«Today, we are probably experiencing the darkest and lowest moment in the history of our earth with a continuous emergency. I really think it could be said with a national state of emergency. And on this, a leading group, a large party, a council group, it is right that the question is asked and addressed with the Calabrians and recounts two years of opposition work, but also the tale of a different perspective for a better Calabria and more positive.” Thus the senator and secretary of the regional Democratic Party, Nicola Irto speaking with journalists during the presentation of the “White Book” drawn up by the PD group in the Regional Council, on the two years of centre-right government. In addition to Irto, the group leader was also present Mimmo Bevacquathe regional councilors Ernesto Alecci, Amalia Bruni, Franco Iacucci, Raffaele Mammoliti And Giovanni Muraca. A conference which also served to announce a mobilization of the Democratic Party under the Citadel after the program conference and before the European elections, to “claim a plan for work, social policies and sustainable development and against differentiated autonomy”.
“It is the story – added Irto – that the regional group wanted to tell of two years of opposition, of intense work but also two years of lost opportunities for Calabria, in which unfortunately the life, history and general conditions of this region have not improved but if anything they have worsened. Two years which also give the prospect of a proposal that the PD leadership wanted to put in place with various legislative initiatives, keeping the bar straight on the opposition and truly creating an alternative to centre-right which has not governed the Region for almost four years, two of the Occhiuto government and two before other centre-right governments and in which the living conditions of Calabrians have unfortunately worsened. I think first of all of the issue of healthcare”. A White Paper which is also a work in progress which, Irto said, “represents work that the opposition does. But the person who should first and foremost implement initiatives to improve the conditions of this land is the centre-right in government. We have said several times, let’s come to the Regional Council for example to bring about healthcare reform, but nothing of this. We asked – continued Irto – for a hand, so to speak, for the major open questions and instead we were always told no. Here, there is no center-right that wants to solve the problems. He wants to make great political communication but unfortunately the communication clashes with reality. And reality tells us that the Svimez numbers tell of a South that is becoming impoverished, more and more young people going out; collapsing healthcare. The infrastructures with the 106 which continues to be the road of death, there is no vision on tourism, consider that the tenders on craftsmanship, the last ones, were all deserted. There is impoverishment, there is no government of the Region. Unfortunately today the hope of the Calabrians is not told by this centre-right, we need a job like we are doing, describing a different Calabria and above all really and concretely building an alternative to this centre-right”.
“Whoever reads political affairs in this land – added Irto, answering questions about the future of the centre-left – remembers that in every regional legislature there is always the narrative of a more or less incisive opposition. Coincidentally it always coincides with the limit of half the legislature, after that the narrative changes. It changes due to the balance of power within the majorities that have existed every time and the relationship with the opposition. They tell me every time there is this narrative about the opposition which I think will change, because the balance of power in the majority will also change, in the internal dialectic of the majority with the halfway point of the legislature. That said, If anything, the white paper serves to tell a different story, a counter-narrative, that is, of the documents produced, of the inspection union, of the legislative proposals, of strong initiatives also together with local administrators to tell a different opposition. Then, it is completely clear that a broader field, a broader alliance, will be built together starting from the administrative challenges we face but also and above all after the turning point of a real construction, of a real alternative to the Region” .