Gaetano Manfredi: "Naples can really recover: now or never. But this process must be accompanied by the Government with the Budget."
"Now that we have over 80 billion for the South, there is a real risk that they will never be spent, due to the inability of many municipalities in the South to present Recovery projects due to a lack of technical structures. Naples is the most emblematic case and cannot be abandoned. I ask myself: how important is this city for national politics?".
Manfredi summarizes in an image the wounds left by the populist government to the Municipality: “I had a traumatic vision: dozens of pine trees reduced to stumps in the panoramic Virgiliano park, in Posillipo. Schools in disastrous conditions, transport at a minimum. Now we need to rebuild”. This is what the mayor of Naples, former minister Gaetano Manfredi, told Repubblica. And to Prime Minister Draghi, whom he has just met, Manfredi offers a solution: “Let's found the Pnrr of cities together. Naples can be a model. Only if we experiment in the first metropolis of the South the human and financial resources necessary to play this great game, will the country win the challenge”.
"Naples – says Manfredi – can really recover: now or never. But this process must be accompanied by the government with a strong intervention in the Budget”.
On the other hand, he smiles, “no one is more resilient than those born or living in Naples. I was pleasantly surprised by those public officials who have resisted in these years, carrying out their daily work with rigor and silence. Not heroes, but servants of the State who never stop believing in a different South”.
"Draghi knows that the capital of the South is experiencing dramatic hardships and difficulties that are the result of wrong policies and horizontal cuts that, over the years, have also affected other municipalities. He has given his availability to be close to us”.
When asked how much money and human resources he is asking for in order not to leave, Manfredi replies: “Let's assume an intervention of between 100 and 200 million per year for current expenditure, for five years. And we need at least a thousand units between technical personnel for the PNRR, IT experts, traffic police, employees, managers. For this reason, I proposed: inaugurate a PNRR of the cities, establish a control room, we want to undergo constant verification with the government, with the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Not an accounting control, let's be clear, but a verification of the processes. We all have the duty to do it: first of all because Naples is experiencing a phase of trust and collaboration. After two decades in which the anarchist-rebellious soul prevailed, I appealed instead to its European, concrete, industrious nature. And the city responded with enthusiasm: 63 percent".
Article published on November 4, 2021 - 10:04
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