Northern League member Altieri appointed Anac president after controversy: "I withdraw my availability"

The day of controversy that arose after the appointment of the Northern League exponent as the new president of the National Anti-Corruption Authority ended with the step backwards of Trifone "Nuccio" Altieri. "I have decided, for reasons of political, institutional and personal expediency, to withdraw my availability", Altieri announced in the evening, the day after the Council of Ministers had started the procedure for his nomination as president of the ANAC. Altieri's decision came after the opposition, a few hours earlier, wrote directly to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to ask her to withdraw the nomination. Not only that: the opposition, which had defined this designation as inappropriate if not tainted by incompatibility, had announced battle in the parliamentary commissions in the letter. In fact, to obtain a favorable opinion for the role of president of the ANAC, two thirds of the votes are needed. Meloni didn't seem worried during the day and, to journalists who asked her why she made the choice, she replied: "What should I say? Because it was within our competence to do so". "I'm counting on everything to be absolutely regular", commented the deputy prime minister and leader of the League Matteo Salvini. Then in the evening Altieri took a step backwards. At the moment the Anac is led by the jurist Giuseppe Busia, who remains in office until a successor is formalized.

Altieri: "I withdraw my availability"

"Despite possessing the requisites and skills necessary to hold the position, after having discussed myself with President Meloni and Vice Presidents Salvini and Tajani, I have decided, for reasons of political, institutional and personal expediency, to withdraw my availability", Altieri explained in a note. "I thank the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the vice-presidents Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani for the trust shown in me with the designation as president of the National Anti-Corruption Authority. I am sorry for the media attacks and controversies that accompanied this choice, despite my professional path and the experience gained in important institutional and industrial realities", he added. Shortly afterwards, executive sources commented: "The government takes note of the withdrawal of the candidacy of the Honorable Trifone Altieri for the presidency of the Anac, thanking him for his availability, appreciating the assessments of political expediency that led to this decision".

The opposition's letter to Meloni

Altieri's note arrived after a day of controversy which reignited the political conflict. In reality, the appointment of Lega deputy Giulio Centemero as Consob commissioner was also criticized. However, the controversy focused mainly on Altieri. So much so that the opposition, united, wrote to Prime Minister Meloni. "As opposition political forces we express the clearest opposition and strong institutional concern regarding the designation of the new president of the National Anti-Corruption Authority. The Anac is not an extension of the executive, nor a terrain for the political division of the majority forces. The very nature of the Authority requires at the top a figure characterized by unquestionable impartiality, absolute independence from the parties and proven and specific technical competence in the fight against corruption and in the supervision of public contracts", we read in the letter signed by the group leaders of Pd, M5s, Avs, Italia viva, +Europa, Azione. And again: "The choice of a profile coming from the active ranks of politics and the government coalition openly contrasts with the independence requirements essential to guarantee the credibility of the Authority, both in front of Italian citizens and in front of the European institutions that monitor the transparency of public procurement and funds".

Who is Altieri

Trifone Altieri joined the League in 2017, after having played in Forza Italia and having had brief experiences in Conservatives and reformists and in the Italian Directorate. Salvini, on 18 September 2024, entrusted him with the role of head of the League's Defense department: party sources, however, explained that the Apulian politician never held the position (which is no longer present in the League's organizational chart), because Altieri had immediately communicated to Armando Siri his unavailability to hold it as he was already a member of Leonardo's board of directors. Siri, coordinator of the departments, certified this in a letter on 27 September, in which he specified that the resolution for the assignment of the role was "to be understood as revoked for all purposes".

The clarification that did not extinguish the controversy

The League's clarification on Altieri's role came after accusations from the opposition, who cited the law that regulates the appointment of the top of the National Anti-Corruption Authority. The third paragraph of article 13 of Legislative Decree 150 of 27 October 2009, they recalled, states that "the president and members of the Authority cannot be chosen from among people who hold elective public positions or positions in political parties or trade union organizations or who have held such positions and positions in the three years preceding the appointment and, in any case, must not have interests of any nature in conflict with the functions of the Authority". But the controversies had not stopped. For Giuseppe Conte, Meloni's "is a serious choice". Angelo Bonelli, beyond party affiliation, underlined that "Altieri presides over Fincantieri Infrastrutture, a public company that lives on contracts. The controller who comes from the controlled?". After the opposition's letter, executive sources had specified: "The government reiterates that it has adopted the resolution proposing the candidacy of Trifone Altieri for the presidency of the ANAC after having previously assessed and deemed any incompatibility profiles to be non-existent". The same sources had added: the government "specifies that, before proceeding, the two main opposition parties were informed in the shortest possible way, without any opposition or reservations being expressed on their part". Shortly afterwards, however, the note arrived with Altieri's step backwards.