(Jamma) At the conclusion of the first day of work of the meeting of 8 and 9 October 2013, the Regional Council rejected, in the secret ballot, with 18 votes against and 17 in favor, a motion aimed at renewing the entire top management of the Casino of Saint-Vincent.
The initiative, proposed by the Movimento 5 Stelle, Alpe and Union Valdôtaine Progressiste groups, was presented in the Chamber by the M5S group leader, Stefano Ferrero. «The Casino, the result of disastrous strategic choices implemented by a long list of friends of politicians, hired over the years, is now on the brink of catastrophe. Turnover has collapsed and this situation is putting the company's employment levels at risk. From the Industrial Plan that was presented to us a few days ago in the Commission, no valid solutions emerge to revive the gambling house, on the contrary, the aim is further to compete with the tour operators of the Saint-Vincent district. We believe that a change of course is urgently needed, through the identification of managerial professionalism capable of effectively relaunching the gambling house and, at the same time, eliminating the current top management, primarily responsible for this situation. We therefore ask the Giunta to undertake to provide for the full renewal of the Sole Director and of the top management structures, primarily finding within the company the figures to replace the managers currently in office. We also believe it is necessary for the regional government to prepare a guideline document containing the guidelines for the identification of new members of the Board of Directors."
The Councilors Certan, Donzel, Laurent Viérin, the Councilor responsible for the budget and the President of the Region took part in the general discussion.
For Councilor ChantalCertan (Alpe) «we can no longer afford erroneous assessments such as those we have recently witnessed which have led to the request for an additional 10 million euros, just as we cannot think of leaving poor workers at home, while giving bonuses of production to a sole director who had the sole merit of bringing the casino to collapse. The situation is very serious. We need a real recovery plan, new managerial skills that are truly capable of resolving the fate of the gambling house."
The leader of the PD-SinistraVdA, Raimondo Donzel, highlighted that "a plan is being put in place that is leaking from all sides: with a large publicly managed Soviet-type resort that competes with private individuals in the area, with a losing strategy which will put us in difficulty because it has no market logic. The current management rather than "pink jersey" of Italian casinos has led us to be black jersey. And now there are plans to unload the bankruptcy on employees through layoffs. This Bankruptcy Administration cannot be managing the restructuring. We cannot persist in the spirit that led to the appointment of the Sole Administrator: we need to put a tombstone on it and this motion is the first step."
For the councilor of the UVP, Laurent Viérin, «the great development plan presented at the time seemed to mark, beyond the crisis, the right direction to relaunch the casino. Instead, the negative data gradually emerged, but the real dust from under the carpet only came out after the regional elections. Today, there is talk of a redundancy of personnel which one realizes with a delayed burst, after having sold dreams to young people with pre-election courses. We are faced with redundancy plans for people nearing retirement and people in the workforce who are now retired. But what is the future perspective? If the situation isn't resolved, in six months we'll be back here talking about redundancies. We also ask that you monitor what appears to be a liquidity crisis in the Casino, as evidenced by the request for 10 million euros for alleged errors of assessment. We would not like the works to already present problems: we would like the Grand Hôtel Billia and the Casino to be in line with what was thought of in the development plan. With regard to the industrial plan, which should represent the relaunch, it must be said that the first 50 pages expose heavily negative scenarios for the Casino, almost as if to justify a lack of strategy in marketing the product. A plan that does not include the involvement of the Saint-Vincent area. We wouldn't want it to be yet another cathedral in the desert, with a luxury product that does not interact with the rest of the territory, but rather enters into direct and unfair competition with economic operators. Faced with such a dire situation, a credible person would have tendered his resignation without being invoked. We ask for them and we also ask that the compensation be reduced in the replacement by linking the production bonuses to the achievement of actual results."
The councilor for the budget and finances, MauroBaccega, replied, announcing that «the majority will not vote for this motion. There are two completely different visions: the minority starts from the 2012 crisis, but the Casino has had years of joy and pain. In 2007, the Board of Directors cost 2 million 560 thousand euros, today the Sole Director with the auditors costs one million euros less. Also in that year, steps were taken to purchase the Grand Hôtel Billia for 63 million euros: it was therefore necessary to provide an action plan for the redevelopment of the hotel complex. A restructuring project contained in the recovery plan was therefore prepared: already in that plan, the Sole Director had foreseen that in 2012 and 2013 there would be a loss due to the restructuring works. It is true that the Casino de la Vallée is experiencing one of its most difficult moments, but we believe that it is unfair to place all the blame on the management of the Casino, in the face of a crisis that has affected the entire economic system and, even more, the gaming industry across Europe. The Sole Director has worked well and therefore we confirm our confidence. Decapitating the top at this moment would only aggravate the state of difficulty. Furthermore, there are contractual obligations towards him which, if not fulfilled, would expose the Region to serious compensation charges. A change of management three months after the inauguration of the entire structure would be harmful for the Casino, for Saint-Vincent and for Valle d'Aosta.»
The President of the Region, Augusto Rollandin, declared: «At the beginning of the past Legislature, after two capital increases in six months, due to the losses of the previous period, we made the choice of the sole Administrator. For the first time, with this figure, we have approved a development plan with programmed interventions and whose implementation times have been respected. Thanks to the commitment of the management, everything possible was done to relaunch the Casino and in the first two years, before the works began, the takings increased. On personnel, the forecast of 145 redundancies concerns early retirements and retirements. Today, if there is a difficult situation, it is not due to the management, but there are therefore three substantial elements: the contingency, the jobs and the crisis. We can only be satisfied with a job that has been carried out with commitment despite the difficulties. The choice was right and it gave its results; we are convinced of the investments made and we are confident in the future.»
