Milano Cortina: yes to Moratti, indeed no more … Choice postponed

Mario Canfora-Valerio Piccioni

October 24
– ROME

There is no peace for Milan-Cortina. The treasure hunt to get to the appointment of the new CEO of the Foundation-organizing committee of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games is not over yet. Yesterday, just when the finish line seemed close after an incredible collection of names made, burned and skipped at the last minute, such as that of the new sports minister Andrea Abodi, previously identified, but that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni preferred to have in the government. The white smoke bore the name and surname of Letizia Moratti, a curriculum full of prestigious positions: former president of RAI, minister of education and mayor of Milan, current vice president of the Lombardy Region, but also (for some above all) potential candidate for role of president in the next elections (to be voted in March 2023). In the early hours of the morning an indiscretion filtered through and the silence that followed was peppered with some unofficial confirmations. Until, however, the afternoon provided a barrage of dissociations and denials. And so the story was somehow frozen by the summit between the various protagonists of the decisive table, the representatives of the territories and the presidents of CIO and Cip, Giovanni Malagò and Luca Pancalli. The reason is all too clear: the meeting was somehow delegitimized by the rumors about Moratti, better take time. A time that, however, is very unlikely to return to the starting point of yesterday. That is to Moratti.

“I don’t know”

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But what happened? It happened that the first to come out was the mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala, one of the “shareholders” of the Olympic project. Who, in the early afternoon, basically said that that decisive name, Letizia Moratti, for him was like fallen from the clouds. “I read that Letizia Moratti would have been chosen as the new CEO of Milan-Cortina. I don’t know ”. And again: “And in any case, such a delicate choice cannot be made to solve the problems of the center-right in Lombardy. Every word is useless ”. We must return to that “also” that can become “above all” at least for Sala, who considers Moratti’s indication useful to mine a candidacy for the presidency of Lombardy which would put the center-right in serious difficulty, given that Attilio Fontana will re-nominate himself.

The denials

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The words of the mayor of Milan, beyond the electoral allusion, produced a question of method to which the protagonist’s statement was then added: “Doctor Letizia Moratti denies the existence of the news. Any decision of Letizia Moratti will be communicated exclusively by her press office. Any other information relating to her is groundless “. A denial, of course, in which, however, the expression “any decision” has led us to think that the words could include Milan-Cortina. The interpretation, however, over time, has become increasingly fragile. The fact is that to avoid further embarrassments, the Presidency of the Council has arrived to stop the dispute for now: “On the appointment of the new CEO of the Milan-Cortina Foundation, which is of an urgent nature, there are still no decisions by the Presidency of the Council. Determinations that once matured will be previously brought to the attention of the members of the Foundation itself “. As if to say: nobody wants to cut anyone out. Words that, however, require a new slowdown.

Revenues

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The appointment of the CEO of Milan-Cortina is a substantial step in the Olympic race. Of course, there is the issue of plants, where some issues are still being discussed (first of all the story of the bobsleigh and sled run in Cortina contested by environmentalists and on which the IOC had initially expressed skepticism before giving a substantial go-ahead. on the basis of a legacy plan for the exploitation of the plant after Games over). But the crucial point is another: revenues. It is the plate of the sponsors that weeps and that has moved little in recent months. It is on this that there must be an acceleration and it is expected that the appointment of the CEO. can represent an added value. There are two hypotheses: either in the next few hours there will be a moral suasion to convince Moratti, or her no means going elsewhere to find a new solution. Much more the second than the first.