Chris Hanretty

Romano Prodi has recently announced his retiral from Italian politics. Today, I chanced upon a reference to his work at IRI from almost twenty-five years ago, in Musella, Luigi, Craxi, Roma: Salerno Editrice, 2007

“Prodi, president of IRI, asked for a meeting with Craxi. Prodi had the right, by law, to choose six of the sixteen names for the administrative council of Rai, and went to Craxi to let him know that - differently from his predecessors - he meant to use this right. The prime minister responded, “Do what you want, but know that I’ll consider your six names as DC nominees, even if they should have a socialist party card in their pocket” (p. 252)

Prodi didn’t get his way - a deal was brokered in the relevant parliamentary commission, and Prodi was informed about it later. It’s not clear whether Prodi meant to use this right to nominate democristiani or “men of good will”. Still, we forget that he had a political career before the Second Republic - even if a politico-administrative one.