A well-hidden quibble in the law on the dissolution of municipalities due to mafia infiltration could be a problem for Antonio Decaro. Or rather, for his political future. This is a rule that has not yet been evaluated, but which – if the Ministry of the Interior were to decide to dissolve the municipal administration of Bari – could have disruptive effects on a portion of the city’s ruling class. And of the Democratic Party. “Paragraph 11 of article 143 of the consolidated law on local authorities – the lawyer Salvatore Di Pardo, an authoritative administrative expert, explains to HuffPost – provides that the administrators responsible for the conduct that caused the dissolution of a municipality cannot be candidates, for two electoral rounds, in the elections for the Italian Parliament, for the European Parliament, as well as in the regional, provincial and municipal elections”.
This is not an automatism, but it is a mechanism that is almost always activated following dissolution: “The Interior Ministry proposes ineligibility by submitting the dissolution decree to the local court, which in turn can decree ineligibility”, he explains the lawyer again. An ineligibility that can be inflicted regardless of criminal liability: “The rule – continues Di Pardo – is very elastic. And in my opinion it has been excessively tightened. An administrator could be considered ineligible because he has not managed to distance himself from the structures of the a disloyal employee is common, either because he has frequented a boss or, again, because his behavior has not been effective in combating organized crime within the administration”. In short, there are many possibilities. And it has already happened that in the case of Brescello – a municipality in the province of Modena, a rare case of a northern municipality dissolved due to the mafia – the mayor was declared ineligible because he had a form of association with exponents of organized crime. Risk of ineligibility, but not only that: “If the provision arrives after the elections – continues the lawyer – the forfeiture occurs”.
Could such a scenario be replicated in Bari? It is not certain, but the possibility cannot currently be ruled out. Decaro, however, has the words of the Bari prosecutor on his side, who after the February raid had clearly excluded the mayor’s involvement in the investigation. It was specified that the administration had been able to keep away from crime. Furthermore, since – as sources from the Interior Ministry explained to us – the main reason for sending the commission to Bari is the infiltration of the mafia into a municipal company, it is probable that the dissolution will not be achieved. The commission, in fact, could consider the policy to be entirely sound. In that case, Decaro’s candidacy, and his stay in Strasbourg, would be safe. “In that case – continues Di Pardo – the sanctions could only intervene against the administrative staff, through measures such as suspension or transfer. The commission that was established in Bari has three months, extendable, to decide what to do with the administration of the Apulian capital. All scenarios are open, but that codicil on ineligibility, which no one has yet considered “is underestimated – concludes Di Pardo – but not irrelevant. And it could damage Decaro.”
