First meeting on Tuesday afternoon between two of the candidates for the office of mayor, Alessandro Portesani for the centre-right and Andrea Virgilio for the centre-left, an initiative of the Industrialists’ Association on the sidelines of the meeting of the General Council. Prompted by the questions of president Stefano Allegriwe talked about the role of Cremona as the capital, infrastructure, A2A, the Fair body, events capable of being a source of attraction for the city.
On the part of industrialists, the urgency has emerged for a policy capable of keeping together the demands of a very diversified provincial territory from one end to the other. “I have seen it emerge in recent years many small projects in a fragmented way – said Allegri – but this model doesn’t work. The economic categories have found a way to create a common synthesis, but the politics of individual territories have not”.
The role of Cremona in the territory. For Virgilio the Municipality must be “a facilitator of processes, administrative boundaries do not matter. In recent years we have supported the path of building alliances” in the field of research, for example, and production chains. But, he added, there is a need for economic categories to also have a territorial vision, so that politics has more strength in bringing demands to higher levels.
A new, more central and proactive role for Cremona towards the rest of the territory “is one of the main points of our program”, said Portesani. “There is a lot to do, after the unfinished reform of the provinces, the Municipality must be leader of the provincial territory by rebuilding relations that have been deconstructed in recent years, there has been a fraying of relations”. An example is the lack of involvement of the surrounding municipalities in the biomethane project, added the candidate who proposes, in the event of election, the creation of a homogeneous area of at least 100 thousand inhabitants. Portesani then cited the 3C Masterplan, a document created by the economic categories that indicates the priorities for intervention, as a “point of reference for the centre-right. We must create the conditions for it to be implemented operationally.”
Vital infrastructures to create value. On this request from the business world, the proposals of the two sides are similar. Portesani starts from the strengthening of the Paullese by urging the region, cites the importance of completing the doubling of the Cremona-Mantua railway line and recalls that the center-right exponents have obtained funds from the Region regarding the navigability of the Po, “but other interventions are needed on logistics”. On the highway
Cremona -Mantua, “the topic is complex, we are in favor, but be careful, we need to evaluate the conditions of use, we saw what happened with Brebemi”.
By aintermodal approach for the highway Virgilio spoke instead, recalling that the alternative of a redevelopment of the state road, as well as having no concrete basis, risks having a greater impact on the environment. Only a tenuous reference by the centre-left mayoral candidate to the state’s and in certain phases also the region’s struggle to boost the infrastructure. As regards the railway, “we are faced with the challenge of a long transitional phase”, that of construction sites, and we need to press the Region to improve replacement transport and the line to Treviglio.
We have also returned to talking about the Third Bridge, “clear words are needed on its future” as it is still included in supra-municipal planning and constitutes a virtual block to possible industrial expansions along the canal. And then it is necessary to reason with Anas for a possible transfer of responsibilities on the Cremona ring road, currently entirely covered by the Municipality.
On the road issue, Allegri highlighted how the Cremona – Mantua connection is “in reality the Lyon – Vienna connection”an alternative axis to that of the already congested northern Lombardy, capable of encouraging new production settlements in the Po Valley area, “with a consequent shift of wealth from northern Lombardy to the south, which is in dire need of it”.
What future for CremonaFiere? Vital question for the Cremonese production system, but on how to concretely relaunch the institution, of which the Municipality holds the relative majority and which has been grinding out losses for years, no definitive answers have been received. For Virgilio the Fair is an “important hub for development and relationships”, synergies with other entities should not be feared, it needs to come even closer to the needs of the city, also by making disposal of its unused spaces, for example for services. And he gave the example of Ecomondo in Rimini to suggest a further development of activities that look not only at events, but at training proposals.
“Proud resource for the entire Province, but without economic sustainability it is not possible to think about development”, said Portesani who proposes greater protagonism by the Municipality of Cremona, also through a councilor delegation in the hypothetical future centre-right council. Fair as a “showcase for our territorial excellence, to do this it is necessary to find support first and foremost in the Region. One of the first things I will do if I am elected will be to get a train pass for Milan, it is with continuous presence that we can claim attention.” And then: improvement of the relationships between trade fairs and events in the city center and greater use of the spaces of Cà de Somenzi, for example by creating a conference center in order to encourage business tourism.
Allegri’s provocation (transfer from Lodi to Cremona on agrifood cluster, already recognized as an institutional entity, where research and the productive world coexist) finds both candidates in agreement, with a gloss from Virgil: “In this sense I underline the importance of the Po river: only three capitals exist in its basin and Cremona can take on a central role, enhancing its excellence through the river. A territorial logic is needed to be able to reach the ambitious objective of the cluster”.
The urge to create in the city also came from industrialists events of greater cultural importance compared to those that have proliferated in recent decades, on the basis of events such as FestivalLetteratura, or the Trento Economics festival. For Virgilio “events must be the showcase for citizens and tourists of what we have behind us, they must arise from an identity drive”; for Portesani one is needed better programming and a connection between events and what the city produces and trades. The Torrone festival should be rethought to have a more direct impact on the local economic fabric and the events generally spread even in the suburbs.
“How do you intend to manage the relationship with A2A?” Allegri finally asked. Portesani acknowledges that the Municipality now counts for very little within the corporate structure of the multi-utility, but having said that, “the relationship with A2A needs to be clarified a little. Major investments have been announced but we have seen almost nothing, if not the industrialization in the production of biomethane which as a coalition we do not share, especially in the territorial context, a natural park, which is not adequate. If this is the exchange of the Lgh merger, we are not happy with it. It will have to be renegotiated, obviously within the limits of existing possibilities.”
“A2A still represents a territorial reality, the centre-left has accepted the challenge of entering a much broader system of relations”, said Virgilio, recalling even just from an economic point of view how much the arrival of A2A has brought to the Municipality, i.e. dividends of 17 million from 2014 to 2023.
“The biomethane should not be demonized, let’s remember that in that very area the centre-right gave the green light to the biomass plant. The supra-municipal park of the Po does not pose constraints, it is true that the construction process of the plant must be accompanied. There is a geopolitical context that tells us how important a certain degree of energy autonomy is. One of the first things I will do if elected will be to talk to A2A about the implementation of the Cremona 20/30 program and the future of the waste-to-energy plant”.
In short, it’s useless.”a nostalgic approachwith the ‘small is beautiful’ approach, important investments in the area are not guaranteed”.
The first three things to do if elected? Virgilio promises to give impetus to the technological hub area with urban planning adjustments that facilitate traffic around the stadium and, thanks to Aem, initiate new possibilities for start-ups. Activate “proximity” policies, i.e. closeness to citizens, on multiple levels including that of security / Local Police; start periodic working tables with social forces.
Portesani immediately ensures interventions on urban decorum and consequently safety policies; relations with the Crit to evaluate the possibility of the Municipality or a subsidiary joining the Via dell’Innovazione Digitale consortium; termination of the contract with Saba to reach the sole manager of the parking. “Our civic project was born from the desire to listen, for us continuous collaboration with the economic categories is fundamental. The Cremonese community must be involved in strategic choices.”
“The economic categories have come together,” concluded Allegri. “If you call us, we will come.”
Giuliana Biagi
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