The Rai license fee may drop, but with compensation guaranteed by the State

The Rai license fee may drop. Money to Rai, however, no. It is around this distinction that a political and above all financial issue that has accompanied the public service for years is reopening in the Senate.

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Putting the issue back on the table is an amendment to the Rai reform presented by the speakers Claudio Fazzone and Roberto Rosso, both from Forza Italia. The law introduces a parachute: if the revenue from the license fee decreases, Rai will have to receive corresponding public resources, so as not to see its funding reduced. It is the step that makes it possible again to discuss a tax reduction without simultaneously opening a hole in the company's accounts.

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Rosso directly links the proposal to the European Media Freedom Act. The amendment, he explains, is "in full compliance with the requirements of the European Emfa regulation, which provide for the stability and predictability of the resources allocated to the public service". And he adds that "in the event of any reductions in license fee revenue, the financing of the public service is guaranteed through the transfer of corresponding public resources".

The point is precisely this. Today the amount of the fee can be changed annually by the Government, without its reduction automatically triggering compensation. After the passage of the license fee in the bill, in 2024 the license fee was lowered from 90 to 70 euros and Rai received additional resources, but without an automatic mechanism established by law. The new mechanism instead aims to transform compensation into a structural guarantee.

A solution that immediately reignites the debate among the majority. The League, which has long made the license fee cut its own flag, claims its primogeniture and welcomes Forza Italia's opening: «We therefore note with satisfaction that Forza Italia has also finally risen to the Northern League in the battle for the fee cut». But the same Northern League parliamentarians in the Supervision specify that «the reduction in the license fee must be real, concrete and sustainable, through greater efficiency of Rai, cost containment and increased revenue, without simply shifting the burden from one citizen's pocket to another».