Rai, Fuortes resigns after cashing in on the government’s ad hoc rule: “There are no longer the conditions to continue”

The Chief Executive Officer of Rai Carlo Fuortes communicated his resignation to the Minister of Economy and Finance. “I have been working in the public administration for decades and I have always acted in the interests of the institutions I have led, favoring the general benefit of the community over partisan conveniences – explains Fuortes – I therefore acknowledge that there are no longer the conditions to continue my CEO job”.

Last Thursday the CDM approved the decree which intervenes on public bodies and companies and which affected the choice by the Meloni government of the next leaders of Rai and therefore on Fuortes. In fact, based on the law approved by the Council of Ministers, a new age limit has been introduced for the administrators of opera houses: 70 years. Beyond that, they will decay. One of the effects was precisely to put him out of the game Stephane Lissner, superintendent and artistic director of the San Carlo theater in Naples. Fuortes has thus decided to resign from his position in Rai before the deadline (expected in 2024) to take Lissner’s place at the management of San Carlo.

The motivation

“In the new Board of Directors’ first year of work with the government Dragons the Board has achieved great results for the Company. To name just a few: new programs and schedules which have led, among other things, to an evident relaunch of Rai2, the organizational transformation for Generi, a strategic real estate plan that has been awaited for decades, a significant strengthening of RaiPlay and the digital offer.
Since the beginning of 2023, a political clash has erupted over the position I hold and over my person, which contributes to weakening Rai and the public service – Fuortes specifies – At the same time, I have registered within the Board of Directors of Rai the coming less than the constructive attitude that had characterized him, indispensable for the management of the first Italian cultural company. This actually threatens to paralyze it, making it unable to meet the obligations and deadlines of company programming with the risk of making it impossible to face the great challenges of Rai’s future. In the coming weeks, the Board of Directors must decide on the programs for the new schedules and it is a fact that there are no longer the conditions to continue the editorial renewal project that we undertook in 2021 “, he comments.

And again: “I cannot, in order to obtain the approval of the new production plans by the Board of Directors, accept the compromise of sharing changes – although obviously legitimate – of the editorial line and a programming that I do not consider in Rai’s interest. I have always considered the freedom of choice and of the work of a director is an essential element of the ethics of a public company.My professional future – which has been much discussed in the newspapers these days, not always by the way – is of no importance given these reasons and cannot be the subject of negotiation. I therefore acknowledge that there are no longer the conditions to continue my work as managing director. In the interest of the Company, I have communicated my resignation to the Minister of the Economy and Finances”.