Italy’s Minister of Economy and Finance is currently working on an internal directive detailing that impending appointments to major state-controlled businesses must go through his office, say political sources.

The action stresses government efforts to curb the role of top-level unelected technicians who carry power “behind the scenes,” Reuters news agency reports.

Over the next few weeks, several senior roles will become available. These include seats on the boards of MPS bank and state-controlled energy firms Enel and ENI, amongst others.

The Treasury Department within the country’s economy ministry has traditionally played a major part in selecting CEOs and chairpersons of state-run organisations.

A draft of finance minister Giancarlo Giorgetti’s directive shows he wants to manage the appointment procedures along with his closest aides.

Within the new requirements, Italy’s Treasury department will have to inform the finance minister of all expiring roles and also publish them online.

In addition, the directive stresses that the department must review possible candidates based on indications given by the minister.

Earlier this month, Giorgetti and prime minister Giorgia Meloni ousted Treasury director general Alessandro Rivera, with economist Riccardo Barbieri taking over the role, in a move to put their stamp on key positions in the state bureaucracy.

The finance minister is now devising plans to divide the Treasury into two parts, with a department to oversee state-owned organisations. According to sources, the PM’s office wants to appoint former Treasury official Antonino Turicchi as director general of the new department, the Reuters report adds.

Moreover, the finance minister is set to decide whether to approve or remove key Treasury officials in charge of financial regulation, European relations and government intervention in the economy, amongst other things.