“Political discrimination”. And he attacks the government – ​​

«The president of Luiss Gubitosi called me very sorry and asked me to cancel the event. I was shocked and disappointed because we had agreed on the presentation of the book with personalities of various political positions. I thought that in Italy you might have a free discussion regarding a book in a university. Evidently there is a heavy climate of political discrimination resulting from the attitude that this right-wing government has towards anyone who thinks differently.” This was declared by the mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, commenting on the political controversies surrounding the presentation of his book “The universal city”, which was scheduled for next April 4th at Luiss, in which, among others, professor Romano Prodi and the director of Repubblica, Maurizio Molinari.

«I am sincerely dismayed and also a little worried regarding the current climate, but obviously I certainly don’t want to embarrass Gubitosi or Luiss even if we had agreed everything with them, so now we will decide with Professor Prodi and the director of Repubblica Molinari whether to cancel everything at this point because there are only a few days left or do it somewhere else. Of course, frankly, it’s the first time something like this has happened to me, I’m honestly speechless”, continues the mayor of Florence.

«This – he continues – is not an electoral initiative: the electoral campaign for the European elections has not started, there are no official candidatures yet. There is a very high profile director of a national newspaper like Maurizio Molinari, there is a former president of the European Commission and former prime minister like Professor Romano Prodi, there is a former government representative, an important parliamentarian, like Gaetano Quagliarello, the Honorable Michela Di Blase, a very authoritative professor like Ginevra Cerrina Feroni. Evidently these things bother the right-wing press, the government press – concludes the mayor – It is a defeat for culture, a defeat for the university world which no longer feels free to organize a very simple debate on a book, on the other hand, a book that talks regarding Europe and mayors and which is certainly not a book that talks regarding politics in the strict sense.”