Italy’s pick for new Leonardo CEO is unlawful, opposition party says
Italy’s Antitrust agency should intervene against the appointment of former energy and environment minister Roberto Cingolani as CEO of defence group Leonardo, the leader of a green opposition party said on Thursday.
As part of a raft of nominations at state-controlled firms, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s administration on Wednesday picked Cingolani to lead Leonardo, replacing former banker Alessandro Profumo.
Opposition lawmaker and Green party leader Angelo Bonelli said the appointment violates a conflict-of-interest law that prevents ministers from taking on jobs at companies in sectors they previously regulated in the 12 months after leaving office.
“Leonardo operates also in the environmental sector and Cingolani was ecological transition minister in the previous government led by Mario Draghi until October 2022,” Bonelli said.
Italy’s Antitrust authority declined to comment on Bonelli’s statement, while text messages to Cingolani went unanswered.
Cingolani has a background as a physicist and has in the past months informally advised Meloni’s office on energy policy. He was previously Leonardo’s chief technology and innovation officer.
(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte and Alvise Armellini; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
