“The mayor and whoever lets the building be jailed.” The revolt of the first citizens of the area – Corriere.it

Jail for mayors and all those who let it be. The words of the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin further open the front of the controversy after the tragedy of Ischia with flooding and damage and several victims. Against illegal building “it would be enough to put the mayor and all those who let things go in jail”, because “mayors must not let buildings be built”, argues the minister speaking on Rtl 102.5. And on the demolition of illegal houses, proposed by the governor of Campania, Vincenzo De Luca, Pichetto would confiscate “what is illegal, and then I would go and see on a case-by-case basis”.

The latest news on the landslide in Ischia and on rescue operations

But the reactions triggered by the minister’s sentences are harsh: «Pichetto Fratin surprises me with these statements of his, perhaps he doesn’t know what he is talking about», attacks Giacomo Pascale, the mayor of Lacco Ameno, one of the Municipalities of Ischia. “We have had a landslide of enormous dimensions – says the mayor – which came down from Mount Epomeo at enormous speed dragging everything, so if the minister talks about what happened I find this statement out of place. As for the rest – he adds – he is a minister and has the power to do what he wants, including arresting the mayor or requisitioning the buildings. We are here. Maybe the arrest of a mayor were enough to not experience the disasters », he says.

From mayor to mayor. According to Stefano Pisani, mayor of Pollica (Salerno) and coordinator of the Small Towns of Anci Campania, the minister’s statements are “bewildering”. “Arrest the mayors? For what crime? We are faced with a total ignorance of the rules of administrative law and a very serious conflict between institutions”. «The mayors – adds Pisani – find themselves facing the abuses with an insufficient, cumbersome regulation and without financial coverage for the killings. Should the minister tell us with which personnel in small municipalities we can have capillary control like the one he wishes? ».

The national co-spokesman of Europa Verde Angelo Bonelli is also on the same line. «This Government and Minister Pichetto Fratin in particular are very good at hypocritically shifting responsibility onto others. We want to remind him that he is part of a party that has legalized illegal cement with two building amnesties by Berlusconi and that Forza Italia has built its electoral consensus precisely on amnesties. As if that weren’t enough, the majority, in Campania, campaigned by promising a new building amnesty”, underlines Bonelli.

Finally the comment of the commissioner for the reconstruction of the government Giovanni Legnini. “Our legal system provides for sanctions and procedures, it is already well structured”.