And in the end the resignation arrived. Federico Basile has untied the knot that had been animating the political debate in Messina for months. At Palazzo Zanca, the Mayor showed up – without Cateno De Luca – around 10am and sat down, between smiles and some tense grimaces, in the Hall of Flags, starting with a long introduction: the list of all the “successes” achieved between the De Luca-Basile administrations.
From separate waste collection to water. From Villa Dante to Aldo Moro park, passing through the beginning of the redevelopment of the sports facilities. The consolidation of accounts and urban planning. The investee companies. Hiring. The events.
“In a few years the face of the city has changed, it was a dormant city – said Basile – which was totally abandoned for years. Today it has raised its head and is building a different future. Since 2018 it has completely changed its approach: when Cateno De Luca arrived it was completely ruined, we overcame Covid by doing a great job, then I arrived and found a normal Messina, trying to continue what was started”.
“Today, however, we must open a different phase, outside of some political logic, having a strategic vision. We have gone through dark times and we have achieved normality – he said – now we must start a path that will lead us to a leap in quality. Politics is made up of two bodies and in every serious administrative management there must be that condition that guarantees work viability”.
And here is the attack against that “safe majority” that is missing. Or that – by letting time pass – you risked losing.
“I was elected with 20 city councilors out of 32, but then, after the first year, a couple left. Today I have 13 councillors, we have lost 7 in the space of two years for various reasons, national political strategies or personal interests, this has caused a lack of solidity which does not concern the vote on a measure, but which is useful for administrative action”.
Even if the numbers – especially those of the documents approved in the Chamber – tell a different story: in recent years, in fact, only one resolution proposed by the Administration has been rejected.
But Basile’s choice is evidently not linked to simple calculations… in hand. “My resignation is not only linked to the number of councilors, but also to the long time in which a resolution is hesitated by the Chamber: it is an approach that does not allow me to make a leap in quality, I have put up with too much and so much up to now. The city does not deserve to be held in check. For this reason – he announces, moving – I have resigned my position. I could continue to be mayor, with a good political agreement with the Centre-Right or the Centre-Left, but this would serve me, not to the city” added Basile.
And therefore the “solution”: resignation and voting in a few months to have that “monochrome” needed to continue without the risk of falling back into the “old politics”. But also to arrive stronger at – other – electoral competitions.
“It is better to stop for three months than to leave the city for a year and a half in the minority. Today’s communication, therefore, is not my resignation, you have known about it for some time, what I tell you today – concluded Basile – is that I am running again to lead the city. When I was elected, I was Cateno De Luca’s candidate, today Federico Basile is candidate Federico Basile. I hope that the city understands this gesture, which is not one of renunciation, but of relaunch. choosing to do something else, but to run again with more force than before”.
And, in short, – as expected – we’ll see each other again in May. With the “hope-promise”: stronger (or rather less weak, which is not the same thing) than before. And much of the next games will depend on this “strength”. In Messina, Palermo and Rome.