Zuchtriegel case, Senator Corrado launches bill to change director competitions

As the heated discussion around the appointment of Gabriel Zuchtriegel as director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park continues, a bill arrives to change the rules of competitions for state museum directors. Launching it is Senator Margherita Corrado of the 5-Star Movement: the proposal, titled “Discipline of the competition for the appointment of the executive position of museum director,” in the parliamentarian’s intentions intends to remove the discipline of the procedure for the appointment of directors of museums and other state institutes and places of culture from the discretion of the central administration.

The fuss raised by the resignation of two out of four members of the Scientific Council of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii (i.e., Professors Irene Bragantini and Stefano De Caro) and the heavy criticism of other authoritative voices in Italian archaeology for the appointment of Zuchtriegel have in fact, according to Corrado, made “it glaringly obvious even to those who have been snoozing so far that, if on the moral level loyalty is certainly a commendable sentiment, it is not and cannot be a criterion for selection, entry and incardination in the Public Administration.”

According to Corrado, it is “unacceptable the ’defense’ that Massimo Osanna makes of his successor at the head of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii asserting, in essence, not without a hint of self-referentiality, that he will be another himself and therefore will guarantee continuity to the action undertaken for the Great Pompeii Project. As if to say that having left the Vesuvian park for the very prestigious post of Director General of Museums (one of MiBACT’s top administrative posts) is not enough for him: he wants to continue to manage Pompeii as well, and if not exactly directly, at least through a direct emanation of it. It didn’t teach him anything, evidently, just as it didn’t teach anything to the MiBACT’s Heads of Corruption Prevention and Transparency, then (Antonia Recchia) and now (Salvatore Nastasi), who were sent by ANAC, Resolution No. 241 of 13.04.2016, signed by Raffaele Cantone, which acknowledged the existence of a conflict of interest between Osanna’s role as President of the Competition Commission that called some archaeologists to the infamous Technical Secretariat of the Great Pompeii Project and the fact that the 2nd runner-up, Zuchtriegel, had carried out ’study activities and related publication of theses and articles with the Superintendent,’ that is, with Osanna himself.”

According to the Pentastellate senator, the international competitions for museum directors and the selection commissions that lead to the appointments of the trios from which the minister chooses the directors are “smoke in the eyes”: Corrado points to the fact that the selection for directors is configured as an interpellation procedure devoid of competitive character (Cass. Civ, sec. un., ord. no. 1413/2019). And according to the senator, the interview that would lead to the formation of the trios would be “at high risk of domestication.” But that’s not enough, according to Corrado, who concludes, “the legislation wants such appointments, lasting 4 years, to be renewable only once: total maximum 8 years. What happens, however, if a renewed one like Zuchtriegel (at the head of the Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia) receives a new appointment while the extension of the previous one is in progress? Will we see him direct Pompeii for the remaining time of the 4 years of the second appointment, and peace, or with Pompeii does another 4+4 year merry-go-round begin for him, and so on ad infinitum? Should the second, illegitimate but token hypothesis materialize, we would have an incardination in the PA that did not go through any competition, much to the peace of those who still remember and believe the last paragraph of Article 97 of the Constitution is in force.”

Image: Gabriel Zuchtriegel leads a delegation to Paestum.

Zuchtriegel case, Senator Corrado launches bill to change director competitions

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