05.11.2015
Scandals in the capital
The manoeuvring which culminated in the fall of the mayor of Rome could result in the populist right taking control of the city, writes Toby Abse
Whilst at the national level prime minister Matteo Renzi of the Partito Democratico (PD) has recently succeeded in getting his controversial plan to greatly reduce the future role of the Senate in Italy’s parliamentary system though the existing directly elected Senate with a minimum of concessions, he has not managed to resolve the PD’s problems in Italy’s capital city.
As I explained in an earlier article,1 the deep involvement of a number of leading figures in the Roman PD in the Mafia Capitale scandal plunged the local party into a major crisis - its local structures were suspended by Renzi in his capacity as PD secretary in favour of a centrally appointed commissioner, Matteo Orfini. At one stage there was also a real danger that the Roman municipal administration might be dissolved on the grounds of Mafia infiltration. Whilst this legal procedure has sometimes been adopted for smaller municipalities, mainly in Sicily or Calabria, its adoption in Italy’s capital city would have given rise not just to a national, but to a worldwide, scandal, giving Italy the worst sort of publicity in North America and western Europe.
It does not seem unduly cynical to suggest that the eventual decision that the situation was not sufficiently grave as to merit this extreme measure was taken for reasons of political expediency rather than on genuinely judicial grounds. An enormous number of municipal contracts were awarded without any proper tendering process to the friends and associates of criminals, in what was by any normal criteria a deliberate and systematic, rather than just accidental or merely negligent, procedure. It was dominated by officials close to Mafia Capitale - as the gang led by Massimo Carminati and Salvatore Buzzi was described by both magistrates and media.
The PD’s mayor, Ignazio Marino, was clearly outside this criminal system and heartily loathed by those of his PD colleagues who were part of it - hence his widely used nickname: ‘the Martian’ (il Marziano). Moreover, this maverick was also disliked by Renzi, who seemed particularly annoyed by his forthright and perfectly understandable references to the neo-fascist connections of the preceding, nominally ‘centre-right’ administration of Gianni Alemanno, whose election as mayor in 2008 had been greeted by fascist salutes and loud chants of “Duce! Duce!” In addition, Marino’s secularism - both in relation to civil partnerships between homosexuals, whose registration he had permitted in the city in contravention of Italy’s anachronistic legislation, and in relation to end-of-life issues - made him a legitimate target in the eyes of bigots close to the Vatican.
The decision of pope Francis to have another ‘Holy Year’, or Jubilee, as the Italians prefer to call it, in 20162 seems to have added to tensions between the mayor and the church, and many of the preparations for this major event - which will attract millions of tourists and put extra strain on Rome’s creaking public transport system - were taken out of Marino’s hands and given to Franco Gabrielli, the prefect of Rome, some months ago.
In such circumstances to put a foot wrong in relation to any law was bound to be politically fatal for the beleaguered mayor. Whilst questions had arisen about his competence and his communication skills, and some also blamed him for the poor state of Roman tube trains, trams or buses, it was an expenses scandal that proved his downfall. This seems to centre on various claims for restaurant meals, which were supposedly eaten by the mayor and his guests in the course of his official duties. There appear to be discrepancies between Marino’s recollections and what had actually occurred. His enemies allege deliberate fraud, suggesting the mayor was entertaining his family and friends at the expense of the city.
National significance
The conflict between Marino and Renzi may well determine the fate of the current government. Although Marino was elected as a PD mayor in 2013, he had not renewed his party membership in 2014 and 2015, and had not for some time handed over the 10% of monthly salary that the PD expects of its elected officials - he reportedly owes the party €10,000. In short, it is quite clear that Marino was somebody over whom the PD has no real control.
He was pushed into resignation on October 12, after various key assessori (members of his mayoral cabinet) publicly withdrew their support as a result of the expenses scandal (Marino’s dream was still to be mayor on November 5 - the scheduled start of the trial of the former neo-fascist mayor, Gianni Alemanno, and various PD figures allegedly involved in Mafia Capitale). However, according to a very rarely invoked law, he was able to revoke the resignation at any point before November 2, the 20th day after he had formally submitted it in writing.
