Sanremo. The first debate of the electoral campaign between the mayoral candidates of the heaviest coalitions, politically speaking, was held today, at the Workers’ Federation in via Corradi, between the exponent of the centre-left, Fulvio Fellegaraand the civic, Alessandro Mager. An improvised confrontation that was originally supposed to take place only between Fellegara and Gianni Rolando (centre-right of the parties) but which spread to Mager, however causing Rolando’s withdrawal.
The trigger for the assembly were the words spoken publicly by the center-right leader to comment on Sanremo Pride. Terms such as “degenerate” and “race” which did not go down well with Fellegara, who had invited Rolando for a public clarification. However, at the center of the discussion between the mayoral candidates was not the rights of LGBT+ people but the privatization of Rivieracqua. A topic on which Fellegara and Mager have shown that they have divergent positions. Two completely opposite views, one, that of Fellegara, in favor of public bailout, and the other, that of Mager, for the private sector as the lesser evil in the face of the hypothesis of bankruptcy.
«I am for public ownership of water – explained Mager -. We must realize that the debt situation faced by the sole manager cannot be postponed indefinitely. The company set up by the Municipalities has accumulated around 70 million euros in debt. This is not the place to discuss faults. How do you get out of it? Already in 2019, the conference of mayors of the Imperia water sector established that it was no longer possible to restore Rivieracqua’s balance sheet. Also because the revenue from the bills was insufficient. There were plants acquired in 2012 in dilapidated conditions that need to be renovated.”
«Now we need a formidable influx of money to restore society. The competition for the entry of the private partner is inevitable. There’s no way out. I would add that the private sector in Rivieracqua is the lesser evil: without it, the company is headed towards bankruptcy. Knowing the procedural documents there are no other options. My position is bitter, the result of a study of the state of affairs.”
The response to Fellegara: «We cannot address this issue by thinking of liquidating the past by relieving those who managed Rivieracqua of responsibility. There is a first and last name: Claudio Scajola. Let’s start with the fundamentals. Rivieracqua was born in 2012. The general manager manages it backwards Gabriele Saldo. Scajola’s man. Then, the centre-right municipalities of this area resisted: Bordighera made several appeals to the TAR and Imperia, with Amat, supported a bankruptcy petition. These are the political responsibilities and they must be certified.”
«Today the tariff increases arrive that look to the future even if they have been made retroactive. The retroactivity of the increases must be opposed and should be blocked for the previous part, guaranteeing it for the next three years. Rivieracqua currently has a turnover of 50 million euros. In the next 3 years he will earn 30 million more and could repay 30 percent of his debt. Anyone who thinks – continued Fellegara – that the assignment to the private sector is simple and quick lives in another world. When it arrives, perhaps in 2 years, half of the debts will be absorbed by tariff increases. We are restoring it and then handing it over to the private sector. We had asked the Biancheri Administration that this hot potato be left in the hands of the new municipal council. Instead, the Biancheri era ended with a choice that should have been avoided.” The mayoral candidate concluded: «The consequence of privatization will be the impoverishment of the territory. There is an industry of 500 people between Andora and Ventimiglia which in a few years will be just a memory because the private sector will bring its trusted companies from outside and the local orders will disappear”.
After the water topic – to which he also provided his own contribution in the sense of safeguarding public management Andrea Artioli (centre-right) -, Fellegara and Mager spent a good half hour listening to the speeches of those present on LGBT+ rights. A series of often touching opinions and testimonies that represented a rainbow of points of view. The vision has proven to be common to all, in the order of equality and mutual respect. The only candidate who would have benefited from reiterating the concept was absent, justified or not.
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