Listen to the audio version of the article
The future of Viale Mazzini divides the majority and the opposition, grappling with an increasingly clear and irreconcilable opposition especially on two issues: that of the license fee and that which is part of the overall reform of public TV and its governance. A wall against wall that has to deal with the distinctions within the opposition on the sit-in of 7 February in which the Pd (the driving force of the protest against the current Rai) and the M5S (which will not take part) are divided.
It is clear that everything must be placed within the framework of a debate on Rai which is intertwined with the start towards the deadline of the Viale Mazzini board of directors, but also – an element that is anything but secondary – towards the European elections.
But in the meantime the distances between the government and the opposition parties are made even more evident by the reactions to the hearing in the Supervisory Commission of the director general of the European Broadcasting Union, Noel Curran, and by the interview with the Sole 24 Ore of the CEO of Rai , Roberto Sergio.
In the first case, the director general Ebu stated that «Rai’s governance is not in line with the principles of the Media Freedom Act. It is an issue that Italy must address, to understand how it can have a governance system in line with this important European legislation”. An intervention that gave the “la” to the comment of the president of the Supervisory Commission, Barbara Floridia (M5S): «It is an issue that Italy must face». We are therefore entering a decisive phase. The reform of the Renzi Law can no longer be postponed because a conflict with European legislation emerges.”
«Roberto Sergio’s interview tells of a blocked Rai», explains Stefano Graziano, Pd member of the Supervisory Commission. And if in the interview the Rai CEO says he is not worried about the resources side, to the extent that the current level of revenues should be maintained in the future, the point raises Graziano’s doubts: «Fees, advertising and funds for taxation and debt – adds the dem deputy – are four elements all connected to each other in order to have financial resources for a transformation into a digital media company and put Rai in a position to be competitive, but at the same time be a public service. But the reduction of the license fee, by putting 440 million in general taxation to replace the missing part for just one year, makes Rai even more hostage to the government of the day.”