The parliamentary oversight
committee for RAI on Wednesday approved journalist Marcello Foa
as new president of the State broadcaster.
Foa, 55, was approved with 27 ayes, three nays, one blank
ballot and one spoiled ballot.
The three-third majority required was this reached.
He had been approved by the RAI board last Friday.
Earlier Foa said he had never intended to "offend or
disrespect" President Sergio Mattarella when he tweeted
"disgust" after the head of State rejected anti-euro economist
Paolo Savona as economy minister.
Addressing the RAI parliamentary oversight committee, Foa
said "it's not my habit, I rarely attack or lack respect, far
less with regard to the top figure in the State, because of my
feelings of esteem in his regard, out of respect for his role as
servant of the State and his history, which saw the supreme
sacrifice of a member of his family".
Foa was referring to Mattarella's elder brother Piersanti who
was assassinated by the mafia in 1980.
Mattarella's rejection of Savona - later moved to the
European Affairs brief - spurred the anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement to briefly call for his impeachment.
Foa is widely expected to be ratified later Wednesday after
three-time ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi dropped the opposition
that caused the journalist to be rejected in an earlier
oversight body vote.
On Tuesday Rai union USIGRAI said there is a risk of
"illegitimacy" over Foa's probable ratification.
The union wrote to the parliamentary Speakers Roberto Fico
and Elisabetta Casellati as well as to the parliamentary RAI
oversight panel urging them to carry out "an in-depth assessment
to ensure the legitimacy, beyond all reasonable doubt, of the
vote you are about to take".
The RAI board on Friday voted to nominate Foa its new
president.
The board also nominated Foa, the government's pick to lead
the network, in July, but parliament's oversight body of the
State broadcaster failed to ratify the appointment.
This time, however, Foa is expected to get a majority vote as
Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party is tipped to
drop its opposition.
Deputy Premier and 5-Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio said
Foa was "an independent journalist" and said he hoped the
oversight body would approve him this time around.
He said the whole process had been "in the light of day",
denying secret deals.
Berlusconi reportedly agreed to Foa at a meeting with ruling
League leader Matteo Salvini where he reportedly received
assurances on his Mediaset media empire, RAI's rival.
Foa is a controversial figure due to previous Euroskeptic,
pro-Putin, anti-vaccine, anti-gay and anti-immigrant stances and
his sharing of fake news including Hillary Clinton's supposed
Satanic dinners - as well as the tweet against Mattarella.
The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) leader on the RAI
oversight body, Davide Faraone, said Foa's appointment had been
the product of a "shameful shady deal" between the government
parties and Berlusconi.
He said it was an affront to "democracy and parliament".
In other statements to the oversight body Wednesday, Foa
vowed to uphold RAI's "pluralism" and "independence", as well as
its "capacity to serve readers with humility and intellectual
honesty".
Foa is a former foreign desk chief at the Berlusconi
conservative family newspaper, Il Giornale.
He was hired by the late doyen of Italian journalism, Indro
Montanelli.
The FI chief on the oversight body, Giorgio Mulè, said Foa
had "reassured" him and that Berlusconi's party would vote for
him, making his approval inevitable.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
