Alberto Felice De Toni, a few steps from his hardback with his thumbs raised, takes stock of his first year as mayor. And it is an avalanche of words under the heading “fact”, assisted by a sheet full of figures.
I ask you again the question I asked you on 17 April 2023 after the election. Are you happy in name and in fact, today, after a year as mayor?
«Yes, I am invariant to the results, as the Jesuits say».
Is the city happier after one year of its administration?
“In my opinion, yes. The results also say so. The fact that in December we were rewarded with the first position in Italy for quality of life is an objective fact. It’s not just my merit, in fact the greatest credit goes to those who governed in the first 15-20 years.”
The majority parties give it 8, the minority parties seriously insufficient. What grade do you give yourself?
“It’s better for the citizens to cast their votes.”
What are you most proud of?
«The most important operation was the Irpef revision, which I called Robin Hood. 37% of Udine people will not pay Irpef and we have introduced the constitutional principle of progressivity. Thanks to this operation which brings an estimate of approximately 7.4 million…”.
Not 8.5?
«We will know at the end of 2024, these are estimates. The figures fluctuate between 7.4 and 8.5 million.”
De Toni at this point lists the uses of that money, from assistance to the poor to new hires. «If we had not carried out this operation we would not have been able to provide effective support for social policies, greenery, maintenance and personnel. The most important operation, even if it was the most criticized, was this.”
Scalettaris says that the increase in personal income tax is something to evaluate. Even in the majority there are different opinions.
«Yes, we are an extra-large majority. We have people from the Third Pole who obviously see the Irpef remodulation operation, which favors the less well-off and affects the middle class. It does not surprise me. On the other side we have the Greens who don’t want us to build the new headquarters of the Civil Protection. It is obvious that in a large majority… You remember that Prodi fell twice: once he fell for Rifondazione on the left and once for Mastella on the right.”
She evokes the fall…
«No, but I am well aware of it. I have variable geometry. Sometimes we don’t have the votes of one or the votes of the other. But this doesn’t surprise me. We have free councilors in a free majority. It’s not a barracks.”
The issue of foreign minors is still unresolved.
«But foreign minors are not the mayor’s problem. We cannot imagine that the issue of safety is the exclusive management of the mayor. Security is in the hands of the Prefect. Anyone who says otherwise is telling a lie.”
Foreign minors by law are under the responsibility of the mayor, however.
«But they have state regulations managed by the Prefect on which the mayor has zero count. Anyone who invokes the mayor is carrying out a populist operation.”
How is the situation for the stadium?
«We are unlocking stadium 2.0 with Udinese. Despite the ongoing lawsuits, we are now on the home stretch.”
And what stage are the causes at?
«We have decided that the cases will go their own way because some are in the first stage, some in the second, some in the Court of Cassation. Making transactions became complicated. We have decided to move forward with the stadium works, without going through the services conference. Times? We are ready for signing. They asked for some other small changes. We are evaluating them, but we have already reached the top. We’re going downhill.”
Relations with the unions on the nursery. Why did it take him 9 months to see them?
“It is not true. I met them immediately and said that for labor relations we have a trio of managers. The real issue is another, that since they didn’t want to go into indirect management of the nursery, they started to raise questions. We had two meetings, then there was conciliation by the prefect.”
Where it didn’t reconcile though.
“If we had followed the unions’ line, we would have had to give up the increase in services.”
Is there anything from this first year that you wouldn’t make again, a mistake? What did he regret?
«If I had known that the minority in Maignan would not have wanted to give honorary citizenship, I would not have made the proposal. In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done it. But I absolutely didn’t imagine.”
The minority attacks her on the waste revolution. The League says that in one year you placed 50 bins.
«And there are 150 of them. Net has various open internal issues. We shared with the president the path we want to implement to bring the largest users, 10% of users, to the ecological islands. It’s an operation that isn’t done in a year. The management is undertaken, there are estimates. In a year the situation will be different. The bills? We are discussing things with Net. In a year we will take a serious look at things.”
Knowing how to delegate and surround yourself with a team of good people has been his trademark since his university years. With politics involved it is more difficult. Do you think you succeeded?
«I made an extremely courageous choice to recognize as councilors the people chosen by the citizens. The choice is that the consensus comes from the citizens and therefore the councilors bring the consensus and the managers have the competences. The council is very cohesive, there is a good climate.”
Have you ever thought about the reshuffle?
“No”.
According to some rumors, you didn’t see Colautti in a bad light on the council. Is that so?
“But Colautti couldn’t come to the council because he hadn’t even been elected.”
But wouldn’t she have minded?
«But I have many advisors that I would like to have as advisors. I also have Vigna that I would have made him councilor for religious communities, Garlatti Costa for multilingualism. In fact, I give him delegations.”
Would you give a vote to your councilors?
«But have you ever seen a father who makes differences between his children?».
Are you in favor of a third term?
“Whose?”. And the interview ends with laughter.
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