A twinning between the Municipality of Riace and the city of Gaza could “cause serious damage to Italian foreign policy” due to the “existing link between local councils and mayors of Gaza and the terrorist organization Hamas, subjected to sanctions by the European Union”. The Minister for Regional Affairs and Autonomy Roberto Calderoli writes this, also reporting the opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a letter to the MEP and mayor of Riace Mimmo Lucano, who made it known, in response to the twinning scheme sent to the ministry at the end of November and signed, last August, by Lucano himself in a video link with the mayor of Gaza City Yahya Sarraj.
The opinion
«In this regard – we read in Calderoli’s letter to Lucano – at the conclusion of the investigation carried out with the administrations concerned, it is stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation expressed a negative opinion on the signing of the twinning». Calderoli also reports the opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs according to which «there are significant impeding reasons, connected to the link between local councils and mayors of Gaza and the terrorist organization Hamas. Therefore, if actually concluded, the twinning in question would be likely to cause serious damage to Italian foreign policy. Italy, in fact, unambiguously supports the need to exclude Hamas from any political and security future in the Strip.”
No consent
«This being said – concludes Calderoli – taking into account the considerations reported above, the conditions necessary for the issuing of the required consent aimed at signing the twinning in question are not recognized».
Lucano, twinning is an act of brotherhood
«I am left speechless on the eve of these holidays. Even if the historical period that the world is experiencing leads us to spend Christmas 2025 as one of the most dramatic in the history of humanity, normally a mayor, these days, expects best wishes from other institutions. In Riace, however, a letter arrives with which the Meloni government, through the Northern League minister Calderoli, tells us that we do not have his consent to the twinning of my municipality with the city of Gaza, which has been besieged for over two years by a real genocide carried out by Israel”. This is what the mayor of Riace and MEP for Avs Mimmo Lucano stated after receiving the letter with which the minister for regional affairs Roberto Calderoli informed him that “the conditions necessary for issuing the required consent aimed at signing the twinning” between the small Calabrian municipality and the city of Gaza are not recognized.
No explanation
«It is a letter – adds the mayor of Riace – which I consider very serious because, without any explanation on the merits, the Foreign Ministry accuses the mayor of Gaza of being linked to Hamas. How our initiative could cause damage to Italian foreign policy should be clarified by Minister Antonio Tajani who, together with the entire government, seems more interested in understanding what is happening in Riace, rather than engaging in a real path to peace in Palestine. Having wanted at all costs to twin between Riace and Gaza was an act of human brotherhood with which we, in our small way, wanted to recognize a people tormented by war. We wanted to transform pain into hope and join the message of a world that sees Palestinians as human beings and not terrorists, as our Foreign Ministry does instead.”
The attempt
«I remain astonished – concludes Lucano – because what I have read is nothing more than an attempt to nullify a decision of a Municipality that does not only deal with potholes in the streets and which, unlike the Meloni government, does not turn the other way in front of the children killed in Gaza».