«The mission of the Parliamentary Commission of inquiry into illicit activities connected to the waste cycle and environmental offences, scheduled for 8 January at the Sin area of Crotone and set after a question first signed by me, was suddenly canceled with just two days’ notice and postponed to a later date. An unexpected decision considering the severity of the pollution that persists in the Crotone area.” This is what the M5s deputy states in a note: Vittoria Baldino. «The visits of the Commission to Calabria in previous years – adds Baldino – had already highlighted an alarming picture also with reference to the Sin area of Crotone: magistrates, public managers and top brass of the police forces had illustrated a critical scenario in terms of management of waste and purification in Calabria. During those hearings, it became clear that Arpacal, the regional agency responsible for environmental controls, was not able to effectively carry out its task, thanks to a chronic lack of resources and a continuous conflict of competences with other bodies. A situation that the Calabria Region, on which Arpacal depends, had never really faced, worsening the difficulties in protecting the environment and public health.”
«The postponement of the mission – claims the five-star parliamentarian – without a reason or a new date, risks overshadowing a situation that instead deserves urgent and decisive interventions. We cannot accept that control over an environmental emergency involving the most polluted site in Europe is put on stand-by, once again leaving citizens without concrete answers and certainties about the future of their land. I therefore hope that the Ecomafie Commission will establish a new timely date for the mission to Crotone, ensuring that attention on the serious environmental problems of Calabria never ceases. Citizens have the right to transparency, legality and protection of their environment. Calabria deserves answers and solutions, not postponements.”