The president of the Campania Region Vincenzo De Luca speaks of autonomy by launching a challenge to the opposition and to the sectors of the majority critical of the provision: «Approve two amendments. The first to prohibit all regions, North and South, from making regional supplementary contracts for healthcare and schools. This would be an element of guarantee and non-rupture of national unity. We are available if we say that autonomy does not want to split Italy and we approve the amendment that prohibits the stipulation of supplementary contracts in all regions on healthcare and education. In this way – he explains – we could avoid referendums and appeals to the Constitutional Court”. The other amendment to which De Luca refers concerns the resources for the regions allocated by the NHS fund: «They must be the same for every citizen – he warns – just as the number of public health employees must be the same for all the regions. If we approve these two amendments we can move forward calmly.”
«Ready for the barricades»
«Campania speaks on behalf of another South, that of efficiency but asking to have equal terms on resources and personnel. Since this is not the case, we must build barricades against this type of differentiated autonomy. Campania is on the front line in the battle”, adds the governor speaking on social media about the bill just approved by Parliament. «Our line – he added – is that of zero bureaucracy, not of constitutional rupture. The Campania Region is asking for more powers on those matters over which the Roman bureaucratic swamp reigns and this is the other battle to be fought.
Campania – added De Luca – will sit at the autonomy table but to move in the opposite direction. We want to assert our zero bureaucracy line at the table. Instead of splitting Italy and being clever about resources for healthcare, public transport and schools, let’s move together – De Luca’s appeal – to defeat the Roman bureaucratic swamp”.
«Here are the deputies who voted against the South»
The governor of Campania Vincenzo De Luca introduces it at the end of the social event on Friday, defining it as “a gem before concluding our chat”. This is the list of parliamentarians elected in Campania – all in the majority – who voted in favor of the bill on differentiated autonomy. These are six exponents of Fdi (“the heroes of Fdi”, ironically de Luca), two of the League, two of Forza Italia and one of Noi Moderati. De Luca names them one by one, reciting their name and surname. «Here – the governor then commented – these are our heroes to whom we will see to give a medal for civil valor for having contributed to trampling on the interests of the South and Campania. We will carry on anyway – De Luca’s promise to Facebook users – no one should be under any illusions, they will waste our time, they are all pretexts, but sometimes it happens that there are some institutional representatives who don’t want to be a butler , nor to act as a carpetbagger for the national government, nor to live as an ectoplasm but as a free man. We respect everyone – concluded the governor of Campania – but we make it clear to everyone that our dignity is not for sale”.
«Enough demagogy, I’m defending Naples»
Then the governor returned to Bagnoli. «Since someone said “this is to defend Naples” – says De Luca referring to Mayor Manfredi, government commissioner for land reclamation – I am instead defending Naples at this moment. I defend the historic center, I defend Vomero, I defend culture, I defend Piazza Garibaldi.” De Luca insists: the Government decree, by subtracting regional funds, ends up penalizing other projects in the city of Naples which remain unfinished. «Yesterday – explained De Luca – we carried out an inspection on metro line 1 in Piazza Municipio where the Roman port was discovered during archaeological excavations. Metro line 1 is financed for one billion euros by the Region and for 82 million euros by the Municipality of Naples: is it clear who is defending Naples? So let’s put an end to this vulgar demagogy of “I defend Naples”. At this moment I am defending Naples, not the scam agreement on Bagnoli which shifts the bulk of regional resources to 2028 and 2029.
«The Trevi fountain scam in Bagnoli»
«Bagnoli? A scam”, insists De Luca who does not mince words to define the plan for the reclamation of the western area of Naples put in place by the government. «They take 1 billion and 200 million euros from the Region’s fund and the ministry does not allocate a single euro. The incredible thing is that Bagnoli is a site of national interest, there is a commissioner in Bagnoli appointed by the government and therefore it was completely reasonable that Bagnoli was financed with government money as it was a site of interest like Taranto or Piombino. I heard that they did this scam before the European elections to say that the Meloni government had unblocked Bagnoli after thirty years but the government has not allocated a single euro for Bagnoli which instead needs to be overfunded, preventing it from becoming a Trevi fountain. Yes, because as the decree on Bagnoli stands today – De Luca ironically – they sold the Trevi fountain, as they predicted that the bulk of the regional resources will be spendable in 2028, in 5 years. I instead propose to finance Bagnoli by making the resources immediately available but with national funds. At this moment the minister has 13 billion euros of cohesion funds and has not committed even one euro to a site of national interest and instead allows himself to subtract one billion and 200 million from the Campania fund, which means penalizing Naples and the municipalities of Campania. Why is it a scam? We presented our cohesion plan on 11 October. You could have called, you could have sent a written note, they woke up in March 2024. On 19 March Fitto told us: your cohesion plan must be modified taking into account the billion and two to be allocated to Bagnoli.”
«Bagnoli like Caivano»
«I was told that, I don’t know if the Prime Minister or the Minister of Cohesion, they are preparing another appearance in Bagnoli. They tell me that they want to put up some cranes to show that we don’t know what has begun… They are preparing to do an encore of the Caivano operation, do a bit of demagoguery with the Region’s money, so let it be clear for the last time the national government did not allocate a single euro for Bagnoli. We are in favor of financing Bagnoli – added De Luca – by making the money immediately available which with that agreement they moved to 2028, but we are in favor of using the funds from the Ministry of Cohesion and not to take away resources from the neighborhoods of Naples and the municipalities of metropolitan area of Naples, because taking away one billion and two means penalizing all the municipalities and neighborhoods of the city of Naples. So – concluded De Luca – it is important to clarify that no one posed the problem to me, they didn’t even have the good manners to make a phone call, they did everything at night like the thieves of Pisa, they made an agreement and then there they communicated it and even approved a law decree. All this with our own funds.”
«Public insults from Meloni and she never apologized»
And finally. «The only public insults were those from the Prime Minister when we went to Rome on 16 February to protest, then we were the only ones, against differentiated autonomy. She told us to go to work. These are the only real public insults for which Meloni has never apologized and not the nonsense recorded and stolen from a private conversation. With the stolen phrases, Italy would fall.”
