On the occasion of the municipal council – the last of the mandate – held on Monday 22 April 2024, the mayor of Valmadrera, Antonio Rusconiread a speech of greeting and thanks addressed to the people of Valmadrera, which we report here.
The title, pleasant for me, I borrowed from one of Enzo Biagi’s unjustly forgotten books, with interviews with only women and it seemed far from the rhetoric to say thanks to the Valmadreresi for these past years of commitment and political passion on the benches of the Council, since June 1985, when as a young “boy from the oratory” I had run as an independent candidate on the list of the Christian Democrats.
I don’t know what the future holds for me, in politics or otherwise, but only positive memories emerge from this extraordinary experience in my mind: not that there haven’t been bitterness, disappointments or difficult moments, but – as I explain at the numerous courses for young people I organize or participate in – none of us are obliged to be Councillors, Mayors, Members of Parliament and decisive confrontation, even strong criticism, citizens who do not feel adequately listened to, are in any case part of this choice.
I consider myself a lucky person in politics, where perhaps I have achieved goals beyond my merits, such as representing Italy at UNESCO and various parliamentary responsibilities, but none of these positions have given me the same emotion as being mayor of “my” Valmadrera, an experience which, I think also due to the roles played in representing Italian mayors at a national and regional level, was also decisive for subsequent political commitments.
I had the opportunity to collaborate as a councilor and councilor with several mayors: Mauro Panzeri, from whom I learned the authority of the role of Mayor and the ability to lead the municipal council, Nicola Perego who taught me the daily life of commitment and the sense of public interest, Mario Anghileri who, wisely, invited me to have patience in listening and the ability to work as a team and in a group, Marco Rusconi for the value of a young person’s commitment to serving the community, Donatella Crippa, for the time and passion donated and demonstrated.
My deep gratitude and gratitude go to all of them, but – precisely to avoid uncomfortable choices – as I happened to answer several times to the question which politician I would propose as an example for young people, to interviewers who were thinking of Martinazzoli or Zaccagnini , I mentioned the name of my namesake former councilor of the Municipality of Valmadrera, who, with an authentic spirit of service, served this community with daily commitment for sixty years, because young people – Paul VI taught – need witnesses more than teachers and of a simple and clear lesson that dictates that private life is the same image as public life.
And this is only possible by being a public administrator in small municipalities, because service to one’s community is the most direct form of politics, the one where the mayor looks the citizen in the face, who calls him the next day to get a concrete answer, where politics is calculated more closely on the measure of life.
I would like to thank all the people I met: they are faces, names, stories for which I first of all feel the feeling of non-ritual gratitude. I thank the employees of the Municipality, for many of whom, especially during my three terms as mayor, I have been a demanding or – perhaps – not easy point of reference, asking for presences at additional times and greater availability, with the awareness that their image was the first and perhaps the most important image of the Administration towards the citizen. I thank all the councilors and municipal councilors – majority and opposition – who I met, to whom I express my heartfelt gratitude, the municipal secretaries, competent collaborators.
Politics sometimes leads to painful choices, but I think the respect for the contribution that each of us offered to the community of Valmadrera was important.
I sincerely apologize if, especially in the passion of the political debate in the Council or in the daily meeting with the citizen, I have disappointed or there have been misunderstandings: I have always, as far as possible, distinguished any error from respect for the person.
These five years have been particularly difficult due to the consequences of two years of Covid, due to family events, due to the objective difficulties of a community with many structures, practically all municipal (nursery, retirement home, Oltre Noi centre, etc.), Pamela’s human and social loss, but I lived them with the freedom of being able to behave knowing and with the commitment of not having to run for mayor again, and therefore of searching with difficulty for the best answer with respect to the objective of consensus.
I will not talk about the works carried out, this is thanks to the entire majority team, but I am happy, in a moment of difficulty for many families, not to have affected any tariffs or costs of services.
To the new mayor who will succeed me on 10 June, I say that the most difficult ambition and commitment is everyday life, to be the Mayor of everyone even on small family, personal, work problems and to offer the same availability to the important entrepreneur ( productive activity and associations are the two great riches of Valmadrera) and to the lonely and desperate person.
A final, non-formal thank you to the press for their commitment, but above all to many fellow mayors, of different political ideas, but united by the passion for the common good for their community: I will not forget their affection.
I thank the Lord for the gift of this new opportunity as mayor from 2019 to 2024, I ask him to be merciful for my mistakes.
Hello everybody.
