The son of the city wants to “cure” his homeland.
(Photo: imago images / ZUMA Wire)
Rome Roberto Gualtieri stretches his arms to the sky as he stands in front of the cheering crowd in the old town. “I will be the mayor of everyone,” he shouts. “Let’s change Rome!” The 55-year-old clearly won the runoff election against his right-wing challenger on Monday, with around 60 percent voting for the Social Democrat Gualtieri.
The longtime MEP, who headed Italy’s finance and economy ministry from 2019 to February 2021, is back on the political stage. Instead of curbing the escalating national debt or setting up corona aid programs, Gualtieri now has to dig into the depths of a city that is considered ungovernable.
Rome is sinking into traffic chaos: there are far too many cars, too few parking spaces and hardly any bike lanes. The expansion of public transport is progressing too slowly, and subway stations are sometimes closed for years for renovation work. At the same time, the city has a garbage problem. While the center is kept reasonably clean, the sacks and cardboard boxes pile up on the streets in the periphery.
Gualtieri wants to tackle both, as he announced in the election campaign. He plans to split the overwhelmed city cleaning into 15 small companies, each responsible for one of the districts.
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He has announced a task force for new tram lines, he also wants to make parking in the city center more expensive – and thus redirect commuters to local public transport. He wants to take over the “city of 15 minutes” from Milan and other metropolises, a concept that enhances the infrastructure of the districts and thus ensures less traffic.
There is no shift to the right in the country, Draghi’s course confirmed
The studied historian, born in Rome, wants to “cure” his homeland, make it more functional again. “Rome can be the surprise of the coming years,” he announced after his election victory. He only has ten days to revise the dossier for Expo 2030. Rome wants to host the world exhibition, the application has to be out by the end of the month.
With the election of Gualtieri, who succeeds the often hapless Virginia Raggi from the left-wing five-star movement, the shift to the right in the country feared by some experts has finally failed to materialize. Two weeks ago, the candidates from the center-left spectrum won in Bologna, Naples and Milan, where incumbent Beppe Sala stood for the first time for the Greens and defended his office.
Now, with Rome and Turin, where there was also the runoff between left and right, two other large cities have fallen into the hands of the Social Democrats (PD). For Prime Minister Mario Draghi and his government, this is confirmation of their course.
The PD is one of the biggest Draghi supporters in the broad coalition. The obligation to provide 3G proof, which has been in force across Italy since the end of last week, was largely driven by Labor Minister Andrea Orlando – himself a Social Democrat. Sections of the right-wing Lega, which also belong to the government, had repeatedly raised the mood against Draghi, most recently against the “Green Pass” obligation. They were punished for it in the five largest cities in the country.
The only big city left in the hands of a center-right candidate is Trieste, near the Croatian border. There had recently been particularly serious protests against the introduction of the green pass requirement, demonstrators had tried to block the port – but failed, operations continued almost undisturbed.
More: Against all odds, Italy’s prime minister is implementing strict corona measures, initiating reforms and boosting growth. How long can this go on?