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“I think there are all the conditions to arrive at the name of the center-left candidate by July for the post-Bonaccini post and “to start, in parallel, the construction of the program” but “not everything has already been decided and there are no names in pole position ”. After the excellent result of the Democratic Party at the European elections – in Bologna it reached 41% – Matteo Lepore from the living room of Patrizia Finucci Gallo at the Guercino hotel he forcefully asks to be a protagonist in the race to renew the management of Viale Aldo Moro.
Bologna in the center
“I’m not running because I want to finish my mandate and I also want to run again” at Palazzo d’Accursio, assures Lepore, but the ideal candidate of the centre-left must be a Bolognese. Bologna must count “because there hasn’t been a president of the Bolognese region for thirty years and this is also a political question”, reiterates Lepore. Also because here the Democratic Party took “10% of the votes in the European elections, and if we add the metropolitan area we are significant shareholders”. And above all because in Bologna there is the Tecnopolo, which is worth “one and a half billion in public investments”, because “half of public transport gravitates to the metropolitan city” and because of the quantity of Pnrr funds that will arrive. “This does not mean that we want to command – assures Lepore -. Indeed we have a team of mayors, former councilors and young administrators who are as close-knit as ever. And it would be a real shame to witness the old logic of politics. Also because what Emilia-Romagna does on healthcare, on public transport, on environmental issues, on 0-6 services, on the right to housing, must also pave the way for the country”.
Avs will also weigh on the coalition
Within the coalition, the Green and Left Alliance will also have a significant weight, which is an “important point of reference”, explains Lepore.
Elly Schlein a courageous young woman
Elly Schlein “She has often been underestimated because she is young and female – says Lepore -. Now, however, we are no longer faced with a young secretary but with a European leader, who together with Sanchez must unite the center-left and must lead it to victory against the most extreme right-wingers. And that she will also be decisive for the Regionals”.
It doesn’t matter going through the primaries
For Lepore, going through the primaries doesn’t matter. “If the management group takes responsibility and starts a discussion on the issues” that are closest to the heart of the mayor of Bologna, such as the environment, transport, housing, work and education.
On land consumption, for example, “we need to revisit law 24/2017 – says the mayor – because in this way we delegate to the mayors the will to decide whether to collect charges or finance disabled transport. And we must have the courage to say that the provinces and metropolitan cities must be changed, to take care of the territory.”
“I respect both Colla and De Pascale, but what do they think?”
As for the most popular names – those of the councilor for economic development, Vincenzo Colla, and the mayor of Ravenna, Michele De Pascale – Lepore “esteems them both” but “what do they think of these important issues?”. Lepore also outlines the path to the program’s Factory. “Three meetings, one in Emilia, one in Romagna and one in Bologna”. An even more necessary comparison precisely because for Lepore the responsibility for choosing the candidate must fall “to the management group”.
Lepore glosses over the ballots, as for the choice not to hold the primaries in Casalecchio, for Lepore it was a “local decision, we work to win the regional elections”. As for the Besta schools – with a trail of controversy over the park, which has been guarded for months by environmentalists – “in a democracy we must also carry forward what has been decided”.
