Starfinancer

The arrest of the Forza Italia candidate Pietro Polizzi provokes sparks in the confrontation between the aspiring mayors organized by “Repubblica” in Palermo. Interviewed by the director Maurizio Molinari, the six potential successors of Leoluca Orlando clashed over this morning’s anti-mafia blitz and the support of two convicted of mafia-related crimes, Marcello Dell’Utri and Totò Cuffaro, in the choice of the center-right candidate, Roberto Lagalla .

“I don’t understand how a subject convicted of mafia comes from Milan, summons political parties and tries to influence them – says the Giallorossi candidate Franco Miceli referring to the role of Dell’Utri – We need to give an answer to this question. It is no coincidence that this morning a candidate on a list has been arrested. The mafia wants to get their hands on the PNRR funds. ” “I ask that Roberto Lagalla take a step back”, re-launches the standard-bearer of Power to the people, the former director of Ucciardone Rita Barbera. “I am a Catholic guarantor and I am for the redemption of the sentence – replies Lagalla, responding directly to Barbera – I will be the guarantor of a transparent administration, a glass house. I am embarrassed by this personal attack. (that of the former president of the Region Rosario Crocetta and the former president of Confindustria Antonello Montante, ed) “. For the others it is not enough: “The mafia – attacks the candidate of Action e + Europe, Fabrizio Ferrandelli – wants to get their hands on the city. We need an extraordinary mobilization starting from the vote. attracting organized crime. Everyone has to say which side they want to be on. “

“The facts of the last few hours show how the interest of the mafia is always very high – relaunches Francesca Donato, the former League member MEP now at the helm of a civic – We must avoid in any way favoring this mechanism. We need control of the seats , that voters do not photograph the ballot. “

“This situation – argues the Sicilianist Ciro Lomonte – serves to keep the Sicilians in the condition of a colony”. Then, however, Lagalla attacks “La Repubblica della memoria”, the initiative organized by this newspaper with Maria Falcone on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the Capaci massacre: “I – he maintains – have been the subject of defamation in a public demonstration. posed some problems and I confronted Maria Falcone, who suggested me not to participate “. But he does not distance himself from Cuffaro and Dell’Utri: “He distances himself from those who can influence – continues Lagalla – Neither one nor the other influenced a candidacy that I had undertaken alone. establish if Cuffaro’s list deserves consent “.

Then, however, local issues take center stage. Ferrandelli cites three emergencies: “The clarity in the accounts, the ecological bomb caused by 170 thousand tons of waste waiting in Bellolampo, the bodies that have been waiting for months at the cemetery of the Rolls – he lists – 100 days will not be enough to deal with them”.

“I do not think that the cemetery is going in the wake of legality”, relaunches Lagalla. “We must ask the national government to help the fifth city of Italy – adds Miceli – We must then raise the quality of life of the city and bet on the ecological transition. The first issue to be addressed, however, is the social question”.

“The housing emergency – warns Barbera – is a priority. We need to recover all possible properties”. “I’ll have to start with a truth about accounts operation – is instead Donato’s point of view – It is necessary to decide whether a reorganization is possible, increasing the personal income tax by ten, or to declare the bankruptcy. This decision must be taken after a thorough examination. waste-to-energy plant “.

“The two main emergencies – notes Lomonte instead – are a city without maintenance and waste”. However, Orlando’s legacy is above all a burden on Miceli’s shoulders: “In the past – he says – the Orlando administration has had the merit of highlighting certain values ​​such as legality, hospitality, rights, integration. But I have the strength to propose a alternative program to past decisions that I have not shared. The coalition has trusted my government program, however “.

Miceli, moreover, is not the only one having to deal with an uncomfortable past: Ferrandelli, for example, was a candidate with the center-right five years ago and 10 years ago with the center-left. “Running with the center-right-he admits-was a mistake”.

The first round of questions, however, concerns the reason why each of the six aspiring mayors has stood as a candidate. For Lagalla, “Palermo needs a concrete project of change in the sign of discontinuity with respect to an administration that has guided it up to now, recording a decline in the quality of services. Mine was an autonomous choice, which started well before every other candidate could be imagined in this scenario “.

Ferrandelli, on the other hand, sees “a double risk: conservation and restoration. We need a free vote. Palermo deserves the energy of a new generation that opens the windows, makes the air spin and removes a few cobwebs. There are neighborhoods expelled from services. and participation “.

“I – says Miceli instead – I am an architect, I deal with urban regeneration, with making people live better. I will do it by keeping alive the attention to the great values ​​that Palermo has acquired in recent years, legality and the fight against the mafia. We will have to use them to have a better city. “

And if for Barbera “this city needs a more modern administration, based on participation, given that the era of the man alone in command is over”, according to Donato “Palermo has been a city closed in a localistic system for too many years. and party politics, which denies services on a par with European cities “.

“There is a great malaise with parties – notes Lomonte instead – This was a very rich capital. It is necessary to trust those who want a real alternative”.