“The Liguria Region is in an extraordinary situation, for me it can also stay there until the end of the mandate, we have all the requirements and documents in order to stay until the end of the mandate, unless otherwise indicated by President Toti”. This was declared by the interim president of the Liguria Region Alessandro Piana in a press conference on the sidelines of the Regional Council on the opposition’s motion of no confidence against President Giovanni Toti who has been under house arrest since 7 May.
“From an administrative point of view we have what it takes to be able to continue”, he reiterates. And to those who ask: “Do you feel hung up on the outcome of the European elections? replies “The salamis are hanging”.
The work of the Liguria Regional Council took place amidst controversy and setbacks. They were in fact suspended due to technical problems in the live streaming of the session during the speech of the group leader of the 5 Star Movement Fabio Tosi.
The live streaming that allows citizens to watch the work from home through the Region’s website and a local television station has been cancelled. The president of the assembly Gianmarco Medusei therefore interrupted Tosi, reporting the technical problem and asking the offices to resolve it as soon as possible. The M5S group leader agreed to interrupt his speech in the chamber. The stoppage of work was preceded by numerous squabbles among the public in the stands during speeches in the chamber between citizens for and against the motion of no confidence. The security guards intervened several times to calm things down.
Furthermore, the work of the Regional Council was more than forty minutes late this morning, due to a meeting of the group leaders, from which the Action group leader Sergio Rossetti, who did not sign the motion, was absent for “personal reasons”. In the conference, the majority and the opposition discussed the order to follow for interventions in the chamber.
ANSA Agency Toti: ‘I claim the public interest in all our choices’ – News – Ansa.it Letter to the Regional Council entrusted to councilor Giampedrone (ANSA)At the start of the proceedings the group leader Ferruccio Sansa (Lista Sansa) asked to speak, denouncing that “the public stands in the room were given to reserved centre-right supporters”. The president of the assembly Gianmarco Medusei replied: “I don’t think there were any reservations, the rules were followed, first-come, first-served sits on the public benches.”
At the entrance to the assembly, a few dozen demonstrators raised some signs against corruption in politics with the words ‘one more choice for the public good: Toti resign’, ‘we don’t need a smart working president’, ‘no to in-house financing’ change of favors’, protesting with the cry of ‘resignation’ and banging his hands on the glass of the entrance to the regional council upon the arrival of some exponents of the centre-right.
Dozens of ’empty’ shoes scattered on the ground and signs with the words ‘corruption makes ordinary people disappear’: this is the flash mob in front of the entrance to the Liguria Regional Council organized by the ‘Genova che osa’ association on the day of the meeting of the legislative assembly with on the agenda the motion of no confidence against the president of the Liguria Region Giovanni Toti who has been under house arrest since May 7th. The demonstrators unfurled a banner reading “against the mafia and corruption in politics”.
“We have collected more than 20 thousand signatures to ask for Toti’s resignation. – explains a protester – We want a democratic and inclusive economy to guarantee good jobs and protect the environment. Toti’s resignation is not enough but it is the first step”.
Toti’s letter to the Regional Council
Shortly after the start of the assembly’s work, the group leader of the Toti List Alessandro Bozzano read a long letter sent by the governor to the Regional Council: “With a political shortsightedness with rare precedents, today, with this motion of no confidence, the opposition is attempting a political push that not only will not succeed in numbers, but confirms, if ever there was any need, all of its own inadequacy to lead this region. After a decade of constant political and electoral defeats, the same ruling class of the left has known disappointing the citizens more than any other, in a Region where its traditions were very strong, today sees, thanks to an investigation by the judiciary, the possibility of recovering some of the lost ground”.
“And it does so – continues the letter – by exploiting the echo of an investigation which at the moment is just that, without indictments and much less convictions. In fact, we will not say a word about this, not even what I could say, imitating the opposition, on the long shadows that concern the Democratic Party. The motion was presented in a hurry, let it all fall apart. And here lies the first symptom of political weakness. Because there is nothing political in your motion, on the contrary, there is On the contrary, there is a policy that, instead of defending its own prerogatives, autonomous and parallel to those of the other powers of the State, turns them into a megaphone or spare wheel, in the hope of gathering some crumbs. What a disappointment for the heirs of a tradition who had made the centrality of politics their guiding star, find themselves today stammering and repeating what they read in the newspapers about an investigation yet to be verified”.
“We would have expected, on your part too, a proud desire to carry forward a popular mandate that you too have received in order to sit here – he continues -. Unfortunately, the desire to discredit your role and that of the Council of which you are part has prevailed , called by you to a preliminary debate that anticipates the same preliminary findings. You have decided to continue along the path of a lowercase, subordinate policy, in order to take advantage of this presumed moment of weakness, trying to achieve an objective that you do not consider achievable. with your skills and your credibility.”
“Don’t worry – continues Toti’s letter – even today, as we have been doing for nine years now, we are here to remedy your inability, today more evident than ever, to discuss issues and projects, not prejudices. And even today we will demonstrate to you that we are able to assume, before the voters, the responsibilities that you have not been able to assume, and we will assume our responsibilities thanks to the commitment of this majority, of the council and in particular of the interim president Alessandro Piana, to whom I express my great gratitude for how he is carrying forward with great commitment the great work we started together many years ago.”
“Today – he states – with your disheveled and confused motion, which puts everything together, even this hatred is better understood: you do not hate the works and projects as such, you hate them as a unit of measurement of your inability, past and present. You hate what reminds, and above all reminds voters of, your mediocrity and inconclusiveness.
Hate what testifies to your inability to choose and act – he concludes -. That is, hate everything that recalls your inability, that distinguishes your unpreparedness for the Government from those who know how to take on this responsibility”.
The investigation
As regards the judicial branch of the investigation that led to the governor’s arrest, this afternoon the architect Cristina Bartolini, Superintendent of Fine Arts of Genoa, will be heard.
Bartolini, summoned to the prosecutor’s office as a person informed of the facts in the corruption investigation which led to the president of the Liguria Region Giovanni Toti being placed under house arrest, had expressed herself negatively on the Calata Concenter burial matter.
ANSA Agency Investigation in Liguria, Paolo Emilio Signorini remains in prison – News – Ansa.it The request for mitigation of the measure was rejected (ANSA)After her, in the next few days, Annamaria Bonomo, former state lawyer in Genoa and consultant (free of charge) of the commissioner structure for the post-Morandi reconstruction led by Bucci and Lucia Cristina Tringali, manager and head of internal anti-corruption of Port Authority. All of them had expressed doubts about the legitimacy of the operation in 2022.
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