La Rai Supervisory Commission he failed the appointment of Marcello Foa as president of public television. In San Macuto 23 members of the commission voted: there were 22 votes in favour, against the 27 necessary for the green light, equal to two thirds of the 40 members. A blank card.
While present in the committee room, Forza Italia MPs did not participate in the vote (except for the president Alberto Barachini, who voted, presumably blank ballot), of the Democratic Party and Liberi e Uguali. It is the first parliamentary defeat for the yellow-green government.
Consequently, the appointment of Foa, after the go-ahead by the majority on Tuesday evening in the first board of directors of the new Rai, is not effective. Indeed, the law provides the binding opinion of the Supervisory Authority, by a two-thirds majority (27 votes out of 40) for definitive ratification.
The most relevant political fact is the tear of Forza Italia, which by rejecting the Northern League candidate could have definitively filed away the center-right alliance proposal to the latest policies and currently leading many local administrations. An alliance already subjected to various fibrillations, not least the unbridgeable gap on the Dignity Decree being approved in the Montecitorio hall. It is no coincidence that the league speaks of an "important tear" and of a "Pd-Fi axis" while FI minimizes and limits itself to noting "the accident along the way". However, the rift remains and we will see in the next few if and how it can be recomposed, also considering the other open fronts.
"Other than axis between Pd and Fi on Rai, the only axis we deeply regret is the one created in violation of the popular will – and specifically in violation of the spirit of the law on Rai – between Lega and M5S”, protest the group leaders of Forza Italia of the Chamber and Senate, Mariastella Gelmini and Anna Maria Bernini.
“The coup by Di Maio and Salvini does not pass – confirms the leader of the Pd group in the Senate, Andrea Marcucci in a tweet – A government of braggarts wanted to impose a friend of Putin at the helm of Rai but the Supervisory Authority said no to Marcello Foa. Now he needs a guarantee president for Rai ”.
If the Democratic Party speaks of a coup de main and FI of forcing, what will Salvini do now? The Northern League leader does not intend to take any steps back: Foa is "the maximum that can be aspired to as president of public television", he says and asks for the support of the entire centre-right. In truth, Salvini is betting on a quibble to confirm the top management of public television. The quibble consists in the fact of lasicare Foa to lead the board as a senior adviser, until the situation is unblocked in the Supervision Committee, probably with a new agreement in the centre-right. Assuming that Salvini really wants to mend with FI and does not prefer to go on to the bitter end with a president delegitimized by the lack of ratification in the commission.
This position, after ascertaining the rift within the centre-right, it risks creating one even within the majority itself, given that Luigi Di Maio said that “the Government cannot ignore the Rai Supervisory Commission, if there is an agreement between political forces it is desirable that the name of Foa returns to Supervision. If there is no understanding, it seems clear to me that Foa's name cannot return. This – he specified – says the law, not me”.
The Quirinale's warning has also arrived on the issue: President Mattarella is in fact oriented towards asking for respect for the spirit of the law, avoiding forcing. In truth, Mattarella has no powers over the case, even if the parliamentary groups of the Democratic Party are ready to ask for a hearing if Foa does not resign, but the compass of the Quirinale is oriented, in this case as more generally, towards respect for those two principles. In this key, keeping Marcello Foa in the saddle at all costs, even though he is disheartened in the Supervisory Commission, would seem like a tear in the rooms of the highest building in the country. Given the impasse, the Rai Board of Directors took note of the Supervisory vote and adjourned to Thursday.
Updated at 16,30pm