Marino’s threats to withdraw his resignation caused alarm in the ranks of the PD, since, although it would be possible to force the issue either by a vote of no confidence or by a mass resignation of a majority of the current councillors, Marino appeared to have the continuing support of at least eight of the 27-strong majority coalition: four from Sinistra Ecologia e Libertà (Left Ecology and Freedom - SEL) and four from his own Lista Marino. This meant that even if the 19 PD councillors acted in unison they needed to block with at least six councillors from the opposition groups, whether from the ‘centre-right’ or from the Movimento Cinque Stelle (Five Star Movement - M5S) - the very forces against whom the PD would be competing in the resultant mayoral and municipal contest likely to occur in Rome in May or June 2016.
Even if Marino had thrown his hand in without further ado, the PD would have had no certainty of holding on to the Roman mayoralty next year. M5S, rather than the centre-right, seems the stronger challenger - it is currently scoring 31% in the opinion polls, making it the first-placed party, ahead of the PD. This scenario makes a PD defeat in any run-off ballot more likely. If, as seems probable, a PD candidate failed to win over 50% in the first round, many centre-right voters would be rather likely to transfer to M5S to defeat the PD. A hypothetical M5S victory in Italy’s capital city - which its leader, Beppe Grillo, already sees as putting an M5S government on the agenda at the next general election - would probably be a hammer blow to Renzi’s premiership, given that many of the PD’s parliamentarians who now give him their enthusiastic support are opportunistic turncoats who were originally associated either with his predecessor as PD secretary, the more leftish Pier Luigi Bersani, or his immediate predecessor as prime minister, Enrico Letta.3
Marino not only threatened to retract his resignation, but also suggested that even if he was brought down as mayor by a vote of no confidence in the council chamber, he might well compete with the official PD candidates in any open centre-left (as opposed to purely PD) primary contest - and he might run as an independent in the first round of the mayoral election in May or June 2016. While it seems highly unlikely that Marino now has sufficient credibility with the majority of Romans to have any realistic chance of competing against the PD machine, he might have enough support to inflict the coup de grâce on the PD’s remaining hopes of winning the mayoralty in 2016.4
So the PD was still extremely worried. When PD commissioner Matteo Orfini had last summoned the 19 PD councillors to a meeting, they had divided 10-9 in Marino’s favour. An attempt on October 23 to get them to sign a letter, drafted by Orfini, calling upon Marino to go proved a total fiasco, since nobody was willing to comply. A meeting of PD councillors called for two days later was cancelled in the aftermath of a demonstration in Marino’s support.
Despite the relatively small number who turned up, which did significantly include a substantial contingent with PD banners, alongside gays from Roma Pride, the demonstrators were in fine form. The crowd sang the classic resistance anthem, ‘Bella ciao’, and chanted slogans against Renzi - “Show us the receipts!” - and against the Vatican - “Bergoglio, come sindaco di Roma, non ti voglio”,5 as well as branding their opponents as Mafiosi -“We’re with Marino; you’re with the godfather”.
Marino appeared belatedly when the crowd was already fired up and responded by citing a phrase that he attributed to Che Guevara (although a variant of it is more usually associated with the French student movement of May 1968) - in his own words: “There is a phrase that I love, from a person who was far more important than me - ‘We are realists and we want the impossible’.” He continued to attack his predecessor, Alemanno, as a fascist, saying he was speaking from the staircase “where in 2008 they celebrated, giving the Roman salute”. Marino admitted having “made mistakes”, for which he “assumes responsibility”. But “who has the gift of infallibility?” - which could be taken as an open attack on the pope. He ended his speech by saying: “You ask me to think again. I will think it over and I won’t disappoint you” - repeating the last phrase three times.
Lash-up
Marino’s retraction of his resignation came on October 29. This act of defiance infuriated the PD leadership and precipitated a rapid response that showed their implacable determination to put an end to this interminable saga by the most direct route available and the next day Marino’s mayoralty came to an inglorious end as the result of the mass resignation of 26 of Rome’s 48 city councillors.
This group included all 19 PD councillors plus two others from the Centro Democratico and one turncoat from the mayor’s own Lista Marino. The other five came from the rightwing opposition, having been recruited by the wealthy Roman construction magnate, Alfio Marchini, who has mayoral ambitions of his own. The whole sordid operation took an hour or two longer than anticipated, since the assembled councillors had to wait for Marchini’s delayed flight from Milan to arrive in Rome before proceeding to the campidoglio (city hall) to finalise arrangements.
