Erio Ambrosino, historic exponent of Cuneo Solidale, after a sabbatical, he returned to the City Council in 2022, elected this time on the Democratic Party list.
He will be a candidate for the regional elections on one of the civic lists that support the centre-left presidential candidate Gianna Pentenero.
We asked him, who has known the past vicissitudes of Cuneo’s administrative life, some questions to try to understand if and how the skein that has been breaking the relationship between the Democratic Party and the Center for Cuneo can be resolved.
Ambrosino, in one of the last municipal councils, you evoked the crisis of 1997/98 which led to the administration of the Municipality of Cuneo and subsequently to new elections. What difference is there between that crisis and today’s one, however latent?
“The crisis of those years was caused by the League which decided to take a different political path compared to the previous one. There was a different vision on the program for the city which caused the split and directed the League towards a political front opposed to the centre-left. Today the situation that has been created is very different, both in form and content. As said during my speech in the City Council, the issue occurred for personal reasons. A dark page has been written for our Cuneo. The “Centro” group tried to “bully” the mayor and the majority by showing its muscles to try to get a few more seats. By doing so not only did he make himself ridiculous in the eyes of the city, but he demonstrated a lack of respect and sensitivity towards the institution.”
You were one of the historical exponents of “Solidal” while today you are part of the Pd council group. Why this choice?
“I was among the founders of “Solidal” which I decided to leave when I resigned as a councilor in 2014. For some years I have been following the growth of “Solidarity Democracy” (Demos) with interest. A political group born from the intuition of some exponents of the Community of Sant’Egidio. The party is located in the centre-left and carries out its political action in this context, with values of solidarity and attention to the environment. I have firmly joined the political project of Demos because it reminds me, at a national level, of the local experience of Cuneo Solidale”.
Why then, in the last municipal elections of 2022, did you opt for the Pd list?
“Because I felt like adhering, as an independent member of Demos, to the “wide field” proposal suggested by secretary Schlein, with a view to change and aggregation of secular and Catholic forces located in the center-left. A strategy that we are trying to replicate in the regional elections.”
The majority is made up of four council groups, however from the outside there is the perception that there are only two groups: Center for Cuneo and the Democratic Party. We agree that these are the numerically largest ones, but is it possible that the others have nothing to complain about?
“In my opinion that’s not really the case. Maybe it’s the impression of those who see from the outside. Center for Cuneo and the Democratic Party are the lists that prevailed in numerical terms in the last local elections. They have experienced people within them. Cuneo Solidale and Crescere Insieme pay, perhaps, a little inexperience, but their advisors are valid and prepared people. I believe that after the latest events, these two groups will also have had the opportunity to discuss themselves internally and reiterate that certain attitudes in this majority are no longer admissible”.
In the Democratic Party there seems to have been no harmony between the mayor Patrizia Manassero and the city secretariat, headed by Erica Cosio. Or at least the timing was not synchronized because while the first tried to put out the fire, the other rekindled it by pouring petrol on the fire. What do you think?
“I am sure that Cosio’s latest statements were not addressed to the mayor, but highlighted a desire to clarify within the coalition that leads the city. Furthermore, the city secretary is an expression of the party that won the local elections and therefore who, more than her, is entitled to seek clarity with the allies? Cosio knows that Manassero was indicated as mayor primarily by the Democratic Party; that there have been agreements and those must be respected. Like it or not, everyone must assume their own responsibilities. Of course the Democratic Party in Cuneo could have been more aware of its strengths and gone into the negotiations with a different attitude, but that’s how it is. The shared program is the basis of the agreements, but an alliance is also built on mutual trust, loyalty and coherence which in this specific case have failed”.
I imagine that, due to your political history and your sensitivities, you have never looked with particular enthusiasm at the agreement (which is now wavering) between the Democratic Party and the civic centrists. Having said this, in light of the turbulence that goes beyond the Foundation’s appointments, do you think that the “programmatic majority” – as the mayor always defines it – will hold?
“I don’t have a crystal ball. I can only tell you that by character I have no prejudices. However, I expect from others what I struggle to be and demonstrate every day: coherence, honesty, dignity, respect. Even more so when you are in an institutional context. To regain credibility, politics needs to rediscover these and other qualities which, for various reasons, have been set aside over the years. A practical example: how can the city be governed with the centre-left and support the centre-right in the Region? There are certainly differences.”
Please explain…
“I think of public health, of the waiting lists for medical visits which have become unsustainable. Yet in the Province we have political exponents “born and raised” in the centre-left area who will run as candidates for the centre-right. We don’t say why. This way of interpreting politics for one’s own use does nothing but alienate voters. Are we aware that politics embraces the entire sphere of our daily life? As R. Nader says “If you don’t deal with politics, politics will take care of you”. They are the people who “do” politics. Voters have the responsibility to elect them.”
One last question: do you think a different majority is possible or, if the situation worsens, will a return to the polls be inevitable?
“To be honest I say and hope not. When a ‘serious’ crisis arises, assuming that it is, we must understand the reasons and have the courage to go back to the polls, because what could arise is not an expression of the citizens’ choice. Otherwise it is useless to talk about seriousness and respect. I think of when I resigned as councilor: I felt like I no longer had the enthusiasm that had characterized me up until those years and I preferred to leave the stimuli to those who could have them. It wasn’t a surrender, but I wanted to give a signal that for me politics must also be this.”
