Tense climate this afternoon at the Sicilian Regional Assembly where the session was marked by the exit from the Chamber of the deputies of the Democratic Party, the M5s and Controcorrente, as a sign of dissent against the regional government. Paralyzing the work, while questions and interpellations of the Health column were underway, in the presence of the regional councilor Daniela Faraoni, were the protests by the opposition forces due to the absence of the president Renato Schifani.
The investigation by the Palermo prosecutor’s office – which involves the health sector on the island – into the former governor of Sicily Totò Cuffaro and the deputy of Noi Moderati Saverio Romano and 16 other people accused in various capacities of criminal association, auction rigging and corruption has unleashed the anger of the Democratic Party, M5s and Controcorrente.
Already at the opening of the proceedings, the deputy Ismaele La Vardera had asked the councilor Faraoni, as representative of the regional executive, to respond not on the topics on the agenda but on current events, but then the proceedings continued regularly. After just over an hour, however, the opposition rose up again, asking for the session to be suspended.
«As an opposition we are forced to stop – said the group leader of the dem Michele Catanzaro, addressing vice president Nuccio Di Paola – we can no longer accept this silence on the part of the Schifani government on such an important issue, healthcare in Sicily. As if nothing had happened today, and we believe it is absurd that we continue to talk about questions that date back to 2023 and 2024. Tired of an attitude of absolute indifference towards Parliament, as the opposition we are abandoning the chamber.” Having taken note of the decision of the deputies of the Democratic Party, M5s and Controcorrente, Di Paola ended the session by specifying that “in the absence of the signatories, the questions will be transformed into written ones, so that each deputy will be able to have an answer”.
«Schifani cannot come to the Ars just to piece together the pieces of his shattered majority. Come to the Chamber to respond to the deputies on the healthcare system which is falling, even more so in light of the arrests requested today by the judiciary, which are certainly not good not only for healthcare, but for the whole of Sicily”, said the group leader of the M5S at Ars, Antonio De Luca, after leaving the Chamber together with his colleagues in protest. «Today – said De Luca – we barely managed to speak, myself and my colleague Sunseri. The others couldn’t even do it. And we would have things to say, especially to ask Schifani, who is avoiding our request for a Chamber session dedicated to healthcare disasters, which we have been asking for for more than a year and which the President had also committed to addressing, only to then fail to keep his promise. Schifani comes to the Chamber and explains his choices, which are forcing Sicilians to flee also to be able to get treatment.”
«Sicily is once again overwhelmed by a political-judicial scandal that involves the heart of public health and its management. The Palermo prosecutor’s office has requested the arrest of Totò Cuffaro, already convicted of aiding and abetting the mafia, of Saverio Romano, former minister and now deputy and of 16 other suspects including politicians, managers and administrators. The investigation is clear: corruption, bid rigging, appointments manipulated in exchange for hiring and favours. It is yet another chapter in a shameful story.” This was said by the regional co-spokesmen of Green Europe, Alessandra Minniti and Fabio Giambrone, who are calling for the resignation of governor Renato Schifani and the council. «The constant presence of investigated or convicted figures around the Schifani government – they add – is no longer a coincidence: it is a systemic structure. What emerges today completes a picture of widespread corruption, cronyism, lack of public ethics and total contempt for the rule of law. The Sicilian centre-right has lost any residue of moral and political credibility.” Green Europe Sicily announces «a widespread mobilization in the institutions and in the territories».