«The Bridge over the Strait is my goal, it is to reach the end of the mandate being the first minister in republican history who, as secretary of the League, will unite Reggio and Messina, laying the first stone. Italy deserves it, the Calabrians, the Sicilians, the Italians deserve it.” The deputy prime minister and minister of Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, connected by video conference with Reggio Calabria for the opening of the congressional season which will lead to the elections of the provincial and regional secretaries in Calabria, reiterated with the regional party leaders the objective of achieving stable crossings of the Strait. «I don’t want to bore you about infrastructure – continued Salvini – to remind you of the commitment on the 106, on the A2, on the Trasversale delle Serre, on the planning of the high-speed train from Salerno to Reggio Calabria, which didn’t exist when I entered the office three and a half years ago. Beyond the chatter, we – he concluded – are working intensely to unite this long and splendid Calabria”.
Focus on Municipalities
«Regardless of who the mayoral candidate will be, and I say this for the journalists, the League team – said Salvini – must be ready and strong immediately. I plan to return to Calabria soon – he added – after the inspection of the areas affected by the bad weather, and in this week’s Council of Ministers we have put in more than a billion euros, which is not a final figure, but it is already a good start to give answers to those families, to those mayors of Jonica that I met”.
Exceed double digits
«The objective of the next political elections is not only to win, but to win by growing, and the double digit, both in Calabria and at a national level, must be widely exceeded, it is absolutely within reach, not only because the pollsters say so, who give us a potential of around 15%, but because I feel it. The strength of the League – Salvini said – I have felt for 35 years: it has never been the individual, the man alone in command, but the team, the family, the community. Unlike everyone else, we have a management team; municipal, provincial and regional administrators who envy us the entire political framework. Obviously – underlined Matteo Salvini – we don’t have great friends in the rooms that matter, so we can’t count on television, on banks, on trade unions, on radio, on newspapers, on potentates, but we can count on an army of thousands of elected representatives and tens of thousands of members”.
Durigon: “No diatribe about Cannizzaro”
«National discussions are underway for the next municipal elections in Reggio Calabria, as for other capitals. I don’t think there are any major disputes in the center-right about the name of Francesco Cannizzaro (MP and regional coordinator of FI, ed.) candidate for mayor. If it really were him, we would be happy. However, there is firmness on one point: there will be a united centre-right, I can guarantee you, with a single candidate.” Undersecretary of Labor Claudio Durigon said it on the sidelines of the work of the regional management of the League in Calabria, meeting with journalists. “The centre-right – he added – will be united because we have the will to win, to govern and bring the right resources needed by this city which has been somewhat forgotten for many years”. Furthermore, Durigon announced that at the moment «there are no names on other possible candidates. Cannizzaro is the main name, but we are ready to discuss with him and with the entire coalition.”