THE parties and center-right movements a Toasts they had to take note, during the majority meeting yesterday morning, of the seriousness of the problems raised by the council groups. In particular, of months and months of lack of dialogue between councilors and councilors, which – everyone acknowledged – the mayor Giuseppe Marchionna he immediately tried to patch things up with meetings of all kinds, so much so that the problem exploded after a year of administration and not after the first months. And the mayor was given carte blanche, in the event that provincial parties and council groups were not able to reach an agreement, to resolve the situation by acting on his own initiative.
The terms for the solution
In essence, parties and council groups have time until Tuesday to agree on the names to propose to Marchionna for the formation of the new council. Always with the quotas established at the beginning of the administration, just under a year ago. And without any limitation from the point of view of the basin to draw from. In essence, they may be candidates for the city council but also from outsiders and even from technicians. The only characteristics they will have to respect are the willingness to team up and work for the good of the city. If the various parties involved do not reach an internal agreement by Tuesday, it will be up to the mayor to find a solution, as mentioned. Indicating one or more names who, according to what was agreed during yesterday’s majority summit, would – regardless – the total endorsement of the entire center-right.
The creation of a new group
In this way, at least in theory, “schism” should be avoided announced by several representatives of the majority parties who, if their requests were not listened to, had threatened to give life to a new board group, autonomous but still within the centre-right government. According to recent accounts, there were even about ten councilors ready to leave their party and start their own business, creating an enormous group which should have had, since it was essentially half of the majority pool, a large number of positions on the council. Of the 21 centre-right municipal councillors, in fact, 19 signed the document – read yesterday during the majority summit by the mayor – with which all the council representatives of the majority (with the exception of the parent company of the Brothers of Italy Lucia Vantaggiato and for the city commissioner of the same party Cesare Mevoli), after having reiterated their full trust in the mayor, they listed a series of problems relating to relations with the members of the council who, according to what they claimed, they never talked with their party colleagues nor reported the executive’s activities to them. So much so that, paradoxically, the majority city councilors learned several issues in the commission from their opposition colleagues.
The toto-names
The councilors most at risk, according to recent rumors, would be the vice mayor Massimiliano OggianoCouncilor for Urban Planning and Sustainable Mobility at Fratelli d’Italia, and Councilor for Public Works Gianluca Quarta, at Forza Italia level. Both among the most supported as candidates for the city council. Indeed, to be precise, Quarta was the most supported ever almost 1,300 preferences. In the event of revocation of the councilor’s mandate, among other things, there is no provision for returning to the city council, with the exception of the first or second of the non-elected members, who were not proclaimed councilors before being appointed councillors. This should be the case of the Sports Councilor Lidia Pentaof the League, which should leave room for the group leader and deputy provincial secretary Ercole Saponaro, entering the city council. But it could also be the case of the councilor for economic planning and public education Ernestina Sicily who, in the event of a replacement, would have the possibility of joining the Council, in the event that the group leader Cosimo Elmo should take the place of Quarta o Caterina Cozzolino of Sicily itself. Also the civic Mayor Marchionna, whose representative Teodoro Scarano had proven himself to be among the most critical of the council in one of the last summits with Marchionna, he could change his representative, i.e. the Councilor for the Environment Antonio Bruno. But everything will have to happen by Tuesday, with the signature of the provincial secretaries and all the city councilors. Otherwise, the ball will pass to the mayor.
The position of the first citizen
«I pointed out that this situation cannot be continued for a long timebecause we have already given – said Marchionna – an image that is not positive, but above all unrealistic of what we are doing. I appealed to the parties to commit themselves to reducing this divide between delegations and council groups, each within their own competence. Everyone has made their assessments and we have agreed that they will send me their considerations and decisions by Tuesday evening, signed each on their own behalf by directors. If this thing does not come to fruition, as we cannot go any further, it will be my care and responsibility find a solution to get out of this stalemate.” The meeting, he added, «served to reiterate that I I am a man of institutions and parties who chose me, supported me and got me elected. And that it wasn’t the case that I took one side or the other, even though I underlined that the discomfort that has emerged in the majority groups is objectively real and it exploded with some delay because in this year, very often, almost always, I have received advisors, individual groups, made pre-advice, pre-advice, with the aim of coordinate, inform and involve as many people as possible.”
