«Dear Emilia-Romagna, serving you has been a privilege and an honor. For you as an institution and for our people I have tried to be there, I am there and I will always be there. Thank you”. Stefano Bonaccini, outgoing governor of Emilia-Romagna, fresh from election to the European Parliament, announces his resignation from the leadership of the Region in the last session of the Regional Assembly which he administered for two terms.
The speech
«In two weeks, before taking office in the European Parliament, I will resign as president of the Region. One minute after the G7 Science and Technology (9-11 July in Bologna, ed.) out of respect for an appointment that honors Bologna and Emilia-Romagna”, underlines Bonaccini, greeted by a standing ovation from the centre-left while he is moved by thanking all the councilors present in the chamber. «They have been tiring and complicated years, we have gone through them the tragedy of the earthquake in the most acute years of reconstruction, the pandemic and the flood of last year. Yet we are stronger than before”, claims Bonaccini, who in the long list of results and goals of his mandates launches jabs at the Meloni government on healthcare and post-flood reconstruction.
The witness to deputy Priolo
With his resignation, the outgoing governor will leave to vice president Irene Priolo the task of ferrying Emilia-Romagna towards an early vote expected for November 3rd or 10th. «Let them choose quickly and carefully the woman or man who will replace me», says Bonaccini, while Priolo assures that the vote “will not take place beyond the first half of November”. She is one of the names that has long been on the table in the Democratic Party for the post-Bonaccini era. «Am I ready? I’m always ready… – jokes Priolo – But the president isn’t leaving today.”
The names on the field
The other name on the sidelines is that of Labor Councilor Vincenzo Colla, also in the chamber today, busy reviewing notes and numbers before the afternoon discussion on the former Bellco crisis in Mirandola alongside Bonaccini. «I agree with the path indicated by the Democratic Party», he said a few weeks ago, confirming that he is a player in the game regarding the choice of the next Democratic candidate. The last name on the track, or perhaps it would be more correct to say the first given the odds of the dem bookmakers, is that of Michele De Pascale, mayor and president of the Province of Ravenna. «I will never be a problem, but I can be a solution», he said a few weeks ago regarding his possible candidacy: no one in the party whistled offside after those words, a sign that the chances of the mayor protagonist of the battle for post-flood reconstruction are more than good.
The center-right looking for a candidate
With the runoffs now behind us, it is time for the parties to accelerate. Even in the centre-right, where the percentages of the European elections do not favor the governing coalition. The Forzista group leader Valentina Castaldini insists on asking to really start the electoral machine: «Yesterday I had a discussion with President Antonio Tajani. It is essential to meet next week with the other centre-right forces in the Region to indicate the civic candidates they have in mind, but we have no preclusions on political profiles”. The secretary of the Emilia League, Matteo Rancan, glosses over his possible candidacy: «I’m not talking about names. Every party today has valid names to propose, but negotiations are done at a national level. We will certainly present the League’s program at the end of July.” Even the group leader of Fratelli d’Italia, Marta Evangelisti, does not go too far: «We don’t need an electoral campaign to be present in the territories and collect the requests of the Emilia-Romagna people, we do it with commitment every day. However, we hope to go to elections as soon as possible to give concrete answers and bring Giorgia Meloni’s model of good governance to Emilia-Romagna.”
