Regional Council of Puglia
Puglia, it scandal of severance payments to councilors now embarrasses Pd and M5s
The open letter to Governor Michele Emiliano from over 40 trade unions was not enough to stop the wicked proposal Of an “end-of-mandate indemnity”, i.e. the indemnity for the termination of the relationship for elected officials and councilorsfrom 2013 (the rule, as passed in the Budget Committee, has retroactive effect) until 2025 or until the end of this legislature.
In contempt of the diligence and expediency of such a measurein fact, in the meeting of the Regional Council next Tuesday (the conditional, for the moment, is a must) should address precisely the question of the green light for the treatment.
READ ALSO: Puglia, directors assign themselves a severance pay. Scandal
And it would not be pennies but, as stated in the report attached to the bill – reports the Southern Gazette -, Of appropriations of 3.7 million for the 2013-2023 period and 310,000 euros each for 2024 and 2025: a total of 4.3 million to be recovered to write checks of 35,000 euros each for elected officials and the councilors of the current legislature, of the previous one (the X, 2015-2020) and of part of the still previous one (the IX, 2013-2015), about 125 in total.
What will happen in the classroom, however, remains to be clarified. First of all whether the bill will be discussed or not; whether, in the case of discussion, the retroactivity node passes or not; whether we will vote by secret ballot and what the parties will do. And there may be surprises. Dal Pd which, despite being the first government formation and therefore presumably favorable, is currently struggling to find unity. In dissent, for example, is the councilor Debora Ciliento, who does not hide very critical positions. “I am against it – she specifies – I declared it from the very beginning and I continue to carry on this discussion, because I am convinced that it is not really appropriate”. The group, therefore, is in danger of splitting.
Is a postponement of the discussion possible? Perhaps, even if it might show some anxiety of the majority. In this sense, the president of the Con group, Giuseppe Tupputi, closes ranks and thunders that “there was a majority meeting on the severance pay, all the coalition forces agreed to bring the bill to the classroom and Con, as always, for all majority bills, will ensure its vote”. In short, the house numbers of Michele Emiliano unite and send a clear message to “those who disregard an agreement”, noting that “then, during the next majority meeting, we will take into account what happens” and reiterating that “Con, as always, will be loyal to the majority”.
In the Grillina house, a low profile is chosen, the position – at least of the internal directors of the majority – is not easy. The “dissident” Antonella Laricchia cuts it short: “With all the problems that Puglia has, the priority of the Regional Council cannot be the TFM. I hope that the bill will be rejected from the classroom on Tuesday and finally put an end to an issue that has taken up too much time and energy”. An issue that is also growing online with the former Grillino parliamentarian Alessandro Di Battista who, on behalf of the Schierarsi association, ensures maximum support for the “No Tfm Day”, organized, precisely for Tuesday, in front of the headquarters of the Regional Council.
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