1. abolish the Ordine dei Giornalisti, a Fascist-era institution which journalists must be enrolled in;
2. abolish subsidies to newspapers – now exclusively those with political ties;
3. abolition of the Gasparri law

Okay, maybe the last of these will create a gaping legislative maw, but the law’s going to have major problems in the courts soon enough anyway.

The first of these – the one currently in use – is hidden away in a subordinate clause. It gives the Treasury the authority to nominate two members of the board, viz, the President, and one Treasury representative.

The second method was due to come into force following Rai’s privatisation. Privatisation was improbable even under the centre-right, and has been ruled out by the new government.

Nevertheless, the chairman of the parliamentary commission which oversees Rai is now claiming that the second method of appointing and removing members is currently in force, despite the failure of the privatisation initiative. Why? Because it would give that same parliamentary commission influence over the removal of Angelo Maria Petroni, the Treasury’s somewhat embattled representative on the Board.

According to the law, after privatisation, any representative of the Economics and Finance Ministry is bound to exercise any vote at an AGM called to dismiss a board member “in conformity with the deliberation” of the relevant parliamentary commission. Unnamed jurists in one report argue that this provision can be applied despite the failure of privatisation because Rai was granted its broadcasting concession in the same clause, the clause must be operative, or else Rai is broadcasting illegally.

This is, perhaps, the wrong argument to make. The second method of appointing and removing members was not “inactive”, it was merely over-written by transitory provisions (comma 9, Art. 20 of the law). A better argument to make is that these transitory provisions failed to completely overhaul the original provisions. Specifically, they made no provision for dismissal of a board member. Whether it can be legitimately inferred from this that the legislative intent behind the law was to preserve the original provisions on dismissal, but replace the provisions on appointment, is unclear.

What is clear is that Landolfi has a case which can’t be instantly dismissed. The practical significance may be the same: with a centre-left majority, the commission would still move to dismiss Petroni if it voted along straight party-lines. But that would drag the whole sorry process out longer. If Landolfi’s goal is to embarass Treasury Minister Tomaso Padoa-Schioppa, he’s going about it the right way.

Significance:
Public broadcaster Rai and private corporation Mediaset – owned by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi – enjoy a de facto duopoly over Italian television. Each has three of seven national terrestrial channels, and their advertising affiliates control over 90% of all television advertising. The law requires each organisation to move one channel to digital terrestrial television (where no organisation may own more than 20% of the market), and sets a limit of 45% on advertising sales. Mediaset’s advertising arm, Publitalia, currently enjoys a 62% share (source: RepubblicaRadio).

By attacking the commercial interests of Mediaset, the government opens up a political debate with Silvio Berlusconi’s party Forza Italia and his centre-right coalition, the House of Liberties. Berlusconi has attacked the law as “banditry”.

Timetable:
The design of the law approved yesterday forecasts the transfer of one Rai and one Mediaset channel within ‘fifteen months’ of the law’s passage. Passage through Parliament, however, may be difficult for the government, which enjoys an extremely narrow majority in the Senate. Whilst the government is unlikely to face significant problems within its own ranks, it may be vulnerable to procedural obstacles placed by the opposition.

Obstacles to implementation:
This is not the first time that Rai and Mediaset have been ordered to move channels to digital. A previous reform, which also set limits on publicity, was over-turned by a 1995 referendum. Berlusconi has already called for a referendum should Parliament fail to block the bill.

Beneficiaries:
Should the law pass, and should two analogue channels become vacant in spring 2008, it is unclear who would wish to take up two national channels with only four years before digital switch-over and the shut-down of the analogue network. The most immediate and significant impact of the law would be to damage commercial prospects for Mediaset and Rai. Mediaset shares have dropped 1.5% this morning; their performance over the past three months has been dismal.