Antonio Barbera, citizen coordinator of Forza Italia. Has anything moved within the party after Cateno De Luca’s announcement about Federico Basile’s re-nomination as mayor?
«Forza Italia thinks from a coalition perspective, it is in the centre-right and the centre-right comes from government experiences both in Rome and in Palermo, it is united and continues like this. But with Cateno De Luca and, therefore, with Federico Basile we can expect anything, we are used to these announcements. We note that they have entered the electoral campaign, but at the same time we do not believe that there are reasons to go to early elections. After all, their symbol also talks about 2027, right?
There are those who speak of a forward flight.
«If you say that the candidate for mayor is Basile and you want to make a coalition argument, then yes, it is a flight forward. It is legitimate that the outgoing mayor has the desire to run again, but there is a way to do it in a coalition. But at this point I believe that De Luca himself is excluding it.”
Isn’t there the risk of being a little disoriented when faced with this issue, alliance yes, alliance no?
«I don’t feel disoriented, I do feel faced with a contradiction. At the national level, South calls North is building alliances everywhere with the centre-right, we read statements in this sense from Laura Castelli and Francesco Gallo every day, it is not an interpretation. And we see that even in the Region, although not entering the government, there is in fact a rapprochement with the positions of the centre-right. The contradiction lies in the fact that in Messina we find ourselves faced with these declarations.”
And in this contradiction do you feel like an ally of De Luca or not?
«We feel like we are center-right and that’s it. And this is a fact. I only say, without any polemical spirit, that if choices have to be made, they must be made everywhere.”
In reality, this concept of a coalition that must be such everywhere has also been questioned.
«The Honorable De Luca questioned it, he did everything. Even on the hypothesis of early elections.”
Are you worried about a possible early return to the polls?
«The issue is: why go to early elections? In Calabria it happened for the reasons we know, but in Messina? If the elections are brought forward, for a strange reason that I don’t see at the moment, we will try to understand what this strange reason is and we will act accordingly, but we are not worried. I think, however, that without a specific reason, it would be another form of violence against the citizen of Messina.”
De Luca explained that, if we were to vote in 2026, we would not do so for political reasons, but only if we found “tiredness” in the Administration.
«But there are many ways to overcome this tiredness, it would be enough to get someone “fresher”».
Is it true that the center-right of Messina has already met, in one of the famous seances, to discuss this topic?
«I can exclude that we met for these reasons, it is not a topic on the agenda. And then, I would like to ask, has anyone from the center-right made any controversy on this issue?”.
The secretary of the German League said that it is not a given that Basile is the candidate for mayor.
“He said it because, precisely, if we think in coalition, we all start on an equal footing, given that, in fact, that could also be the point of arrival.”
Aren’t you afraid that the center-right will remain on standby, possibly arriving late in expressing a candidate, as happened in 2022?
«The mistakes of the past will not be made, this topic will certainly have to be addressed in time. It is an important moment for the city, we all read the data, it has improved so much, also thanks to an unprecedented amount of funds, but something more needs to be done. Without controversy, of which the Messina is tired. But if it is rightly recognized that Messina can no longer be isolated, then why exclude it from an overall political dynamic? And no, this does not mean bartering it, because Messina is a big city and, I agree, it cannot be bartered.”