“I am the power. Confessions of a Chief of Staff”. I recommend reading it to all those who write and speak about constitutional reform. In fact, I am convinced that the slalom between presidentialism, the prime minister and other formulas risks leading us astray in relation to two real powers, one of which is very difficult to touch (justice), the other they don’t even try because it involves the nervous system of the Palaces, the famous “little hands” that intervene in protection. The story of the chief of staff anonymous is the x-ray of true power: it could have been a best-seller, but as it doesn’t talk about politicians, they preferred to close the book. “I don’t do anything. I am something”, says the chief of staff. «I am the invisible face of power. I know, I see, I arrange, I solve, I accelerate and brake, I cheat and defy. I frequent the twilight. From politics, institutions and all the planets in orbit. Industry, finance, Church.” And that’s how it is. Public opinion, the electorate, doesn’t know the nervous system of power and the media has no interest in giving face to those who bother and can be useful. «We, chiefs of staff , we are a clergy. Politicians pass, we stay.
About fifty people who keep Italy moving, controlling behind the scenes.” True, but which Italy are they holding back? The one that is in the system, the one that always finds a manager – excluding ministers – who repairs and restores. I give some examples : the 620 million given by the Italian government to Ilva were managed by a corporate structure in which the minority public shareholder invests the necessary money and the private sector does not appear to have the constraints of responsibility.
Now in Taranto, Mittal manager Lucia Morselli is asking for another 320 million not to invest in decarbonization, recovery or new investments, but simply to pay the gas bill and avoid cutting off supply. These things collide in the nervous system of power, a system that small and medium-sized Italian companies do not reach, which, unlike others, hire, operate as a bank, sing and carry the cross. The power scheme is always the same: you obtain a public contribution or public participation for something that is “strategic” and that will be “controlled” by the State through shareholder agreements that are never made public and that prove fallacious to the public. first sight. first difficulty.
Also this year, the government decided to donate 400 million to Stellantis and its partners for the renovation of the Termoli factory, which will be used for the production of electric batteries. There is a memorandum of understanding between the Italian authorities and individuals that would oblige the latter to invest 2 billion, but there is no access to the memorandum and it is not made public.
Just as the agreement between the Ministry of Economy and the American fund KKR was not disclosed, according to which the government gives 2 billion to the fund in exchange for a minority stake in the Telefónica network that Tim will sell. The Mef promises that control of the network will be public but it is not clear how it will be possible for the State with 20% to have more governance rights than the private partner.
As the American partners are not strictly benefactors, the suspicion is that in exchange for powers already guaranteed by the golden power, the State is looking at a border operation with the only certainty that we will probably see a general increase in telephone tariffs in the coming years.
The moral is therefore always the same: while real families and companies are invited to make sacrifices, the little hands protect agreements between public and private citizens, framed by specific, complicated and very secret contracts. In fact, what happens is that public money is lost and no one is responsible for it. Energy Services Manager (GSE), which carries out long-term natural gas supply procedures, and Snam lost 4.6 billion of public money because in 2022 it purchased gas for storage without carrying out hedging operations, without scandal, without investigation , no reaction from the government. This is how the hidden power, the one that escapes the radar of reforms, makes Italy turn around without Italians knowing it.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
