LECCE – On 8 and 9 June the citizens of Salento will be called to vote in 29 municipalitiesincluding the capital of Lecce and on the same days they will have to send our representatives to Europe. This last vote, which too many take lightly, is decisive: the EU, with its decisions, has a profound impact on our lives (just think of the Bolkestein directive). There are many themes: from energy transition to management of inflation (lately we have been left at the mercy of speculation)up to the line to follow for immigration (Bauman in Lecce prophesied the arrival of a billion people in 20/30 years). The match is important, but it is actually experienced with the wrong perspective, like a poll on consensus Giorgia Meloni. Candidates continue to be party leaders (with the exception of 5 Star Movement) and the topics touched upon in most of the debates are always those of internal politics. All this creates disinterest and underestimation with respect to the macro-choices of the European Union, which have a profound impact on our daily lives (even in the healthcare field, if we think about what happened during the pandemic). Even in this election round the specter of abstentionism growing represents a democratic threat.
The municipal elections, with many candidates, especially a Lecce (a real army that fishes from all the neighborhoods and all the families in sight), can represent an incentive to vote. The candidates from Lecce compared themselves above all on social media: i small videos, sketches, invectives dominated the scene. Propaganda violently crushes information. Disintermediation also makes politicians entertainers, small screen characters. Themes are dissected superficially on social media, in a simplistic manner that does not pay attention to the complexity of the problems and naturally functional ignorance dominates in the comments and posts. In Lecce the electoral campaign was much more elegant than in other towns (despite the insults for the senator’s 80th birthday), such as Novoli and Neviano, where fake profiles led to slander and personal insult. In the capital of Lecce the challenge is between two seasoned politicians on one side, the outgoing mayor Carlo Salvemini, with thirty years of experience in the City Council behind her, and the former mayor Adriana Poli Bortone, with double the years of active politics, and two outsiders, Alberto Siculella and Agostino Ciucci, who move in a limited space of time to make themselves known. The Lecce elections, however, concern thousands of workers also in the province, who they ask for services, less traffic, efficiency of public services.
In recent years, the line of narrower carriageways to give space to the green policy of cycle paths (contested due to architectural barriers in some sections), the decrease in parking, the increase in the cost of public parking (with the extension of the blue lines up to the hospital) and the extension of payments even on public holidays, combined with photo reds at every traffic light on the ring road (with fines for changing lanes) represents an inflexible line in encouraging the use of public transport. The limits on nightlife, with the prohibition of music before midnight, and other interventions on the ZTL in the historic center, represent a clear line. The choice will be easier for the people of Lecce, because they experience the decisions made by the administration first-hand and can therefore give a clear judgement.. It’s a shame that all those who come to Lecce every day for work or pleasure cannot participate in the vote, contributing to the growth of the city’s GDP. It will be a crucial choice.
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