The city has objectively suffered damage from these very long investigations." Beppe Sala started from the consequences of the investigation into Milanese urban planning to retrace ten years at Palazzo Marino and look at the race for succession. The mayor spoke the day after the news of the dismissal of the prosecutors for the corruption-related issue that involved him, on Repubblica Insieme, interviewed by the deputy director Stefania Aloia, during a meeting in which the director of Repubblica Stefano Cappellini also participated. «Republic's history with Milan - said the director - starts from very far away and has accompanied the story of everything that has happened in Milan in recent decades, with signatures that are the history of journalism. From Tangentopoli to the birth of the League. The relationship with the city has always been very strong."
Republic together - The effort of governing Milan, the interview with mayor Sala
Sala recounted a paradox: «The day I learned of the request for dismissal, I learned that I had been registered in the register of suspects». News never officially received, he claimed. He said he felt relief, but also bitterness. Without denying the corrections introduced by the Municipality: "We have decided to change some things, but there is still a lot of land to be plowed and settled." He cited suspended families, apartments that cannot be delivered, construction sites at a standstill. "I'm not here today to say we did everything right." But the damage, he insisted, was there.
My thoughts went above all to Giancarlo Tancredi, former councilor for urban planning who had to resign due to the investigations. “I love him like a younger brother,” he said of the former councillor, whom he had chosen because he considered him a serious person, incapable of allowing himself to be influenced. He recalled Tancredi's initial reluctance to accept the assignment and the bond built even during his illness: they both faced cancer. They spoke on Tuesday after the news. “His life was conditioned much more than mine,” Sala observed. Tancredi resigned as councilor and then returned to municipal manager, in a different sector: «He still had a career that was very affected».
For the mayor, the underlying problem remained "outdated" urban planning legislation, with national regulations dating back to 1942. He asked that the next Parliament take action on it. And he defended the collaboration between public and private: «We have had more conflicts than agreements with real estate operators». He claimed the Milanese growth model, while recognizing its limits, and cited data from the Polytechnic: land occupation would have increased by 0.37 percent in ten years. «Did we do everything right? No". But he added: "I am not a person who believes in happy degrowth." Growth, he argued, brought jobs and strengthened universities.
A defense of the past also became a message to the centre-left candidates. The word discontinuity? "Of course it's not pleasant." But Sala recalled having said in turn, when applying, "I am not Giuliano Pisapia". Therefore it is legitimate to stand out. However, he asked the candidates to explain which Milan they imagine: "You have to tell the Milanese what you want to do." And he warned that "it is easier to win, but governing is another thing." Regarding the primaries, he clarified that he had initially hoped for a common candidate chosen by the parties. Now, however, with the contenders on the field, a date is needed, even if the Milanese decisions depend on the national ones. «The primaries are neither a dogma nor a taboo». He assured that he will go to vote, without revealing his preference. And he said he hadn't yet chosen: "What is everyone's program?". More than names, he insisted, we need to discuss programs and principles. One above all, after the legal case: "Does the left have the courage to say that guaranteeism is an indisputable value or not?". Because "we hurt ourselves if we continue to be ambiguous from this point of view." And after Palazzo Marino? "Generally, I would like to move forward, I would like to continue in politics." Parliament remained a possibility, not a decision. If he had to leave the municipality four months before the deadline to run, "it would bother me quite a bit." He would prefer to finish his mandate, give himself "two or three months of vacation" and then choose, without expecting a candidacy as a reward. “I will be searching for meaning,” he said. To close the evening, comedian Enrico Bertolino dedicated a song to the last days of the San Siro stadium.
