What is a SLAPP?
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are legal actions intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense, rather than being based on a legitimate legal claim. These lawsuits are often filed by powerful individuals or entities against those who speak out on matters of public interest, such as journalists, activists, and NGOs.
ENI wins the SLAPP Award 2025
In April, a coalition of NGOs including Reporters Without Borders and Transparency International awarded Eni the title of “Slapp addict of the year” for its defamation lawsuits. The groups highlighted Eni’s 2024 case against Greenpeace and ReCommon after they sought to hold Eni accountable for climate damages
Source: ‘Slapp addict’ Italian oil firm accused of trying to silence green activists (The Guardian)
Source – From the red carpet: The European SLAPP Contest 2025
Source – Celebrating Europe’s biggest bullies
Why did ENI win the SLAPP Award 2025?
ENI was awarded the World SLAPP bully award of the year and received the nickname 2025 SLAPP Addict of the Year because no SLAPP case is too small for ENI.
ENI is one of the world’s largest oil companies, but it still finds the time to bully journalists, activists and environmental groups. ENI even targeted NGOs like Greenpeace and ReCommon, because they had filed a legal action against ENI for its role in the climate crisis.
In addition, ENI SLAPPed an Italian newspaper (Il Fatto Quotidiano) and a journalist (Claudio Gatti) because they covered the Nigerian oilfield corruption scandal called “Opl 245”.
What is the Nigerian oilfield scandal Opl 245?
ENI and the Nigerian Oil Corruption Scandal
Let me resume the ‘OPL 245’ Nigerian oilfield scandal: ENI buys an oilfield in Nigeria and coincidentally … and by the work of the holy spirit…. $875 millions end up on the private bank account of the (ex) Nigerian Oil Minister.
That’s it 😂 😂 😂. … nothing to declare, look further.
ENI accused and sued the journalist (Claudio Gatti) and the newspaper (Il Fatto Spa) who covered the corruption story for defamation.
However, the Italian court ruled in favour of the journalist and newspaper and the court concluded … that truthful reporting, even on contentious issues, cannot be prosecuted as defamation, hereby emphasising the importance of press freedom and investigative journalism, particularly in cases involving corporate accountability. .
Source – Italian court acquits Eni and Shell in Nigerian corruption case
Who owns ENI?
Eni S.p.A. is a publicly traded company, so it has multiple shareholders. However, the Italian government is the largest single shareholder through the Ministry of Economy and Finance, owning roughly 30% of the company. The rest is held by institutional investors, private shareholders, and retail investors via the stock market.
As of May 2025, Eni S.p.A.’s shareholder structure is as follows:
- Public Holding: 31.84%
- Institutional Investors: 40.01%
- Retail Investors: 18.08%
- Treasury Shares: 2.91%
- Unidentified Shareholders: 7.18%
Source – ENI shareholders
The largest institutional shareholders include:
- BlackRock, Inc.: 3.53%
- The Vanguard Group, Inc.: 2.99%
- Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze (Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance): 2.16%
- Norges Bank Investment Management: 1.73%
- Massachusetts Financial Services Company (MFS): 1.44%
- Value Italy SGR S.p.A.: 1.39%
- A.T.S. Finanziaria S.r.l.: 1.16%
Source – ENI Shareholders
These figures are based on the latest available data and may be subject to change.
Italian Government and US Investors?
I almost fell of my chair when I discovered that ENI is owned by the Italian Government. But I really fell of my chair when I discovered that Blackrock and Vanguard are institutional investors of ENI.
European Parliament
By the way
Even the European Parliament wants to deal with SLAPPs. We can read the following on the website of the European Parliament
Over the years, techniques to limit freedom of expression have been refined, in innovative ways, often taking advantage of a legal void or grey zones between legal norms. Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) are abusive or meritless lawsuits filed against someone for exercising their political rights or freedom of expression in relation to matters of public interest. In April 2022, the European Commission put forward a proposal for a directive intended to protect people who engage in public participation from these manifestly unfounded or abusive civil court proceedings with cross-border implications. The proposal is being analysed by the co-legislators.
Source – European Parliament Website
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