“Bagnai at the Competition Authority? He has no expertise; it’s down to party politics.” Boeri’s dig

Tuesday’s appointment of Alberto Bagnai as a member of the Italian Competition and Market Authority for a seven-year term has sparked considerable controversy. According to Tito Boeri, professor of economics at Bocconi University and former president of INPS, the decision must be viewed within a much broader context: “By the end of this parliamentary term, this governing majority will have made some 2,500 direct or indirect appointments – almost two a day – driven largely by ‘party merit’,” says the economist. He continues: “Bagnai’s appointment is the latest in the series. Bagnai has no expertise in the matters he will have to deal with. Whatever the outcome of the elections, this majority will leave us with a ruling class that follows party lines rather than taking on the institutional tasks entrusted to it. It is a way of prolonging the life of this government. A burden for us all.”

Criticism of Bagnai’s appointment, in fact, centres primarily on his links to politics and EU law. The Competition Authority directly applies Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU within the European Network of Competition Authorities, whilst the EU ECN+ Directive, transposed in 2021, requires its members to operate ‘independently of political interference’ and without accepting instructions from the government. This requirement now applies to Bagnai, a senior figure and economic affairs spokesperson for the Lega, the majority party, though he is no longer a Member of Parliament, as he must give up his seat in the Chamber of Deputies to join the AGCM’s board (the law prohibits members of the Authority from holding any other public office).