Mergers: who cries, who do not

“Look, eventually, there will be the merger, maybe in a few years, but now the important thing is don’t do ‘this’ merge.” The Champagne was too cold, so today in Mesenzana’s square people have opted for a toast with Mulled wine. This afternoon, the “no” activists to the merger, who met in the centre of the city, have been several. Among them, there has been also Carlo Leoni, the committee’s promoter reached on the phone for a comment. Today, the regional commissions have voted for the merger of  19 towns’ of Lombardy, 10 of which have been voted down. Among them there have been rejected Mesenzana, Cassano Valcuvia, Masciago Primo and Ferrera di Varese to give birth of a big Valcuvia district.

The Pirellone mini-meetings said unanimously “no” to this project, also because of the consultative referendum vote of the last December.

“We called ourselves today in this square as “No Committee”, even though we are called like this just for ease. It’s been a long time that the committee is resolved, because there will be the merger, but not on these conditions and against the citizens’ will.” Said euphorically Mr Leoni.

What will happen to these towns? “Except Mesenzana, where the vote will be in two years, in the others centres, next spring, we will be directed to an administrative replacement. We will start from here; this will be a good occasion to rethink of the union processes through which we are headed. Maybe involving other towns of the area, and the presence in this square today of the administrators of others towns confirms it. Maybe starting to talk about “towns’ union”, with a more gradual process.” Said Mr Leoni.

Listening to the ideas of Mr Leoni, it seems to address through two big entities, which could represent approximately the Valtravaglia and Valcuvia’s centres, in order to have such a critical mass which can give us the chance to economize on some services. But, for the time being, these are only ideas, which will have to face the time, the local politics and the area. It seems everything but an idea the presence of a great number of the political members of this “nucleus” inside the list of the next administrative election.

For the “yes” front for the fusion in Valcuvia, it is Magro Megrini, mayor of Cassano Valcuvia (in the picture above) and president of Comunità Montana delle Valli del Verbano, who speaks. He lays two matters on the table. “First of all, we have to consider that citizens aren’t culturally ready to face this fusion pass,” he explains. “I can’t help thinking about what will happen now. Actually, how did the annulment of the fusion help, against the binding need (provided for by law) to save public funds? Those who supported the “no” have some responsibilities to the front of the users. Those who took the side of the “no” about this fusion should know  that there are some towns that have, and will have, an enormous difficulty in squaring the balance and dispensing services to the citizens.

On the other hand, chasteness and serenity are the words used by Fabio Passera, mayor of Maccagno, the leader district of the “Big Town” that will rise next spring, when the elections will ratify the new mayor. This project, unlike the Valcuvia one, was approved in the region with the unanimous vote of the commissions. “I began speaking about fusion in June 2012,  and today I go on with the same power,” the mayor explains,  “but not in virtue of the fact that the fusion will take place or not, instead for the participation of citizens to this process we spoke about and that they took upon to inform themselves about and to participate, with the vote.”

Will Passera be the new mayor of “Maccagno with Pino and Veddasca?” “I will start thinking about it tomorrow morning,” he concludes, laughing, on the phone. “But jokes apart, I say that it wasn’t possible to forecast anything up to now. Now, the work is done, the new town will be created, and it will be the second town of the province, after Varese, for territorial extension. I’ve never backed down, but to say that I will be the mayor is stretching the truth. It isn’t possible, now, to answer your question.”

Now, the procedure prefigures the transfer of the approved projects about the fusion law to the balance sheet commission (Wednesday, 15 January), for the determination of the financial aspects, and then, to the Regional Council (on 21 and 22 January) for their definitive endorsement. The consequent publication on BURL (Bollettino Ufficiale della Regione Lombardia) will let the citizens  vote on 25 May for the election of the Mayor and the Regional Council of the new administrative entity.

The ten new bills that didn’t obtain the green light from the two council commissions, Institutional Affairs and Extraordinary for the Reorganization of Autonomies, will arrive as well at the Regional Council, but with the proposition of “no compliance” with the articles of law, because they are judged “unacceptable” for the majority of citizens  who expressed against the fusion projects.