By Giuseppe Fonte and Stephen Jewkes
ROME/MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's government gave the green light to a third term in office for the chief executives of Italy's top two energy firms Eni and Enel on Tuesday but flagged new chairmen, reflecting an intention to monitor their performances.
In its list of candidates for top state-controlled companies, Rome indicated Claudio Descalzi and Francesco Starace would be reappointed as CEOs of Eni (MI:ENI) and Enel (MI:ENEI), respectively, confirming what sources had told Reuters.
But it selected two new chairmen in a move government sources said was partly designed to appease critics within ruling coalition party 5-Star Movement and to oversee certain key strategies at the companies.
The anti-establishment 5-Star, which governs alongside the Democratic Party, wants to speed up Italy's green energy agenda and is keen for Eni to accelerate moves to cut carbon emissions.
It has been highly critical of Descalzi in the past because of his involvement in alleged corruption over a 2011 oil deal in Nigeria. Descalzi denies any wrongdoing.
Last Saturday, after the coalition reached an agreement on the nomination process, 50 representatives of the Movement released a document in which Descalzi's reappointment was called "totally inadmissible".
The new Eni chairman backed by Rome is Lucia Calvosa, a board member of the Fatto Quotidiano, the newspaper that led a campaign against Descalzi's reappointment over his involvement in the Nigeria graft case.
Some key members of 5-Star have also taken issue with Enel's Starace, accusing him of dragging his feet over a plan to merge Telecom Italia 's (MI:TLIT) fibre broadband assets with those of Open Fiber, controlled by Enel and state lender CDP.
"We have put as chairman in there a watchdog that Starace never wanted," a 5-Star source said. The government has put forward the name of Michele Crisostomo, a founding partner at Milanese law firm RCCD.
The party has put the creation of a single ultrafast broadband network at the centre of its agenda in an effort to close the digital gap with the rest of Europe.
Since taking over in 2014, the Eni and Enel managers have won plaudits from investors for financial results and stepping up efforts to green their businesses.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has hit Italy particularly hard, also prompted a call not to rock the boat.
The state owns just over 30% of Eni and 23.6% of Enel and calls the shots at shareholder meetings when management slates are voted on.
At other state-controlled companies, the government flagged Alessandro Profumo would be confirmed for a second term in office as CEO at defense group Leonardo (MI:LDOF) and Matteo Del Fante at Poste Italiane (MI:PST).
The nomination process at Italy's state-controlled companies is traditionally the subject of intense political horse trading because of their size and importance.