“Weak towards the judiciary”. Now immunity to governors –

Antonio Adelai

August 07, 2024

Giovanni Toti chose Rome to return to the center of the political scene after resigning as president of the Liguria Region. He did so early yesterday morning when he met representatives Maurizio Lupi, Ilaria Cavo, and Pino Bicchielli of his party of reference, “We moderates.” It was Toti’s first trip after serving house arrest in Liguria, on charges of corruption and illicit financing, in the context of the investigation in which he is involved, and for which he was sent to trial. “I didn’t feel abandoned. I don’t have abandonment syndrome,” Toti said regarding the attitude of the center-right coalition toward him. “I’m fine on my own,” added the former Ligurian governor. “So beyond everything, I don’t have these kinds of feelings. There were those who had a greater and more marked sensitivity and made it heard, there were evidently those who knew less about these issues, had less sensitivity, but the coalition parties supported the Region, they were united, they went ahead with their project, in Rome great solidarity was evidently shown”.

Then, a stop at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport where the former president of the Liguria Region met the head of the ministry, and leader of the Northern League, Matteo Salvini, and the deputy minister of Infrastructure and Transport, the Ligurian Edoardo Rixi. “It was an opportunity,” reads a note from the League, “to take stock of the situation in the Liguria Region: not only from the point of view of infrastructure and economic development, but also considering the elections that the center-right is determined to win.

Liguria has recorded record growth in the last three years, above the national average in several key sectors: second region in Italy for growth in per capita income, fourth for GDP growth, among the top five for employment growth. In recent years, Salvini and Toti agreed, Liguria has also made great strides in terms of investments and new works: a heritage that cannot be dispersed».

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At the end of the meeting at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Toti pointed out that “there is the will of the center-right to go united and compact, and above all on the renewal program of that Region there is the will not to take a step back”. Precisely regarding the upcoming regional elections in Liguria, and the candidacy of the former Minister of Justice, Andrea Orlando, Toti was clear: “There is no fear – he underlined -, Orlando is clearly a left-wing candidate and that will be a coalition unbalanced to the left, so I believe there is a large space on the right, and I believe that there are also many doubts for the voters of Italia Viva and Calenda to join those who organize the demonstrations in the squares”. And on his successor at the helm of the Liguria Region, Toti “blesses all the candidacies that come from the political experience that I have had the pleasure and honor of leading”.

Toti, who did not want to commit himself on his political future, during his stop in the capital also met the president of the Forza Italia senators, Maurizio Gasparri, observing that with the party led by Antonio Tajani there is “no rust”, and the Organization manager of Fratelli d’Italia, Giovanni Donzelli. And Tajani himself, yesterday, raised the alarm: “It seems strange to me that a trial is being held, while we are going on an election campaign, because in this way they are trying to influence the vote, and I believe that the vast majority of Italian magistrates would have made different choices than those made in Liguria. I respect the work of magistrates, but I am also free not to agree with some choices”, noted the national secretary of FI, who on Salvini’s proposal for a judicial shield for governors and local administrators said: “We have not discussed it, we will sit around a table and see the proposal in concrete terms and what the law provides, as we did with abuse of office”. Finally, for Toti, “we need to broaden the immunities for those involved in politics.”