Lazio Region, controversy over the appointment of De Angelis: the answer

ROME. He is embittered on the phone Marcello De Angelis, new head of institutional communication of the Lazio Region, after the controversy surrounding his appointment appeared in the newspapers. Sorry, but “not surprised: these are the tones used against President Rocca himself during the electoral campaign,” he told The print. But why did Rocca’s recruitment cause such a sensation? De Angelis, a recent past as a deputy of the National Alliance, several years ago was part of the black organization Terza Position. In 1989 he was arrested in London and detained for three months in the maximum security prison in Brixton.

Also in the same year, De Angelis returned to Italy and set himself up, then being sentenced to 5 and a half years in prison for subversive association and armed gang (released in 1992). Subsequently, however, De Angelis changed his life by continuing his militancy in the circles of the institutional right: AN with which he will also be elected to Parliament. He was director of the monthly Area, a point of reference for the social right and the Secolo d’Italia, a position he will hold from May 2011 until June 2014. Later, in 2017, he became head of the cabinet when Rocca was at the national summit of the Italian Red Cross. He then became his spokesman and today followed him to the Lazio Region despite requests from the new president of the Red Cross to stay.

«I am happy with the appointment as head of institutional communication for the Lazio Region, but I was very embittered by the tones used by some – De Angelis tells La Stampa -. After all, I was at the Red Cross for 7 years and the new president had even asked me to stay». De Angelis will receive 110,000 euros gross per year for his new role, but the choice was not made for salary. «They had asked me to stay where I was and I would have been happy, but the bond of friendship and esteem with Francesco Rocca, which I consider an added value, made me choose this new adventure». «I have always considered politics as a way to do something, to help citizens. A service to others», explains De Angelis who adds, recalling the attacks in the newspapers, «I’m not surprised, these are the tones used against President Rocca himself during the electoral campaign».

«I was disappointed because I can also expect attacks from colleagues, but everything could have been done even more elegantly. The episodes told have always been known and are things of 40 years ago. In recent years, I have gone on to have extraordinary field work experiences such as vaccinations in Africa and work with the Red Cross in South America and I have always done it for the same reason: to be of service to others», concludes De Angelis.