Basilicata votes to elect its new president and the regional council on Sunday 21st and Monday 22nd April. Three candidates to govern the Region for the next few years. These are Vito Bardi, Piero Marrese and Eugenio Follia. Bar ofoutgoing president seeking reconfirmation, is supported by the centre-right coalition composed of Forza Italia, Fratelli d’Italia, Lega, UdC-Christian Democracy, Noi moderates. They also support it Action, Italia VivaLucanian pride and the La Vera Basilicata civic list. For the centre-left the candidate is Marresepresident of the Province of Matera, supported by the Democratic Party, 5 Star Movement, Alleanza Verdi-Sinistra, and also from the Basilicata Unita and Basilicata Casa Comune lists. Third and final candidate Eustachio Follia, supported by Volt Basilicata. In the programs of the three candidates, particular attention is paid to infrastructure, environment and territorial development. Below are the main points.
VITO BARDI. Born in Potenza in 1951, Bardi, former deputy general commander of the Guardia di Finanza, is the president of the Basilicata Region since 2019 and seeks re-election. On his side a very wide field, made up of all the centre-right forces and the parties of Calenda and Renzi. In the program there is ample space and infrastructure and agriculturebecause, he explains, “this Region needs care, the same that our agricultural entrepreneurs put in the territory and fill the infrastructural deficits to further increase the entrepreneurial development of Basilicata”. On the infrastructure front to reduce distances, it envisages the following projects: Tolve Tunnel, High Speed, Matera-Maratea Transcollinare, safer SS7 for Matera, Heliports to support tourism, businesses and healthcare, Plan for provincial and local roads. As regards agriculture and territory, Bardi foresees the strengthening of agri-food districtsthe valorization of the food supply chain and advantages for rural areas against depopulation, all accompanying the ecological transition. Without forgetting more efficient water networks, better use of reservoirs, new civil protection plans, landscape plan, regional plan on hydrogeological instability and updating of forest management plans. And if it envisages actions for digital innovation, it does the same for energy self-sufficiency, a focal point for the region, thinking about energy communities in industrial areas, energy autonomy for the Lucanian aqueduct, valorisation of hydroelectric power and the Energy Bank . As for work, Bardi plans to support the industrial area of Melfi.
PIERO MARRESE. President of the Province of Matera and mayor of Montalbano Jonico, Marrese is the candidate of the center-left and the 5 Star Movement to the regionals. Born in 1980 in Policoro, among the commitments of his program the one onAgenda 2030 for a sustainable future: “We want to promote the achievement of the objectives and the full diffusion of the 2030 Agenda in the Lucanian regional system. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations, recognizing its universal and innovative character to combine the fight against inequalities and the ecological transition to achieve full environmental, economic and social sustainability, informing the 2020-2025 Mandate Program on it. With our policies we are committed to contributing to the implementation of the 17 objectives and to building an innovative and transparent system for monitoring progress for each objective. With the new Pact for Work and the Climate we will outline shared objectives and mutual commitments that we will assume together with institutional and social representatives”. Regarding the environment, the key words are ‘Ecological Conversion’, ‘Transition’ and ‘Blue Economy’. The plan includes environmental regeneration, ecological and energy transition, biodiversity and sustainable tourism, adaptation of the regional water network, creation of recycling infrastructure, digitalisation and innovation in agriculture. Precisely with regards to agriculture, Marrese’s program aims to address the aging agricultural population, promote environmental sustainability and the efficient management of water resources, enhance typical products through innovation and training. For him too, the focal point for the next few years is infrastructure, with the need to improve connections, reduce travel time and accessibility of internal areas and pragmatic and financially sustainable design solutions. On the employment situation, he explains, “we want to adopt an extraordinary plan for work, which can provide immediate answers to the major crises that Basilicata is experiencing today, starting with the need to safeguard work in Stellantis and in related industries. The plan will also contain a specific analysis on reforestation and forestation, with which we will be able to simultaneously offer thousands of new hires and make our region at the national forefront in environmental sustainability”.
EUSTACHIUS MADNESS. Outsider of the elections, Follia runs for Volt, a pan-European party. Follia, a 53-year-old professional journalist, was head of the press office of the Municipality of Matera and since 2005 has been responsible for the communication and press area of the Lucanian Acquedotto. In his program he explains that “in the Lucania of lost treasures, the politics and government of the region must first of all respect the place: listen to its genius loci to restore value to its unparalleled heritage made up of history, culture, landscape and all the resources included in it, from water to the land and the woods”. With regard to agriculture and forestry, for Volt it is necessary to recover abandoned land through the creation of the Land Bank and improve the quality of forestry production and the efficiency of the forest-wood and forest-energy supply chains. Also for Follia, the central ones infrastructure with road and rail connections and the creation of cycle paths,”for zero-emission mobility also for tourism and recreational purposes”.
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