BRINDISI – Between Monday and Tuesday the parties will have to propose to the mayor a shortlist of candidates for the “new” municipal council. The timing was dictated by the mayor himself, Giuseppe Marchionna, who this morning (Saturday 22 June) chaired a meeting with the council group leaders and party secretaries, following the request for revocation of the delegations which was made last Tuesday (18 June) formalized by 19 city councilors out of 21 (the only ones who did not sign the document were Cesare Mevoli and Maria Lucia Vantaggiato, respectively city secretary and group leader of the Brothers of Italy). The summit took place at the Forza Italia headquarters. Present, in addition to the six group leaders of the centre-right majority, were also the provincial secretaries of Lega (Vittorio Zizza), Fratelli d’Italia (Luigi Caroli) and Forza Italia (Laura De Mola) and the city secretary of the Republican Party, Vito Birgitta.
Marchionna would have remarked that the requests coming from almost the entire majority cannot be ignored, after a year in which he often had to mediate to mend the rift created between the council and councillors. The mayor wants councilors with a team spirit and open to discussions with groups, to give new impetus to administrative activity. Parties will have to take these characteristics into account.
The balance of power resulting from the elections should remain unchanged. Currently in the council there are three exponents of Forza Italia (Livia Antonucci, Gianluca Quarta, Ernestina Sicilia), two of Fratelli d’Italia (Massimiliano Oggiano and Antonio Pisanelli), one of the League (Lidia Penta), one of the House of Moderates (Luciano Loiacono), one from the mayor’s list (Antonio Bruno) and one from Azione (Daniela Maglie). The Republican Party expresses the president of the city council, Gabriele Antonino. This structure should not change.
The hypothesis of a reshuffle is more than concrete. The difficulty will be finding agreement within the parties. First and foremost among the ranks of Forza Italia and Fratelli d’Italia, who are said to be dealing with a series of disagreements between the council groups and the secretariats. Suffice it to say that of the five FdI councilors (without taking into account Roberto Quarta, elected in FdI but subjected to a suspension measure), three supported the request for revocation of the delegations, while the other two (mentioned previously) withdrew .
These turbulences will be overcome within 2-3 days. The parties, as mentioned, will have to propose their names by Tuesday. A new majority summit could take place the following day. From what transpires, Marchionna could also consider resigning if no solution can be found.
Roberto Quarta: “We need a team of professionals”
Roberto Quarta, meanwhile, relaunches the proposal of a council made up of technicians. “There are no alternatives – states the municipal councilor elected in Fratelli d’Italia – to resolve this crisis: a complete renewal is necessary, with the appointment of a team of trusted professionals by the mayor. Only in this way will we be able to effectively deal with the numerous problems that afflict our city and respect the promises made to citizens during the electoral campaign”.
“The provincial secretariats of the parties, convened today, simply defended their councilors politically, ignoring the distrust expressed by their own councilors. However, the truth is clear: our administration is paralyzed on crucial issues that citizens have been waiting for years to see resolved. It is imperative to start working concretely on fundamental issues such as the housing plan, the districts, the urban hygiene service which continues to be unsatisfactory, the industrial crisis, Enel’s future intentions, the coastal plan, the management of Multiservizi, and so on”.
“To address these problems it is essential to listen to the city councillors, who directly represent the will of the citizens, and not the party secretariats or external influences coming from Bari or Rome. A city government of public health, a government that responds directly to the needs and to the expectations of the people of Brindisi, and not to the interests of foreigners. If this is not possible, it would be better to consider the early end of this administration”.
Stay updated on news from your province by subscribing to our whatsapp channel: click here
