Italian Government led by PM Giorgia Meloni proposed on Wednesday evening Flavio Cattaneo for the post of general director at the utility group Enel SpA, resolving a dispute that arose within the Government coalition, Bloomberg reports.

Cattaneo, currently vice president at railway company Italo SpA and previously general manager at Telecom Italia SpA and Terna SpA, has been proposed to succeed Francesco Starace, who led Enel for three terms, according to a press release from the Italian Ministry of Finance.

The veteran Paolo Scaroni was proposed for the post of president of Enel. Scaroni, who was previously president of AC Milan football club and a director at the Rothschild bank, is close to former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. During his tenure as CEO of energy group Eni, Paolo Scaroni worked to deepen ties with Russian group Gazprom.

According to sources cited by Bloomberg, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni initially supported the general manager of the transport and system operator Terna, Stefano Donnarumma, for the post of general manager of Enel, but in the end the candidate preferred by the leader of the League party Matteo Salvini was chosen and other parties from the Government coalition, according to Agerpres.

Also on Wednesday, the Government in Rome proposed the former Minister of Energy Roberto Cingolani for the post of general director of the defense company Leonardo SpA, where he will replace Alessandro Profumo. Cingolani held the post of minister in the Mario Draghi Government.

Claudio Descalzi was also confirmed to continue running the oil company Eni, a decision that was expected after he played a key role in helping Italy reduce its dependence on Russian energy after the invasion of Ukraine. Claudio Descalzi will occupy the fourth consecutive term at the head of Eni.

Decisions made by Giorgia Meloni on appointments to state-owned firms could give the Government in Rome a bigger say in important segments of the Italian economy, and the decisions will be closely watched by investors and analysts. Together, Enel and Eni have a market capitalization of approximately 110 billion euros and represent over 18% of the market capitalization of the FTSE MIB stock index.