It ends in a total clash between the majority and the opposition, with the former deciding to leave the room and therefore to lack a quorum, the town Council dedicated to the story of Citadel Square Monday afternoon. On the agenda of the session, requested by the minorities of Alternative for Piacenza and the centre-right, the issue of the suretyship policy revealed to be false presented by the manager of the GPS paid blue spaces and the fiduciary relationship with the latter. In fact the third call to Mercanti Palace within seven days – after two legality commissions last Monday and Friday – in the absence of substantial administrative news on the tangled affair, it thus turned into yet another occasion in the political arena. This time, however, a conflict that was at times tense prevailed, with continuous bickering and disputes over boundaries to give to the discussion.
Until the epilogue: in her speech the group leader of the Brothers of Italy Sara Soresi called into question the role of the general secretary Luca Canessa and was taken up by the president of the assembly Paola Gazzolo, who invoked the agreement signed during the group leaders’ conference to avoid references to the role of municipal managers: “We speak on a broad political scale but pay attention to expressions about staff and those who work in the institution.” Soresi, while specifying that he has no doubts about the “legality of Canessa’s actions” in relation to the Cittadella affair, questioned on the basis of some opinions from Anac the opportunity to entrust the general secretary, “made by the administration to become a sort of factotum, both the role of anti-corruption manager of the entity and the responsibility of following such a complex practice, maintaining contact with the dealer”. “Is all this appropriate? And I hope that the question is promptly raised with Anac” – added the councilor.
A statement that raised the reaction of several centre-left councillors, defined by Boris Infantino (Piacenza Coraggiosa) “intimidating”. “We cannot continue a session – he continued – in contrast with the agreements made by the group leaders, we cannot go on talking about the managers because the executive phase of the organization is not within our competence”. This is why he asked for a vote suspension of the session, then approved by majority. After the suspension of work, the centre-left councilors never returned to the chamber, causing the quorum to fail: at 6.30 pm, therefore, everyone went home.
It was clear from the very first moments of the meeting that it was not the day to address a topic that has been in the limelight of local political news for weeks. Particularly afterwards the audition last Friday in Filippo Lodetti’s legality commissiondirector of the company concessionaire for the management of blue parking spaces and owner of the project for the construction of the underground car park in Piazza Cittadella, who had claimed to be in possession of the bankability of the projectwithout however disclosing the name of the banking partner of the lead bank Banca del Fucino. Massimo Trespidi (centre-right civic) began by contesting the opinion of the new president of Confindustria Nicola Parenti who during the general assembly “made an unsolicited endorsement on Piazza Cittadella, an unsolicited invasion of the field which I did not appreciate” “What is being done, that is, the verification of the guarantees of the person in charge – he explained -, are to protect everyone and not just Piacenza Parcheggi. It’s not a political issue but a financial one, I’m surprised that entrepreneurs haven’t understood what the issue is at stake.” The debate was therefore included point of order of the center-left civic group leader Luca Dallanegra to ask that the interventions of the councilors be more closely related to the topic on the agenda, and in particular to the false guarantee. A request that sparked protests from the opposition: following a verbal spat between Stefano Cugini (App) and Paola De Micheli (Pd), the session was suspended for around 40 minutes.
Clash that heated up again with Boris Infantino (Piacenza Coraggiosa), who labeled the center-right of inaction when it was in government over the Piazza Cittadella affair: “The construction site could have started in 2021”. Unacceptable position for the former mayor Patrizia Barbieri, who accused Infantino of having carried out “a reconstruction of the facts with a lot of incorrect things” and regarding the position of the managers: “We have not defamed anyone, in fact you requested and convened the legality commission to listen to the managers” . The position of the leader of the Democratic Party must be recorded Andrea Fossati on the decision to suspend the session: “Today in the city council there was a full-blown attack on the institution in the strict sense. The political assembly was used to attack the managers and those who work in the organization and for the organization every day. In the last week, a commission 5 also took place with the hearing of the managers on one side, subjected to a barrage of questions as if we were at a real trial. This vision and this way of doing politics do not belong to us, therefore we wanted to give a signal today with the abandonment of the session by all the majority councillors”.
“PIACENZA HAS MISSED AN OPPORTUNITY FOR DEMOCRACY” APP – “Today democracy has lost in Piacenza”. This is how Alternativa per Piacenza intervenes at the end of the city council meeting. “We expected, and the entire citizenry expected it – they say -, a frank, constructive and without hesitation discussion. None of this, also thanks to disastrous management of the board by a President who once again demonstrated all his difficulty in interpreting the role. Interventions which to define as disappointing is an understatement, considering the story and all the aspects that are known so far, who knows how many surprises could still await us. Between epic quotes and invitations not to go off topic (a truly tragicomic statement), attempts were repeatedly made to throw the ball into the stands. Not failing to invite other councilors not to collect acorns from the ground (we remember the animal that has this habit is the pig…) and not to accuse the managers “don’t allow yourself to accuse the managers” it was said. Specious maneuvers aimed at shifting attention to something else, interrupting the discussion several times, even failing to show up after a suspension in order to blow up the session. Today someone ran away from the confrontation, they were afraid of exercising a democratic principle such as that of the discussion in the city council. The citizens of Piacenza, represented by the city councilors, were denied a sacrosanct democratic principle. Today someone has escaped from democracy.”
