law and militarize Rai with an unprecedented division. Tria and Conte not received. The Democratic Party will vote against and will fight hard with all available means to defend the independence of information”. The deputy of the Democratic Party Michele Anzaldi, secretary of the Rai Supervisory Commission, writes it on Facebook. “Foa is a loyalist of Salvini – continues Anzaldi – while Salini was the CEO of La7 at the time when Cairo TV was transformed into a long talk show pro-M5s against Renzi and the Democratic Party. They want to enslave the public service to their wild allotment".
He responded remotely to criticism Matteo Salvini according to which, at the top of Rai "we have indicated a CEO and a president detached from the parties, two journalists, managers, entrepreneurs". Thus Matteo Salvini from the stage of the rally in Fontevivo di Parma, returned to the appointments of the public service. With respect to the controversies of the Democratic Party, the deputy prime minister added: “They are afraid that something will change in Rai, their fear is well founded. Things will change, forgotten journalists will be valued because they weren't left-wingers".
It should be emphasized that the announcement of the new appointments arrived at the still ongoing council of ministers and that, prior to it, according to rumors in the corridor, a restricted meeting was held (the second in a few days) between the two deputy prime ministers, Matteo Salvini and Luigi di Maio, the number one of the Economy, Giovanni Tria (it is officially up to him to appoint the Rai top management) and the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte. Purpose: to find a point of convergence on the names after the chaos of the last few days.
At this point, only Ferrovie dello Stato is missing from the list of government appointments that held the scene in this sunny July. After the choice of CDP leaders and key roles within the ministries, the government will have to decide who will lead the FS next the revocation (signed by Tria and the Minister of Transport, Danilo Toninelli) of the board. The FS assembly is scheduled for Tuesday 31 July according to Minister Toninelli's declaration.
(Last update: 9.30 on 28 July).
