Demetrio Arena was mayor of Reggio Calabria for the centre-right in 2012 when his municipality was dissolved by the then minister Cancellieri due to mafia proximity. After just one year of tenure. Today, in light of the controversy surrounding the access commission appointed in Bari.
Shall we try to retrace those days?
«In 2011 in Reggio Calabria the situation was incandescent, with the city torn apart by a violent political attack carried out by the left, in the aftermath of the plebiscite election of the former mayor Giuseppe Scopelliti as governor of Calabria. The Democratic Party was speculating on the municipality’s financial crisis, the same situation as almost all the institutions in Italy. At the same time, there was an operation on alleged mafia infiltration in the management of a joint company that dealt with maintenance. The Democratic Party fueled an unprecedented media pillory and some of its parliamentarians presented a parliamentary question to the Prime Minister and the then Minister of the Interior, urging the sending of an Access Commission. It was the beginning of everything. The left, therefore, at that time pressed for an initiative from the Ministry of the Interior. The left gave the decisive impulse to the dissolution. The commissioners sent by the Ministry drew up a report full of errors and with particular omissions.”
The result?
«After only 17 months after taking office, the municipal administration of Reggio Calabria was sent home, without any member of the executive being investigated or investigated. The Municipality was dissolved according to the principle of mafia contiguity, a measure that Cancellieri defined as preventive and not sanctioning.”
How do you evaluate, today, the attitude of the left-wing parties that are instead rallying around Decaro?
«Understandable but inconsistent. The Democratic Party that today talks about the situation in Bari, calling it a scandal and defining it as a clear political attack, is the party that started the destruction of Reggio Calabria. Yet, in all these years, the left has never seriously analyzed the irreparable damage that the dissolution of a municipality causes to citizens. Personally, I am humanly sympathetic towards Decaro, although I dispute that, as president of the Anci, he never seriously addressed the flaws of a crazy law. Unfortunately, as often happens, serious problems only become serious when you experience them firsthand. Certainly, there was no outcry in favor of me and my city.”
She also had an investigation against her. Did you receive attacks for this from the opposition?
«I was a professional involved in politics and the attacks were endless and of all kinds, incorrect and ferocious. At the time, members of the Democratic Party turned to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, contesting the correctness of my actions regarding the budget of the Municipality of Reggio Calabria. After 12 years, last December, the Gup decided to acquit me because “the fact does not exist”. To be clear, I didn’t even have to go through a trial.”
Twelve years is a really long time. After this acquittal, did anyone ever apologize to you?
«Never, no one, even though my life and that of my family has been totally turned upside down. Just like Reggio Calabria, which is still licking the wounds caused by this wicked measure.”
In your opinion, does the law on dissolution need corrections?
«Absolutely yes, promptly. It is not possible to decree the dissolution of a Municipality only on suspicion and for preventive purposes. If it were to happen in Bari, which I hope it doesn’t happen, it certainly won’t happen because of the famous photo with the relatives of the alleged boss, which is now used only to divert attention from the heart of the problem. I would like to make you reflect on another example. A few years ago, Rome was devastated by very serious investigations, with possible mafia infiltration for which the dissolution of the Municipality was even hypothesized. Can you imagine, even on a global level, what would have happened if the Government of the time had decided on this measure? I hope that the Meloni executive will quickly modify this opprobrious law. He has the courage and authority to restore the rule of law.
