It is a battle over the changing of the guard at the presidency of Telecom Italia. For some time Vivendi, which is Telecom's largest shareholder, has been aiming for the presidency and has the intention of replacing the evanescent but cumbersome Giuseppe Recchi with Arnaud de Puyfontaine, who is the CEO of the French group.
But yesterday the yellow card arrived from the president of Consob, Giuseppe Vegas who - with his eyes on the links between Telecom, Vivendi and Mediaset - argued that a French presidency at the top of Telecom Italia "would not go unnoticed in the eyes of Consob", considering that Vivendi is already suspected of having de facto control of Telecom and that therefore it should loosen its grip on Mediaset, Berlusconi's TV at the center of a furious dispute with Vivendi.
It is probable that at this point the French will focus on an Italian guarantee presidency which will not disturb the CEO of Telecom Italia, Flavio Cattaneo, who enjoys the appreciation of Vivendi, but avoid altering the balance of governance for many reasons below the spotlight.
