Giorgia Meloni launches a new offensive on the Italian cultural front. While France and Italy are going through a diplomatic crisis, the Council of Ministers adopted a decree on Thursday May 4 which, according to Le Monde and La Repubblica, directly targets the Frenchman Stéphane Lissner, current director of the Naples Opera. He should appeal this decision. The new measure sets the retirement age for foreign directors of opera houses at 70 and should soon be published in the Official Journal.
Former director of the Paris Opera, Stéphane Lissner celebrated his birthday in January and thereby reached the age limit newly set by Giorgia Meloni. According to Le Monde, he would not be the only one to be affected by this new measure. Another Frenchman, Dominique Meyer, should also give up the management of La Scala in Milan. Aged 68, he “could be forced to leave his post in eighteen months,” says Le Monde.
To replace Stéphane Lissner at the head of the Naples Opera, Carlo Fuortes, managing director of Rai, is widely expected. And it is this departure that greatly worries the Italian Democratic Party. In a note, the presidents of the parliamentary group, Francesco Boccia and Chiara Braga, declared that “this decision is the condition which will allow the right to get their hands on the public service. It is a very serious choice. According to Le Monde, Giorgia Meloni already has a name in mind to replace Carlo Fuortes: Giampaolo Rossi. A profile that worries the opposition.
“It is essential that the public service guarantees different cultural and political points of view. Its survival depends on it,” said Stefano Graziano and Sandro Ruotolo – respectively head of the Democrat group at the Rai parliamentary control committee and head of information at the national secretariat of the Italian left party.
The decree signing the end of the career of Stéphane Lissner at the direction of the Naples Opera should be published very soon in the Italian Official Journal. The Teatro San Carlo Foundation could then propose the name of Carlo Fuortes to the ultraconservative Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano.
Moreover, this decision is not likely to soften relations between France and Italy. These are already strained by differences over migration policy. On Thursday, Gérald Darmanin claimed that Giorgia Meloni was “unable to solve the migration problems” of Italy. Remarks deemed insulting by the President of the Italian Council of Ministers and by the country’s political leaders.
