Foa legitimacy risk says RAI union

(ANSA) - Rome, September 25 - There is a risk of "illegitimacy" over the re-presentation of journalist Marcello Foa as president of public broadcaster RAI, RAI union USIGRAI said Tuesday.
    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 ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia 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.
    He is a former foreign desk chief at the Berlusconi family daily Il Giornale.
    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".