The news that comes from Rome leaves no room for equivocal interpretations: following the maxi Ducale investigation, in next days to the Municipality of Reggio the prefectural Access Commission will arrive to ascertain the possibility of dissolution of the council and the municipal administration. It is not a choice, but a due act by the Ministry of the Interior, absolutely discounted And consequential with respect to the investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Reggio Calabria which last Tuesday led to 14 arrests and over 20 suspects with the very serious accusation of political-mafia electoral exchange which concerns, among others, even the Mayor Giuseppe Falcomatà and the municipal councilor of the Democratic Party Giuseppe Sera.
Faced with this scenario, there is no choice: the arrival of the access fee is an obvious formality required by state laws. Only those who underestimated the extent of the investigation and the seriousness of the accusations last week can today be surprised by this scenario, which has already triggered panic in Palazzo San Giorgio.
What is the access commission and what will it do for the Municipality of Reggio Calabria
There access commission appointed by the prefecturecarries out an investigation into the actions of the local administrationevaluating the consistency of the elements on which to base the municipal dissolution proposalrepresented by defects and anomalies in the administrative action of the institution. It is the first step towards – possibly – the dissolution of the organisation. The commission, at the end of its work, draws up a report directed to the Prefect who, in turn, sends a report to the Minister of the Interior, so that he can evaluate the opportunity of reaching a dissolution.
At the prefectural reportin the case of finding elements that integrate the details of the dissolution, the issuing by the President of the Republic of the decree ordering the dissolution of the organisation. This decree is issued by the Head of State upon proposal of the Minister of the Interior, following a resolution by the Council of Ministers. The decree itself is transmitted at the same time as its issuance to the Chambers and retains its effects.”for a period of 12 to 18 months, extendable up to a maximum of 24 months in exceptional cases” (including, in fact, that already happened to Reggio Calabria Between 2012 And 2014).
The risk of a new dissolution in Reggio Calabria and the precedent of 2012
Among the evidence that the access fee must ascertain the existence or otherwise of the municipal dissolutionin Tuel (Consolidated Law on Local Authorities) provides that there is also the “Conditioning of electoral consultations”. The rule explicitly states “the crime of political-mafia electoral exchange”, provided for by article 416-ter of the penal code, already referred to on more than one occasion in the application of the legislation on the dissolution of municipal councils. And this is precisely the type of crime the Mayor is accused of Giuseppe Falcomatà and the city councilor of his own majority and the Democratic Party Giuseppe Sera. Furthermore, the last electoral consultations in Reggio were clearly conditioned by electoral fraud aimed precisely in favor of Castorina (Pd) e Evening (Pd), both from the Mayor’s party. Fraud already widely documented in two investigations by the Prosecutor’s Office: according to the legislation, those would have already been enough decree the dissolution of a clearly illegitimate municipal council. But when the Castorina scandal exploded (arrested in March 2021, a few months after the elections), because he had even got the dead to vote with a system of scrutineers who were friends and accomplices, in Rome there was another government with the Democratic Party which evidently managed to block the arrival of the access commission. This time it’s not like that.
Another element that the access commission will have to analyze concerns “Public officials and employees” possibly compromised. And in the Ducale investigation there is the case of the manager Fedora Squillaciwhich handles the case of son of the boss Araniti – municipal employee who should be fired – not on the basis of institutional channels but by calling directly to the gang representative who shows him the solution: avoid the dismissal so that he is moved to the municipal structure of the Democratic Party. As it will then be.
Today’s panic at Palazzo San Giorgio: the specter of uncandidacy
In these hours chaos broke out at Palazzo San Giorgio. Some councilors were spotted while he ran through the corridors with his hands in his hair. Some others, who don’t have hair, started stuttering in the live streaming of yet another commission. The panic is widespread and concerns everyone: the Administration first and foremost, obviously, but also the opposition. To be calm, there are very few of them. In addition to the very real risk of seeing the generous salary compromised (which in reality is very rich only for the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Councillors), with the arrival of the access commission the specter ofincandidabilty. The art. 143 c. 11 TUEL, in fact, provides for theincandidabilty “for administrators who, with their behavior, have contributed to the dissolution of the council body due to criminal infiltration within the local institution“. The precedent of 2012 is vivid in everyone’s mind: it is not a question of a cleaver hanging only over the heads of Falcomata And Eveningalready investigated in the Ducale investigation, but for all councilors and assessors. One is enough distant relative or even one small negligence committed in the past in good faith to see themselves branded as uncandidatable. It’s already happened and it will happen again: it’s the access fee method that comes through clean upwe could say rake, without particular attention to detail. Here because everyone is shaking a little. The real risk is that an entire ruling class is literally wiped out. And – given the political results of the last decade – That’s not to say it’s bad for the city; unless the consequence is to then see the level drop further.
The hypothesis of Falcomatà’s resignation to avoid all this
That Falcomata you can resign for sense of the State and the Institutions after yet another serious judicial investigation and confidential phone calls in which he asks for help from the representative of the ‘Ndrangheta to win the ballot, it is to be totally excluded. That he can resign for the interest of the cityavoiding the arrival of the commissioners and the consequent blocking of any type of activity, is equally illusory knowing the subject. The only real chance that the Mayor will actually take a step back is for a personal and political interest, his and his cronies. In short, it must suit him. And whether there will be resignation in the end the only way to avoid ineligibility, then yes he will actually be able to do them. This is what is starting to circulate in the corridors of city politics in these hours, not only from the opposition, but even in the ranks of the majority. “Only Falcomatà can save us by resigning before the dissolution” the most astute ones confide. Obviously will wait until the last useful momentalso because the arrival of the access commission crystallizes the activity of the Administration but it doesn’t stop salaries. It won’t be a drama: we will arrive anyway close to the end of the council. But in this way everyone will be able to apply again and the city will return to voting in 2025probably already in spring, in less than a year. And Falcomatà, this time, will no longer be able to be part of the game having already completed two terms. By avoiding dissolution, however, he will still be able to run again elsewhere (regional?), even if it appears very difficult that the Democratic Party will be able to present him again after this serious and compromising scandal. If he breaks with the Democratic Party, however, he could go on his own, with one of the lists that have always accompanied him (La Svolta, Reset, etc. etc.). In the event of dissolution, however, he would only have that job as a simple clerk in the Municipality of Milan for which he had won the competition a few years ago.
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