Who would have thought it: a 5-star government is about to pass a law in favor of Mediaset, the company of the great enemy Silvio Berlusconi. In reality, the question is more complex and arises from a sentence issued last September by the European Court of Justice, which upheld Vivendi's appeal declaring the rules that prevented the colossus from beyond the Alps to climb the Biscione to be contrary to Union law. So sending the famous Gasparri law to the attic had become an obligation, as well as that of protecting the "Italy-system" of communications. So the Government is thinking about a law that makes it more difficult to make acquisitions in this sector without some sort of public control of congruity.
The rule will protect all Italian companies (and workers), but in the specific case it will have the effect of protect Silvio Berlusconi's companies from the assault of the French Vivendi. Grillino Stefano Patuanelli's Ministry of Economic Development has in fact prepared a device that will be included in the decree being examined by the Council of Ministers and which falls within the management of the Covid emergency: it is an amendment that partially anticipates the overall reorganization of the sector . Which the executive - after this first step - intends to put in the pipeline next month, together with the budget law. Community intervention has in fact created a void, a vulnerability in Italian legislation, which must now necessarily be filled.
What will the new legislation actually establish? In summary that in this area it will be the task of the Regulatory Authority for communications to evaluate whether the acquisitions could compromise the pluralism of information. Therefore, if Vivendi wants to take control of Berlusconi's TV channels, it cannot simply rake up the shares on the market or launch a takeover bid, but will have to ask for authorization from Agcom. "The Communications Regulatory Authority - reads the draft already delivered to the Prime Minister - carries out an investigation to be concluded within six months of the start of the procedure, aimed at verifying the existence of distorting effects or positions harmful to pluralism". And this also on the basis of "revenues, barriers to entry as well as the level of competition in the markets involved".
Palazzo Chigi will now only have to establish whether this provision will be immediately included in the text of the decree or whether its inclusion will be entrusted to an amendment by the future speaker during the process in the Chamber and in the Senate. The latter, at present, appears to be the preferred path of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte: a way to protect yourself behind the parliamentary and non-governmental initiative. On the part of the Mise, which elaborated the text made available to the premier, this intervention should in any case have a six-monthly deadline and represent the first step in the revision of the old Gasparri law. The prime minister's prudence is naturally linked to the political consequences of this approach: the fear is that it will obviously be interpreted as an outstretched hand to Berlusconi and consequently to Forza Italia. And in part it is, albeit in the context of a broader and more necessary rule.
