Lto collection call of the new club of the Foggia Democratic Party in Viale Giotto – organized by those who voted at the congress for Elly Schlein and effectively led by the city councilor Mario Cagianothe councillor Alice Amatore and the manager Gianluca Ruotolo – had an ambitious theme. A few hours before Liberation Day, the discussion had as its focus and pretext what is happening in Bari and Puglia and how real politics can save itself. But the desire to debate on the part of members and supporters is such that the occasion could not help but also turn into a reflection on the first months of the administration Episcopo and on the meaning of an alliance with the M5S that is often uncomfortable and unsuccessful for the Democratic Party. Many were present. From Peppino D’Urso to the former senator Orazio Montinaropassing through the sociologist Roberto Lavannathe cultural operator and Fidapa contact person Maria Cirillothe academic Beppe Nicoletti, the social worker Rita Amatore and many others.
As admitted by the Councilor for Culture, Amatore, the perceived level of what is carried out by the Episcopal Council by the citizens is very low. The young administrator did not shy away from self-criticism: “They have been four intense months, we found ourselves taking over a difficult administrative situation. The state of health of the technostructure that limits us in action, my department is doing things, but in my office I only have one official from a sector that manages four structures, and it is truly complex. Compared to other departments, I am lucky because my official is good and very competent. The Municipality works with half the employees it should have. The city expects a lot, it’s true, but not only are we understaffed but we operate with complex management. Exiting the rebalancing plan means – he underlines -. that in the next few months the administration will be able to launch a new hiring plan of 60-70 units”.
And he continues: “The political issue we discussed in the Council is to outsource the insolvency procedures and entrust them to specialized agencies that take care of them so as not to influence the recruitment of new staff. Another theme along the same lines is that of adhering to the single contracting station. I assure you that it is really complex after two years of administration, we all thought we would find things more in order. There are regulations, but we also have some problems to solve, such as foster care. Public lighting, global roads, maintenance and public green areas. We all know that the city was in darkness when we took office, contracts cannot be cancelled. It’s tiring to keep up and make the most of what we have. It is necessary to think about how to cover those areas that the contracts leave us. Let’s talk about the future, it’s true, I also thought I could do a million things, but we’ll do it again.”
The councilor, a champion of consensus, admitted that she had a period of separation from those who had elected her and who have the membership card of the club.
“There has been a gap, we apologize for our lack of it, being able to create a political structure with a group of people who act as a guide and a spur and to draw a political line is necessary”.
Various interventions followed one another, without mincing words. From Salvatore Onorati, who complained about the lack of “reflection on the lists”, which partly reflects in Foggia what is happening in Bari to many other members.
Who controls the vote bearers? “Foggia must compile documents to the party leadership at all levels, the things that are happening in recent days make us suffer, the slaps we receive from Conte are unacceptable. The wide field at all costs is annoying us, we are deluding ourselves that the wide field works, but where we won we did it by mistake, due to the errors of the centre-right. Where we make the names, the With you they fail us,” said another member. Also among those present Lino Del Carmine, former councilor for Welfare and Legality: “We have done well in opening this new discussion, I believe that for several years this party has flattened out a lot, I mention work. The party on labor issues still says nothing. 150 guys were hired in FPT and they were fired and the party hasn’t said a word about this, and it’s not good. On administrative issues I agree with Alice’s statement, not all problems can be solved in four months. For example, illegal houses had to be demolished in Via Lucera and have now been reoccupied. Regarding Social Services, I believe that the councilor is not very prepared to have that role and to dialogue with the associations”.
The member and entrepreneur’s provocation was strong Matteo Bruno: “We talk about voting lists and packages, but why aren’t there any Azzarone, the Emanuele, the Piedmontese? The Pontone and the Palmieri? Is there still a strong cohesion between the Democratic Party and Foggia?”
The defense to calm things down came from Ruotolo: “A party lives on pluralism, we who have shared Schlein’s path together want to share this place of participation. This is a section and a club with the doors wide open, it is also their home. Here we are not dividing, we are multiplying, there are those who multiply the vote packages and those who want to multiply participation, this place is an incubator, division is not practiced, but participation”.
