TO Faenzaas in Riolo Terme, in the Romagna Faentina on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 June the citizens will go to the polls only for the election of the European Parliamentunlike Brisighella, Casola Valsenio, Castel Bolognese and Solarolo, also called to elect new mayors and new city councilors.
In the lukewarm comparison ahead of the renewal of the Strasbourg Assemblyin Faenza League stands out for a sort of “double track”, with half a representation in the City Council supporting a local candidate and the other half supporting a candidate from the Modena area.
THE RACE IN STRASBOURG
In this unusual setting on the morning of Thursday 16 May stopped in the city Stefano Bargi, regional councilor of the Carroccio who is vice-president of the Budget, General and Institutional Affairs Commission of the Emilia-Romagna Legislative Assembly, as well as a member of the Statute and Regulations and Economic Policies Commissions.
During the hours of the street market, Bargi was present at the electoral table in Piazza del Popolo together with his party colleagues in the Regional Council, Maura Catellani from Reggio Emilia and Andrea Liverani, who is a municipal councilor in Faenza; with them were the former Romagna MP Gianni Tonelli, former chief inspector of the State Police and general secretary of the Autonomous Police Union, and the municipal councilor Cristina Alpi.
The 35 year old Stefano Bargi was born and lives in Sassuolo; graduated in Business Economics, he is an entrepreneur in the restaurant sector; for a month and a half he has been a candidate in the North-East constituency for the League for a seat in the European Parliament in the “Identity and Democracy” group.
As well as Roberta Conti, municipal councilor and secretary of the League in Faenzawhose application was announced on May 4th, while it was announced on Monday May 13th presented as the only Romagna candidate in Strasbourg by the Forlì deputy Jacopo Morronesecretary of the Lega Romagna.
A DUALISM THAT “BRINGS ADVANTAGES”
Andrea Liverani explained this Northern League “dualism” in Faenza: “First of all, it’s not a split. We have been working with Bargi for a while to support his European candidacy; I particularly wanted him to be a candidate for the Strasbourg Assembly and for this reason I had said that I would give preference to only one person and I had decided to dedicate myself ‘belly on the ground’ only to him.
In fact, I think that this way more votes will come to the League. I believe that Roberta does not need much help with her preferences, so having moved in time I decided to give a clear indication of vote for Stefano. There is no division – remarked Liverani -. I have known Stefano for ten years, those in which we have been councilors in the Region: he is a tough, pure person, who believes in what he does, he has been in the League for many years and for this reason my help is obvious. I will campaign for him as if it were my own and I am convinced that he will get a good result. We are aware that it will not be easy to get to Strasbourg, but we are doing our best.”
The impression remains that on the “European Elections” issue within the Northern League representation in the Faenza City Council there was no dialogue useful for a sort of concertation: Roberta Conti, alone accompanied by Jacopo Morrone, on one side, Andrea Liverani and Cristina Alpi on the other; Alvise Albonetti, who is the group leader, did not appear, although this was justified by work commitments.
It should be noted that the vote on the ballot paper for the European elections can be expressed by crossing the symbol of the preferred party and also writing two preferences, which must include a woman’s name and a man’s name, never of the same gender.
The north-eastern district includes the territories of the regions of Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige.
“I can’t imagine getting to Trieste in a month and a half – Bargi said -, so I tend to campaign in Emilia-Romagna which has around three million voters”.
Andrea Liverani accompanied Stefano Bargi to meet people and visit Faenza companies that suffered damage from the flood of a year ago: “As the League we are moving to urge the Government to get the refreshments as soon as possible; at the business level, many have started again with sacrifice and need resources which are instead necessary for those that have not succeeded”.
HAND OUTSIDE TO RUSSIA AND THE “GREEN” IN THE SIGHTS
“I am a candidate for the European Parliament by will of the federal secretary Matteo Salvini because in these three years I have not changed my mind on aspects of Italian politics – Bargi began -: I am thinking of the Draghi government, the issue of the ‘green pass’, the sending of weapons to Ukraine. On the topic of the flood in Romagna a year ago, I remember that in 2014 when I entered the Region, a few months had passed since the flood in the Modena area when the embankment of the Secchia river broke. Already then it was evident that in the last thirty years in the Emilia-Romagna Region, with a strong approach at European level, the concept that rivers are natural parks, blue corridors with vegetation on the sides that you must not touch, because the aim is for the waters to flow downstream. This is, with bitter irony, the setting of the natural landscape of the Secchia; this is the ‘ecocrazy’ approach taken by the European Union. We are not here to defend the soil, but to defend man, because our plain is alluvial, where over the years man has been able to conquer spaces and the rivers have become hydraulic works. This is why ordinary maintenance on the embankments is needed, but investments are also needed, because in Emilia-Romagna we have the most dangerous water network in Italy which is not adequate for the same regional plans”.
The League’s candidate from Sassuolo has the “false electricity drift” of the European Union in his sights: “According to the data and research of Nomisma Energia, making all the homes in Europe ‘green’ will magically change from night to morning, emissions in the world will they would reduce by 1 percent because China, India, the United States, i.e. the big polluters, do not apply the same rules as us: in fact, a great and useless sacrifice is being asked of the entire country. As far as the European automotive sector is concerned, we have discovered that it is not keeping up with the Chinese one. Thus in Italy the sector and its workers are at risk. The burden of a transition without real justifications, other than economic interest, will fall entirely on businesses and families. Yet this message has been carried forward by a few in these 5 years, leaving almost the entire country without representation.”
Other cornerstones of Stefano Bargi’s commitment as a possible European parliamentarian are “the revision of the Treaties of the European Union and the role of the single currency, for an economic and political model based on respect for national interests”, “starting again from our roots by valorising the our identities, for a stronger Europe in the world, because the history and cultures of the European peoples have nothing to learn”. The Northern League candidate supports the need to end the war between Russia and Ukraine as soon as possible: “Europe must stop sending weapons to Ukraine and cancel the economic sanctions on Russia. Relations must be rebuilt, including with Russia, to support growth and development in harmony, avoiding international isolation.”
