Who is Agostino Ghiglia, from his MSI membership to his role as Privacy Guarantor?

A Report video shows him on the phone entering the Rome headquarters of the Brothers of Italy party, twenty-four hours before the massive €150,000 fine imposed on Report by the Italian Data Protection Authority. Agostino Ghiglia , now a member of the Authority, must not have felt like an outsider: he comes from that world, and was part of it until 2019, when he was a candidate—but not elected—in the European elections for Giorgia Meloni 's party. The slogan on the election posters was simple and direct: "Where there's Ghiglia, there's the right."

Political career

A 60-year-old former journalist, Ghiglia began his honorary career in the Youth Front at a very young age: "I served on the national secretariat," he claimed in a 2019 Facebook post: "I fought the communist left and its murderous ideology. I presented—after years of absence—the FUAN lists at the university." He served as a municipal and then regional councilor for the Italian Social Movement in Piedmont, and as provincial secretary for the Turin party.

When the political party changed its face, he followed Gianfranco Fini in the Fiuggi turnaround: from 2001 to 2005, he was a member of Parliament for the National Alliance, and in 2008, he returned to the Chamber of Deputies with the People of Freedom party. His main interests are environmental issues.

He joined the Brothers of Italy party in 2013, at its founding. But the polls didn't smile on him: he ran in the 2013 general elections, the 2014 European elections, the 2018 general elections, and finally the 2019 European elections. He was never elected. However, in 2020, he was appointed to the political office: Parliament voted him to be one of the four members of the Italian Data Protection Authority.

The story

On Wednesday, October 22, Agostino Ghiglia was at the Rome headquarters of the Brothers of Italy party. There, according to Report 's investigation, he met with Arianna Meloni , the party's deputy. The following day, Thursday, the Italian Data Protection Authority fined Report €150,000 . Now the opposition is demanding explanations: why would a member of an independent administrative authority have an appointment at the offices of the largest political force in the majority just hours before such a delicate decision?