LECCE – Care for the territory, traditions and artisan vocation to help grow. All this, with a view to redeveloping the city, which must be channeled to the benefits of citizens and workers. This, in short, is the program of the Rights and Civilizations list for Lecce which this morning in the theater of the former Convitto Palmieri presented its candidate for mayor, Agostino Ciucci, and the members of the list.
Ciucci, a doctor by profession (he works in the emergency room of the “Vito Fazzi” hospital in the capital) focused in particular on the involvement of citizens through the institution of deliberative referendums, an instrument which he promised to promote by asking for a modification of the regulation municipal. Allowed by the 1990 law on the organization of local autonomies, it has in fact never been implemented.
In essence, as happens in Switzerland, unlike consultative referendums, deliberative ones then oblige the municipal assemblies to implement what has been decided by the citizens. And this can happen on any matter of municipal competence, including tax matters. Furthermore, deliberative referendums do not need a quorum of 50 percent plus 1 to be valid. “The quorum – said Ciucci – is the clear indication of the parties’ desire to place unjustified obstacles to the popular sovereignty recognized by the Constitution, especially since the quorum for the validity of the consultations does not exist for the election of the mayor and city councilors, nor for political and regional elections”.
Ciucci then focused on the idea of a city on a human scale and on the participation of citizens in choices. And, in this regard, he used the term “civicracy, which is a more advanced degree of democracy”, with the establishment of a periodic listening point for the benefit of citizens. Finally, particular attention to sports facilities for young people and assistance services for the elderly, “two categories – said the mayoral candidate – often forgotten by successive municipal administrations”.
