By now, when the government is in place, ministers nominated and the definition of undersecretaries underway, Giorgia Meloni’s government is preparing a very delicate passage, perhaps even more so than launching the executive: the renewal of the Governing Boards of companies part-owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MeF), some of which are listed on the Stock Exchange and active in strategic sectors such as Eni and Enel (energy), Leonardo (aerospace, defence and security), the Post Office, Enav (air navigation services) and Monte dei Paschi (the oldest banking institute in the world, for some time now in difficulty). There are dozens of top roles about to expire and proposals will formally be formulated by the Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, a member of the Lega Party, but they will really be the result of long negotiations among the parties, already underway.
Will the new Italian legislature able to help the country get back on its feet, build a system ... [+]
Apart from the best known, like those already mentioned, the MeF controls many other companies strategic to the Country by means of financial instruments listed on the Stock Exchange, such as the National Agency for attracting Investment and for Business Development Ltd.(Invitalia), the Deposits and Loans Fund (Cdp), Rai (national radio and TV) and the National Railways (FS) or like the National Agency for Active Labour Market Policies (Anpal) or Consip, which deals with an important part of public administration purchases, and several more.
Maybe less well known, but not for this reason of lesser importance, especially in a phase in the country in which ability to create a system must prove more than just a slogan, are the companies listed on the Stock Exchange. Here the nomination of members of the new Boards of Directors will take place by voting from a list, as established by the Consolidated Act relating to Financial Intermediation (1998). This means that each company will have a majority list presented by the chief share-holder and one or more minority lists presented by other share-holders, often institutional funds and investors. The vote in assembly will decide the composition of the new Board of Directors: the majority of members will come from the majority list and the rest from the most voted minority list. It is important to know such technicalities because we can thereby understand that, for the companies in which the MeF is the chief share-holder, the Government will indicate the occupants of many of the principal seats on the Boards, starting with those of the Managing Director and Chair.
The responsibility is enormous, as are the implications.
We have already had a turning point in the governance of our country: the first woman Prime Minister and the first time, after the Second World War, that we have a Right-Wing Leader.
Shall we be able to illuminate the legislature with other “first times” which will help us get the country on its feet again, to construct a system capable of countering war, inflation and post-pandemic disruption? Whether it comes from the Right, the Left, the Centre or whatever other colour or position, can we, for once, get over particularisms and personalisations to co-operate for the good of the Country, which is essential for the good of Europe, and contain the deeply divisive inequalities of our society?
In these years of technological transformation, constant acceleration of rhythms and habits, of death, illness and endemic superficiality, can we manage to come to terms with a slower pace and a deeper soul-seeking, so often lost along the way because of our existential haste and materialistic ambitions?
I sincerely hope, that the new leaders of the part state-owned companies, (with the enormous responsibility they will find in their hands), and, more in general, the leaders of our Country, (whether in politics, organisation or business), will impose criteria and evaluations, based on competencies, analyses and unbiased data, to provide real prospects of development and sustainability. The need is urgent.
Without question.
