«If I’m still there after June 9th…». Before him he shields himself with his proverbial superstition, not wanting to take the outcome of next week’s elections for granted. Then, the president Alberto Cirio he assures: «I will go with the mayor Stefano Lo Russo to ask the funds necessary for the completion of Metro 2as we have already done for example when it came to obtaining the appointment of the extraordinary commissioner for the construction of the infrastructure”.
The outgoing governor’s outstretched hand to the mayor comes at the end of a chess game, the one played (and won) yesterday during the lunch break by Cirio with the number one of the Moderates Giacomo Portas to the bowls club Madonna del Pilone.
A challenge, between serious and half-joking, with which in reality the alliance between the leader of the centrist formation (once centre-left) and the Italian president was renewed. Stone guest, the mayor Lo Russo. «We had invited him to act as referee – jokes Portas – but he had another commitment». The same Moderates who convincedly supported the current centre-left mayor three years ago have this time gone over with the centre-right, lending some of their thoroughbred horses, such as Silvio Magliano, to the Cirio list. “Portas plays a little with the whites and a little with the blacks,” the governor joked, pointing to the pieces. And actually referring to the ability of the inventor of the Moderates to move with ease on the political chessboard.
On the other hand, it is no mystery that many voters who supported Lo Russo in 2021, in this round preferred to bet on the blue Cirio, rather than on the centre-left candidate Gianna Pentenero. And it is no coincidence that, while the mayor preaches prudence and hopes that his institutional relations with the Meloni government will bear fruitthe leader of the Democratic Party Nadia Conticelli attack the minister Matteo Salvini on the funds for Metro 2. The Lo Russo-Cirio duo, however, is not destined to break up. «It must be underlined – Cirio points out – that we managed to protect Turin from cuts on the Pnrr. And that this time too we will face the problem together.”
