“Our withdrawal from the City Council was not a gesture of distrust towards the mayor and the majority: we had not foreseen it and it was not on our horizon but we wanted to demonstrate the need, on our part, to clarify whether the entire force majority approved the latest developments on the issue of appointments to the board of directors of the CRC Foundation. Resuming work without this clarification would have meant continuing without resolving profound doubts and reservations”.
Thus spoke the group leader of the majority Centro per Cuneo council force this evening, on the second evening of the April city council meeting. An intervention awaited by the entire city, to explain the gesture made by the entire force yesterday evening (Monday 29 April) with the sudden abandonment of the council meeting.
What happened
The position taken by the Centro per Cuneo councilors last night threw the entire assembly into chaos, causing it to end prematurely due to the lack of a quorum.
Over the last few hours, the majority has held in support of the mayor Patrizia Manassero remained hanging by a thread, in a climate of political crisis – whether virtual or concrete – which literally threatened the continuation of some processes linked to important issues for the city (such as, for example, that linked to the construction of the new single hospital ).
Heavy shadows, therefore, which after a meeting between the majority forces held in the early afternoon of today seem to have been put aside: the Centro per Cuneo councilors in fact showed up at today’s session in force (absent, for personal reasons, only Hector Grosso).
The mayor: “Gesture that affected us profoundly”
However, the opening of the second evening of the Council inevitably saw the mayor – and the entire assembly – address the situation with microphones turned on. “Among the forces that make up the majority, there have always been lively but serious confrontations illuminated by the beacon of the government program although motivated by the fibrillations for the appointments in the Foundation added to those for the upcoming electoral renewal” commented the mayor.
“Last night we witnessed an unfortunate event, the exit of an entire group of councilors from this room: it affected us all in a profound way. We have repeated several times in this chamber that the majority is held together by the program and a gesture of this type has deeply surprised us. But my and our commitment to the people of Cuneo is renewed, for now and for the future”.
The minority attacks (and then abandons the Council)
A statement, that of Manassero, which formally put an end to the issue. But that obviously didn’t nip the interventions of the other city councilors in the bud. Minority species.
“The fact cannot be called anything other than derogatory. It was an insult to this chamber but, above all, to the city because the personal interest was put before the interests of the people of Cuneo – commented Beppe Lauria (who showed up with fake gifts to deliver to the councilors “who want to be bought”) – . I hope for you, councillors, that you are embarrassed by what happened; you do worse than I, who often use strong words, can do because you insult the people who have given you strength, credibility and trust”.
“After the mayor’s perfunctory words and Pellegrino’s ‘patch worse than the hole’, what can we say? – commented Claudio Bongiovanni (Cuneo Mia) – I honestly didn’t think I’d witness a gesture of this type: you acted not as an administrative political group but as bullies with no sense of limits and respect, writing a horrible page, the worst since the city council existed”.
Franco Civallero (FI) also spoke of a page “which, if it could be erased from memory, would be better”: “The responsibility lies not only with those who carried out the gesture, but also with those who operate them”.
“Considerations are difficult after what happened yesterday; when I am here I feel the preferences, although not very many, granted to me during the last electoral round – he said Paolo Armellini (Independent) – . I also express human sympathy for the mayor, yesterday the difficulty could be seen in her eyes, but it is impossible to normalize a situation that has nothing normal about it. A statement on Pellegrino’s part was due yesterday, before the gesture, not now. How can we still be credible in front of the citizens?”
Also for Massimo Garnero the gesture is to be configured as “an absolute and very serious lack of respect. The mayor and the majority are no longer able to administer the city, it is now clear: it is not true that you are together to achieve a program, you do it to secure seats and seats”.
“Ever since part of the majority made the decision to support a political party contrary to that of the mayor, Centro per Cuneo had to abandon the majority” he added Luciana Toselli (Cuneo for Common Goods), supported in this request also by Antonino Pittari (Mixed majority group): “I am truly amazed at what happened, the value of the City Council has been diminished and the council has been put in a position of extreme difficulty. When I found myself not accepting a majority decision, I had the strength to leave the Democratic Party”.
“You have demonstrated a complete lack of dignity and self-respect, what do you teach your children when you return home? The cowardice of not even having the intention of defending your opinions and actions? – he also commented Mavy Civallero (We LOVE Cuneo) – . It’s not true that you’ve found ‘the square’: if I were you I would take the microphone and apologise, one by one, to all of us and to the mayor”.
“Yesterday a mortal blow was dealt to the mayor’s leadership and to the stability of this majority, there will be no going back after this event – he said Giancarlo Boselli (Independent) – . These dynamics also drive away the most important interest groups in the city, who had initially supported it. The majority is one step away from being completely unhinged: Cuneo is weaker in the CRC Foundation and in general, just as you have proven to be the weakest mayor in the history of the city”.
“We knew that things would end like this, with a new agreement, but the behavior of Centro per Cuneo has reduced the Council’s activity to a sort of livestock market. Cuneo still proves to be a silent city where people don’t shoot: the council has missed an opportunity to defend its dignity and credibility” he said Ugo Sturlese (Cuneo for Common Goods), which then announced the exit of the entire majority from the assembly.
The majority: “Unfortunate episode but we confirm our confidence”
The gesture made by Centro per Cuneo also triggered reactions from the other souls of the majority, no less angry. “I sit on these benches to try to accomplish things that I believe are good for the city, any other mechanism doesn’t interest me” he commented for example Stefania D’Ulisse (Solidarity and Democratic Cuneo).
“The mayor defined the episode as intolerable, the topic is not being treated superficially – commented Luca Paschiero (Grow up together) – . But due to our responsibility towards citizens we have the duty to keep our backs straight and carry forward the points and topics of our program: we do not want and do not intend to lose the trust placed in us”.
“Last night I felt great embarrassment, the same as when the center-left governed with the League in Cuneo – commented Erio Ambrosino (PD) – . At the time, however, the League had a very clear and honest political objective: yesterday the heart of the issue was personal interests and it is a very serious thing, a lack of respect in general that is truly unacceptable”.
The leader of the PD Claudia Carli commented on the minority’s exit from the Council underlining how “call for respect for the institutions and then act in the same way. Yesterday an unfortunate page took place but we confirm full confidence in the administrative and political action of the mayor”.
To conclude the discussion, a second speech from the mayor (in response to some requests made in the long debate): “We don’t want to normalize anything, something very serious happened and the gesture really put me in difficulty – he said – . I think there have always been spaces for discussion, for the most part, and the issues, when they exist, must be addressed. However, I reject the accusation of not having built ‘a protective umbrella of the Foundation over my position as mayor’: this is not the role, I believe, of a banking foundation. Very serious words indeed”.
