A parliamentary question has been submitted by Paola Nugnes, a senator for the Five Star Movement, regarding the financial crisis affecting the "Comitato per il centro sociale" association, the body managing the Caserta SPRAR reception project, due to the Ministry of the Interior's failure to disburse funds. The Caserta SPRAR system, the senator announced, is the largest project in the Campania region, run by the municipality of Caserta. It welcomes 200 people, including asylum seekers and refugees, for whom it provides food, accommodation in 24 apartments in various neighborhoods of the city, healthcare and legal assistance, internships, volunteer programs, and schooling. 40 operators are employed. The Sprar project, which will end on December 31, 2019, was supposed to receive the final tranche of the 2018 balance, approximately 660 thousand euros, on March 15. Senator Paola Nugnes stated: “Despite this incomprehensible failure to transfer funds, the project is proceeding as planned, with all necessary expenses. Certain responses can no longer be postponed, the managing bodies have an exposure of thousands of euros to local suppliers. The association now has no more funds, and the bank's overdraft facility cannot be renewed until the 2018 balance is transferred. The association can no longer cover its living expenses, particularly apartment rent, food and medicine, utility bills, and pocket money for beneficiaries, and has been forced to turn to the Food Bank for food supplies and parishes for medicines. According to Nugnes, the only funds transferred from the local authority to the implementing body amounted to €1.422.782,43, compared to a total of €1.592.512,89 transferred from the ministry to the municipality. This cut was not confirmed by the central office, which, in an email dated June 7, informed the RUP and the managing bodies that the cut made by the auditors in the 2017 reporting had not been confirmed and that the sum of €169.730,46 had been deemed admissible. According to the senator, this sum is still being withheld by the Ministry of the Interior. To date, the ministry has not yet transferred to the municipality the sum of €660.352,09 as the final balance of the project for the 2018 financial year. The municipality of Caserta is also awaiting the transfer of the 2019 advance payment. There have already been public complaints regarding the situation described, which have involved all the citizens of the Caserta community in two demonstrations. The whole affair has been amplified by the closure of the former hemp factory, the historic headquarters of the "Comitato per il centro sociale" association, which has been under seizure since March 12, 2019, pending safety work by the Campania Region's owners. Tomorrow evening, a free concert will be held at Villa Giaquinto in Caserta, directed by jazz musician Pietro Condorelli and featuring more than 60 musicians in support of the former Canapificio, the social center seized for over two months by order of the Santa Maria Capua Vetere (Caserta) Public Prosecutor's Office.
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