Court of Auditors: The findings are slowing down the first appointments of MiC executives.

On the morning of July 8, following its statutory checks, the Court of Auditors forwarded its findings to the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Culture, who is coordinating the process of the consultation of the 175 second-level managers.

The constitutional body objected that the first decree appointing 10 managers gave priority to the positions provided for in Article 19, paragraph 5bis and paragraph 6 of Legislative Decree no. 165 of March 30, 2001 (Consolidated Law on Public Employment), i.e., managers from other public administrations (the majority of the 10), rather than the permanent managers of the MiC. Therefore, the process must be repeated, including and giving priority to the permanent managers.

Let's take a step back and reconstruct the situation that Arteconomy has previously addressed, anticipating potential delays and bureaucratic bottlenecks. Let's examine the issues encountered. At the end of May, the Directorate-General for Human Resources and Organization of the Ministry of Culture published the selection process for 175 second-level management positions for the central and local administration of the ministry. The positions available are numerous and concern key central offices with financial and management functions, as well as local offices such as superintendencies, museums, and cultural institutes throughout Italy. The objective of the call was to select candidates based on the nature and characteristics of the objectives set, the complexity of the structure involved, as well as taking into account their professional aptitude and abilities, previous results achieved within their respective administrations and related evaluations, specific organizational skills, and, where applicable, previous experience in management roles. The process was open to managers within the Ministry of Culture, as well as managers from other public administrations. The participation window was short, from May 26th to June 5th. The MiC's goal was to complete the process with all nominations by June 30th. As things stand, it can be said that the expected goal has not been achieved.

Monumental complex of the Pilotta

What are the implications of the Court of Auditors' findings? On the one hand, it could block the initial appointments; on the other, it could accelerate the filling of all positions. The Chief of Staff is now preparing a second decree allocating resources, with a majority of internal staff and a minority of external staff—50 in total—so that the Court of Auditors cannot object to prioritizing external positions. The remaining 125 appointments are expected to be made in the coming weeks, and therefore more quickly than in August, as subsequently envisaged by the MiC.

According to the CISL Fp and Flp union representatives, the assignment decrees require contracting the 14 resources who passed the competitive examination for technical managers, as well as assigning positions to those completing the SNA training program. On this issue, the Cabinet risks being blocked by the Court of Auditors and the Council of State, to which the internal resources will certainly appeal if they are ousted. The list of 175 positions has been known for some time, so it is incomprehensible, to say the least, that a single appointment decree was not issued. The stakes are therefore high, as not only numerous important offices are uncovered, but also 23 second-tier museums, some of which are highly visited, such as the Pantheon and Castel Sant'Angelo, the Herculaneum Archaeological Park, the Royal Palace of Naples, the Historical Museum and Park of Miramare Castle, the Pilotta Monumental Complex, Hadrian's Villa, and Villa d'Este. All the Superintendencies and the Central Institute for the Digitization of Cultural Heritage (Digital Library), whose leadership position has been vacant and interim for over two years, are also awaiting a director. The Cabinet's next moves are awaited, and here a quote from the Massimo Troisi film "Sorry for the Delay" comes to mind.