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".
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