Whilst the conspirators just about managed to avoid involving anybody with current open association with the notoriously corrupt (and fundamentally unreconstructed neo-fascist) Alemanno, this unprincipled lash-up demonstrated the PD’s willingness to ally with forces well to its right - it is worth emphasising that the four SEL councillors would have nothing to do with this underhand manoeuvre. Whilst Marco Causi, Marino’s deputy mayor, had the onerous job of collecting the signatures and having them witnessed by a notary, there is no doubt at all that he was acting on the prime minister’s behalf - which explains the belated unanimity of the PD group. Given the high probability that the PD will lose a number of seats at the forthcoming municipal election, vestigial sympathy for Marino was by no means the only reason for the previous reluctance of some PD councillors to stab the maverick mayor in the back.
In his final press conference Marino, in his characteristically melodramatic style, in effect compared himself with Julius Caesar: “Those who knifed me have 26 names and only one instigator.” When asked if everything stemmed from his turbulent relationship with Renzi, Marino responded: “I have certainly not had turbulent relations with the prime minister. In the last year I have had no relations with him.” He added: “The PD, the party that I wanted, that I founded, that I stood as a leadership candidate for, has disappointed me today.” In evicting him from the campidoglio the PD had “ceased to act within the confines of democracy and thus denied its own name, Partito Democratico, and its own DNA”.
The mass resignations triggered the instant dissolution of the whole city council, not just the end of Marino’s term of office. Until the next municipal election, which will probably occur in May or June, Rome will be under the control of a prefectoral commissioner. The appointment of Francesco Paolo Tronca, the prefect of Milan, to this role is a further blow to the pride of all Romans a couple of days after the national anti-corruption commissioner, Raffaele Cantone, defined Milan as “the moral capital, whilst Rome has shown that it does not have sufficient antibodies against criminality”.6 Although the prefect of Rome, Franco Gabrielli, signed the decree appointing Tronca, the actual decision was taken by Renzi, after consulting interior minister Angelino Alfano.
The Roman PD is as yet unsure who will be its mayoral candidate in 2016. Its commissioner, Orfini, seems keen on the former magistrate Alfonso Sabella, who for a period served as Marino’s assessore “for legality” in the wake of the Mafia Capitale scandal, and Renzi has made it clear that he opposes the possible candidacies of current government ministers Marianna Madia and Paolo Gentiloni. The whole question of whether to hold a primary or to appoint from on high does not seem to have been resolved either.
Needless to say, the PD left have complained about the method used to dump Marino - as the PD’s former president, Gianni Cuperlo, said, “The reasons for the withdrawal of confidence from the mayor ought to have been explained” in the council chamber.
Grillo has already started M5S’s electoral campaign, publicising on his blog October 30 an opinion poll that gave M5S 33% of the Roman vote. The name of Ferdinando Imposimato, a well-known 79-year-old magistrate, has come to the fore, although the process of choosing an M5S candidate seems likely to take as long as the PD’s selection procedure.
Nevertheless, the odds on M5S taking the capital have shortened considerably over the last few weeks.
Notes
1. ‘Renzi’s support plummets’ Weekly Worker July 2 2015.
2. To be precise, the Holy Year lasts from December 8 2015 to November 20 2016.
3. On the first occasion that Matteo Renzi ran in a primary contest for the PD leadership he had lost to Bersani and could therefore only obtain a limited number of places for his diehard supporters on the PD party list in the February 2013 general election.
4. An opinion poll cited in La Repubblica (October 24 2015) reported that over 70% of Romans hoped that Marino’s resignation would be definitive.
5. The rhyme is lost in the English ‘Bergoglio, I don’t want you as mayor of Rome’.
6. Milan’s traditional claim to be the ‘moral capital of Italy’ was in reality first undermined by the corruption of the Craxi years in the 1980s, culminating in the Tangentopoli scandals of 1992-94. More recently the general manager of Expo - the world’s fair that took place in Milan between May and October - was arrested and prefect Tronca had to exclude about 70 companies from contracts relating to Expo because of suspicions about criminality and accounting irregularities. The massive corruption scandals involving the former president of the Lombard region, Roberto Formigoni, also cast considerable doubt on this idealisation of Milan.