“We will not go bankrupt but because in recent years we have become administration acrobats. It is a miracle and the situation is no better in other cities. Indeed in the South perhaps we have the ability to fry fish with water “. Word of Luigi De Magistris, the first citizen of Naples who risks going home leaving a budget hole of 2.7 billion euros.
The collapse of consensus for De Magistris and the risk of failure for Naples
The former prosecutor, known for the investigations Poseidon and Why not, could save the city only if the government issues a save-Naples amendment. The political career of De Magistris, which began in 2009 after the election in Brussels under the banner of Italia dei Valori, could soon come to an end. Being already in his second term, he cannot reappear for the position of first citizen and, moreover, according to the surveys carried out by Sole24ore, they indicate that De Magistris has completely lost the support of his fellow citizens. The appreciation that the Neapolitans attribute to him stops at 42%, compared to 66% that he obtained four years ago on the day of his re-election. A meltdown that places De Magistris in hundredth place in the ranking drawn up on the basis of a survey by Antonio Noto. To decree such a failure is certainly the poor quality of services: from public transport to separate waste collection.
“If the advertising does not follow a quality product, it is clear that, then, I pay it from the electoral point of view,” he tells ilGiornale.it Gianni Lettieri who challenged De Magistris to the ballot in both 2011 and 2016. “Already in the election campaign I had said that the city deficit was 2.7 billion because there was a basic deficit 1.2 billion to which we had to add the pre-bankruptcy debt of 1.5 billion that the first junta De Magistris was accounting for in revenues, “says Lettieri. “If on the one hand it is true that the mayor has inherited 850 million deficits, on the other the Neapolitans have placed in him the hope that things will improve, but his administration has not done any of this”, echoes the Northern League Vincenzo Moretto who has been sitting on the City Council benches for 22 years. The investee companies are in deficit, the Municipality spends 130 euros per ton to transport waste to the Netherlands and municipal taxes have reached the maximum levels. “A total failure,” says Moretto again. “At the time of Jervolino 600 buses circulated in a city of one million inhabitants, today just under 100 run. Today we wait an hour and twenty at the bus stop,” says Lettieri.
De Magistris abandoned by the faithful
But the first to foreshadow a possible financial disruption for Naples has been the economist Riccardo Realfonzo, councilor of the budget in the first junta De Magistris, a position he left in 2012 after a few months. “The mayor, after the 2011 election campaign, did nothing of what had been foreseen and proposed by me and others for fear of losing consensus and brought Naples to the abyss”, attacks Realfonzo who, among the things to do to save Naples he lists the reform of the investee companies and a serious fight against tax evasion and abuse regarding the occupation of public land. “At a certain point I made a resolution with which I asked for a reconnaissance of the accounts and this also blocked the expenditure of unnecessary goods and determined the definitive rupture”, reminds us of the former councilor. A break that affected the entire team with which De Magistris managed to be elected in 2011. “We wanted to make Naples a European city in which a whole series of abuses and embezzlement, such as abusive occupation, would no longer be tolerated . Instead, he preferred not to touch certain balances and to surround himself with yes-men who are prone to his indications ”, underlines Realfonzo. A finding supported by the harsh reality: in fact, 34 councilors who have abandoned De Magistris in these nine years of government are now without even a majority.
De Magistris, left-wing populist and friend of social centers
Recently also a supporter of the first hour like Carmine Sgambati, current group leader of Italia Viva in the city council, left him. “I have been a loyal friend for many years and today I am a sincere friend to him, but politics is another thing,” he says and bitterly adds: “All the hopes we had in De Magistris have gone to hell.” “To date, the number of unsolved nodes has increased exponentially, despite the beautiful presence and language property of the mayor“Adds the ex-loyalist who accuses:” We have characterized ourselves too much towards the group of the extreme left. ” An accusation that comes from many quarters. “If there are families that do not have a roof over their heads, you cannot afford to give the buildings to the social centers, which do not even pay the utilities,” says the head of the center-right opposition Lettieri. “The truth is that he was elected with a majority of councilors belonging to the social centers and on the far left, so much so that one of the heads of Insurgenza has even been appointed assessor, “pursues the Northern League, Moretto, who notes that such an ostentation for illegality has made the moderates flee. “We had to expand and instead, we fossilized on one political part which, however respectful of ideas and ideals, is always a political part”, admits, in fact, Renziano Sgambati who adds: “De Magistris should have established more institutional and, instead, preferred the dialectic of opposition, excluding Naples from the national political scene “. The dem Valeria Valente is of the same opinion: “The mayor is in constant conflict with national and regional institutions. On the one hand it professes autonomy with its own currency and on the other it asks for money from Rome in a logic of dependence on the state ”.
A contradiction that has never favored dialogue with the Democratic Party and the center-left. “You see, De Magistris will also be anti-Berlusconi, but he cannot call himself a leftist because – explains Valente – he really lacks the conception of legality. He has always felt above the law. ” “He is a leftist populist who has done few leftist things. And populism is never center-left, “explains the Renziano deputy Gennaro Migliore which reminds us of the broadsides launched by De Magistris against the leader of Italia Viva (“Naples is a derenzed city”). “But it is normal for a assessor from Naples do you participate in a demonstration and clash with the police? ”asks Lettieri. Sgambati, on the other hand, despite the political rupture, says: “De Magistris is an honest man, but in my opinion he had to continue to be a magistrate and not a mayor”. No less tender is the opinion of the former assessor Realfonzo: “De Magistris is one of those students who should return to repeat the exam after a few months. We can’t wait for his political season to end. “
–
