Bari in the square for Decaro, the Interior Ministry appoints the Commission

Three days have passed since Mayor Antonio Decaro announced that the Interior Ministry had signed “an act of war” against the city. But he shows no signs of abating the political storm unleashed by the Interior Minister’s decision to send a commission to Bari to verify the presence of criminal infiltration, after the recent arrests for political-mafia exchange votes. And that could dissolve the city council in a city that will vote for the renewal of the administration in June.

Citizens and associations in the streets for Decaro

Meanwhile, the Apulian capital will rally around the mayor on Saturday morning: citizens, associations, students and trade unions who promoted the “Hands off Bari” demonstration scheduled for 10.30 in Piazza del Ferrarese will take to the streets. Decaro, who is also president of the ANCI, continues to receive accusations from the center-right and certificates of solidarity from the center-left. His party, the PD, but also the M5s and the Alleanza Verdi Sinistra have rallied around him. The common opinion is that sending the commission three months before the vote is “a political maneuver” by the center-right which “has not yet chosen its candidate and which has not won in the city for 20 years”.

Center-right on the attack: clarify

The president of the Forza Italia senators, Maurizio Gasparri, replies to these suspicions, who met journalists in Bari with the deputy minister of Justice Francesco Paolo Sisto. “The choice of the centre-right candidate for mayor – assures the senator – will be made regardless of the results of the commission’s investigation, which will take months”. As for the alleged influence of the center-right exponents on the sending of the commissioners, Sisto underlines that the “parliamentarians of the territory” have only “asked for clarity from the Minister of the Interior” but “not the dissolution of the Municipality”.

Commission appointed by the Interior Ministry

The Interior Ministry has appointed the members of the access commission to the Municipality of Bari: they are Claudio Sammartino, retired prefect; Antonio Giannelli, vice prefect; Pio Giuseppe Stola, major of the Scico of the Financial Police. The decision to send the access commission to Bari follows the 130 arrests of 26 February with the “Internal Code” operation which revealed a political-mafia exchange voting system in the 2019 municipal elections. Under house arrest and in prison ended up, respectively, with councilor Carmen Lorusso, elected with the center-right and then passed into the majority that supports Decaro; and her husband Giacomo Olivieri, former regional councilor. According to the prosecution, they obtained votes with the help of clan members.