“He denied himself” –

Christian Campigli

March 20, 2024

The most Renzian among the Renzians. Stefania Saccardi, lawyer, immediately embraced the wind of change promised by the Rottamatore. Previously Deputy Mayor of Florence, he was Deputy Governor of the Tuscany Region twice. In June he is running to become the mayor of the lily capital. How did the break with the Democratic Party come regarding? Is it the fault of the missed primaries or even of irreconcilable positions at a programmatic level? “The Democratic Party has denied itself, saying no to the centre-left coalition primaries. So the question should be turned to the Dems. I cannot deny that there are numerous points on which we have different positions, sometimes antithetical to the Democratic Party. The stadium, fines, security, mobility, are just some of the examples of a distance that is anything but easy to bridge. The Democratic Party in Florence has transformed into a sort of Nardella List 2.0″.

Stadium with public money taken from the metropolitan city. But isn’t the left born to help the less fortunate? “Yes of course. I repeat: it is the Democratic Party that has abjured itself. At the helm of Fiorentina there is a president, Rocco Commisso, who not only has the possibilities but also the desire to invest in a new, modern structure. But politics, which has always administered the city, said no. He prefers to use public money for an obsolete stadium, rather than allocate it to public housing, libraries, gardens. An unacceptable position. Allow me to express my deepest sympathy to the family of Joe Barone, general director of Fiorentina, who passed away prematurely. A real tragedy.” Multificio, Florence is breaking every record. Is it right to use citizens to balance budgets? “Even in this case the answer is simple and it is no. Fines are a necessary deterrent to encourage motorists to respect speed limits and traffic laws. On the contrary, they cannot become a tool to close the budgets. Citizens are not an ATM. The proceeds of the sanctions must be used for prevention and to support the associations”.

What objective do you have in the next elections? Should there be a run-off between Schmidt and Funaro, will you give any voting instructions? “This time Florence has a great desire to change. She is not ready for this right, I am the real alternative. Becoming mayor of Florence would be much more than a dream. I play to win and I am convinced I will go to the run-off. Against the centre-left or the centre-right it makes no difference to me.” On June 10 last year, a little girl, little Kata, disappeared. While respecting your roles, don’t you think that the Democratic Party tried to talk as little as possible regarding an event that should, on the contrary, have outraged an entire city? “When a six-year-old girl disappears and, following nine months, she is not found, a city like Florence has the sacrosanct duty to stop and ask itself questions. Has everything necessary been done? I don’t want to go into the merits of the investigations or the choices made by investigators and the judiciary, but I find this silence unacceptable. Florence is the city of the Degli Innocenti hospital. We have always protected children, since 1445.” How do you judge the attack on the police commissioner? Is the Democratic Party afraid of losing on the issue of security? “It seems clear to me that there is a huge safety problem in the city. Just as evidently it has been underestimated in recent times. Now we try to take action but in the wrong way. The attack on the police commissioner was as rude as it was out of place.”