Castelli leaves the presidency, the differences with the Palermo- Corriere.it CEO

Surprise resignation at the top of Acea, the company of the municipality of Rome for water, energy and the environment. Just two months after his second mandate expired, the president Michaela Castelli has resigned. Castelli, a lawyer specializing in financial law, had been put in charge of Acea in June 2018 and then reconfirmed in May 2020, therefore in both cases when she was mayor of Virginia Raggi (5 Stars). the president, in a letter to the board of directors, he states that «it is a decision, of a strictly personal nature, the maturation of which began in the last days of the year that has just ended and which has gradually been consolidated in the context of the new governance structures indicated by the controlling shareholder. The acceleration towards new strategic projects of the company has led me to believe that the time has come to leave room for new figures aimed at continuing, within the ambit of these new structures, the tasks assigned to the president».

Words behind which you can see difficult relations with the new CEO of Acea, Fabrizio Palermo, the former CEO of Cassa depositi e prestiti chosen last September by the dem mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri (the Municipality holds 51% of Acea), also with the aim of giving a boost to the construction of the waste-to-energy plant, to face the age-old problem of waste disposal. Thus the tandem between Castelli herself and the previous managing director, Giuseppe Gola, was also broken, also appointed, in May 2020, under the Raggi junta, firmly opposed to the waste-to-energy plant. «After all – continues the letter of resignation signed by Castelli – the objectives of the chairman of a board of directors to favor the pursuit of principles of good governance and the effective coordination of the work of the management body find the best terrain of realization in the presence of propositional contexts and environments, as well as constructive interrelationships projected over time».
Castelli’s resignation comes in the aftermath of the regional elections which saw the clear conquest of the presidency of Lazio by the centre-right and the sharp defeat of the centre-left which has led the Region since 2013. resignations also come while the climate in the company is poisoned by press articles that recently gave an account of anonymous accusations of alleged sexist and discriminatory behavior in the workplace by Palermo itself against some hostesses employed by an external company but employed by Acea.

Only last week did the board of directors, chaired by Castelli herself, renew its trust in Palermo, acknowledging a report by the Internal Committee for Ethics, but in any case gave a mandate to the same body to “carry out any preliminary deemed necessary or appropriate”. Mayor Gualtieri did not comment on the case, but the Equal Opportunities Commission of Roma Capitale, chaired by Michela Ciculli, received a request for clarification from the company, while the center-right opposition in the Municipality asked Gualtieri to take a stand. Yesterday evening Massimo Milani, a member of the Fratelli d’Italia deputy also spoke: «Although the Acea board of directors has renewed full trust in its CEO, it is more than ever appropriate and necessary to shed light on the matter. I am worried about what is happening in Acea».