The president Rai Soldi, empty coffers in viale Mazzini: “Debt of 580 million euros, a plan is needed”. Sergio: “We are not ideological”. The gender gap node

It had been clear to everyone for some time that Rai was not sailing in gold. But with the atmosphere surrounding the license fee between those who don’t want it, those who want to reduce it and those who would like to cancel it on Viale Mazzini, it becomes increasingly complicated to plan the future and investments. And so in Supervision in front of the members of the Commission the president Marinella Soldi intones the de profundis on viale Mazzini: “I would like to transfer a sense of urgency to you”, she explains. The coffers are basically empty. «The company, despite having closed the last balance sheet in balance, faces a debt situation of 580 million euros in 2022. For a necessary renewal of the forms of financing, a credible and realistic industrial plan is needed to be approved shortly and strictly no later than 2023», In other words: without money, mass cannot be sung. But above all with a debt that is equivalent to more than a third of the revenue from the license fee, the “hateful tax” as many define it is not only necessary but essential to save the company. In short, «Rai, to be central in the life of Italians – she clarified – must implement the radical transformation into a digital media company. To this end, it is essential to quickly conclude the much work already done on the 3 synergistic action plans: Service Contract, Sustainability Plan, Industrial Plan. But in establishing, through the next Service Contract, the objectives and obligations for Rai for the next five years, it is necessary to have knowledge and full certainty of the resources available, including additional resources for a digital transformation industrial plan”. «No European country today – she said again – does without a publicly financed media company. The public services of some countries, in the absence of additional resources, have had to make lucid but bitter choices to finance an inevitable digital transformation. We trust in the shareholder and in the work of this council so that this is not necessary for Rai». So the recipe is there: either you cut or you finance. Then the gender gap node: «In Rai we – he explains – achieved a significant reduction in the gender gap, both in terms of careers and wages between 2021 and 2022. An effort that unfortunately was not made on the occasion of the last appointments, in particular for the directorates of the all-male newspapers: a serious breach of the corporate gender policies, ratified by the Board of Directors a year ago». So, it’s up to CEO Roberto Sergio who immediately clarifies that their “approach is anything but ideological”. It is the first point that provokes the RA’s managing director to clarify referring to the announcement of the resignation of Lucia Annunziata. “Had it been necessary – he added -, but it wasn’t, we would have defended his space”. Then, he too returns to the fee node, the lowest among the main European countries. And he admonishes: «Even if – even in the absence of binding and unavoidable Community provisions – one intends to proceed with a review of the collection system, it will be essential to evaluate the effectiveness of the alternative solution and the related risks, identifying the mitigation measures. The country – he added – cannot risk regression by resorting to methods that can be characterized, like the previous one, by tax evasion of 30%, with all the consequences on business continuity ».