There will be no extension for expiring rectors’ mandates. At least the issue is not “yet” on the Government’s agenda, not in these terms, according to what was reported yesterday to the Chamber by the Minister of University and Research, Anna Maria Bernini. Is the question closed, therefore, also at the University of Messina, where Salvatore Cuzzocrea’s mandate is expiring and, in the absence of new regulations, will we have to go to the polls by January? Probably yes, even if the minister’s words seem less peremptory than the conclusions drawn at Montecitorio by Italia Viva deputy Giuseppe Castiglione, the first signatory of the question which Bernini compared. And also with respect to the considerations that have been “running” since yesterday afternoon in the academic circles of Messina, which were awaiting a clear response from Rome on a question which, beyond the two already official candidacies for the succession (Michele Limosani and Giovanna Spatari), is done by keeping every political process within the University in abeyance.
The response that Minister Bernini gave to Castiglione’s question (and with which the deputies Marattin, Del Barba, Costa, Gadda, Grippo and Sottanelli), posed precisely to the possibility of an extension linked to the Pnrr projects to be “closed” by 2026, was this: «The Pnrr is an unrepeatable opportunity – said the Government representative – which cannot remain a parenthesis to be closed by 2026. It is clear that the achievement of such ambitious objectives is not a task that the Government can achieve on its own, a collective commitment is necessary, starting from the institutions which, within their autonomy, are called upon to carry out the last mile of implementing the Plan. These certainly include universities, within which the rectors are the main point of reference for planning and guaranteeing continuity”.