A formal letter of complaint has been forwarded to the Italian Ambassador in Canberra, Dott. Paolo Crudele, calling on Italy’s most senior diplomat in Australia to review the “misleading” decision of the Sydney-based Committee of Italians Abroad (Comites) denying Allora! fair access to public funding available from the Italian Government for newspapers published abroad.
The letter comes following a decision handed down by a majority of members of Comites in a public meeting on 18 April 2023. Comites is an elected consultative body of the Italian Government, required to provide advice on whether Italian press abroad should be given access to public funding.
The body’s decisions form part of the Italian Government’s administrative law process and decisions should be motivated in order to prevent any abuse of power or lack the required transparency and impartiality.
The letter, signed by Franco Baldi, Allora’s Editor-in-Chief refers to the Comites decision as “arbitrary and politically motivated,” and likely “to affect the ability of the newspaper to continue providing information to the Italian community”.
The note further maintains that the newspaper “meets all the legal conditions for access ing Italian government funding” and that “the opinion expressed by the Comites was biased in form and substance. ”The criteria for accessing funding include a minimum of two years of publications; issues published at least quarterly, at least 50 per cent in Italian and coverage of topics of interest to the Italian communities abroad, such as Italian Language and Culture and promoting Sistema Italia.
This last aspect was contended by the editor in his letter to the Ambassador. Sistema Italia is a catch-all term which refers to Italian institutions operating abroad. It does not include Comites or other elected bodies who are regulated by private law.
According to the letter, “the criteria of promoting Sistema Italia cannot mean the suppression of any dissent from the initiatives proposed or the inability to give voice to different, even critical, opinions on the actions of individual entities, institutions, and those who are part of Sistema Italia”. A contrary interpretation “would be in violation of Article 21 of the Italian Constitution.”
The letter also mentions that the president of Comites, Luigi Di Martino, prevented Prof. Francesco Papandrea, member of CGIE (Consiglio Generale degli Italiani nel Mondo) representing Australia from speaking and at least 4 members of Comites were not provided with a copy of the application to be voted on.
The letter argues that Di Martino is furthering “a personal and political agenda” against Allora!, urging that the Ambassador swiftly intervene to stop the abuse of power perpetrated against the media outlet and asking that the advisory body be disbanded.
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