The first bilateral meetings with the parties began yesterday

The mayor’s consultations have already started Toasts Giuseppe Marchionna after the request by the majority council groups to revoke the delegations of all councilors and start a check on the composition of the council, with a view to a possible reshuffle.

The first meetings with the allies

Yesterday, in fact, the mayor had several meetings with representatives of the main ones parties of the centre-right, that is to say first and foremost Forza Italia, Brothers of Italy And League. Strict confidentiality, at least for the moment, on the outcome of the discussions, which should end on Monday. Very short times, therefore, at least for this first round of consultations. The response to the request for revocation of councilor delegations by the mayor it was negative but the mayor himself knows well that now that the problem has been raised, will necessarily have to be resolved. After Monday evening, therefore, Marchionna will draw conclusions to decide where this crisis will lead in the relations not so much between the majority and the mayor – all the council groups have in fact reiterated their full trust in the mayor – but between the council groups and their respective councillors. Or at least some of them.

The complaints of the council groups

But what is this problem? It was the group leaders who explained it during the majority meeting on Friday morning. In particular, the requests were made by the states Cosimo Elmo (Forza Italia), Raffaele De Maria (Brothers of Italy), Ercole Saponaro (League), Gabriele Antonino (Republican Party) Maurizio Colella (House of Moderates) e Teodoro Scarano (for the civic Mayor Marchionna). Officially, the reason is linked to one lack of dialogue, which has apparently existed for months now, between councilors and members of the council. The latter, or at least some of them, would not share the administrative initiatives, even deserting the meetings of the council commissions. Maximum trust instead, as mentioned, the groups expressed their opinion towards the mayor. According to the little that transpires from the city palace, discontent has started especially from Fratelli d’Italia and then the requests of some of the other majority partners, in particular the larger ones, would have coalesced around this.

Difficulties in internal relationships

It is no coincidence, in fact, that FdI has highlighted this since the beginning of the council quite a few internal frictionsnot all linked to the position, considered “unorthodox”, of the city councilor and president of the Environment commission Roberto Quarta. How can we forget, in fact, the occasion in which the absence of the entire council group, with the exception of Quarta himself, had risked missing the quorum of the city council meeting last December 16th. Moreover, these methods of sending messages to the mayor are not an exclusive peculiarity of FdI. In fact, just in the previous council meeting, it was Forza Italia that made the quorum missingonly to then admit the error through councilor Nicola Di Donna.

The total council

In the balance there would therefore be first of all the vice mayor and councilor for urban planning Massimiliano Oggianowho could be replaced by the FdI city commissioner Cesare Mevoli. In case of replacement, Oggiano would also be out of the city council. Nothing to be done, however, regarding the request of the presidency of the city council to Raffaele De Maria. The leadership of the city assembly, in fact, will remain firmly in the hands of the republican Gabriele Antonino. In Forza Italia, however, the most at risk would be the councilor for public works Gianluca Quarta and the councilor for public education and economic planning Ernestina Sicily. In the event of a replacement, the former would be definitively out while Sicilia would enter the city council. The names circulating as possible replacements are those of Cosimo Elmoformer councilor in the two Mennitti councils, of Caterina Cozzolinowho should have joined the council from the beginning but then gave up at the last second, and of Derio Donnicola, second of the non-elected ones after Ernestina Sicilia. In the League there shouldn’t be any major problems with the change between Lidia Penta and Ercole Saponaro, with the latter ready to join the council and Penta who would have a place in the city council. There should be no change in sight for the House of Moderates, which it can also count on Luciano Loiacononor for the civic mayor Marchionna represented in the executive by Antonio Bruno.