President Gianfranco Miccichè, after the approval of the regional budget, which to quote it was “a torment”, disappeared from the radar.
“I was a few days in the countryside, alone, to reflect.”
So what is the result of your spiritual retreat?
«Reflection led me to conclude that I was wrong not to speak. Enough with this climate, enough with the total lack of ethics. Now that’s enough: I want to talk, I have to talk ».
We are here for this. So, let’s start with ethics: who is missing?
“There are hierarchies on ethics. Those who protest from the opposition should pay attention to ethics, but this is an even more obligation for those who govern ».
Is the reference by any chance to the content of the debate at the ARS on the investigation involving the former councilor Razza?
“That day, at a certain point, the government asks me to tackle the debate on the problems of Race. By the way: I can say, for the first time, that I looked at the cards. And I don’t see crimes. Naive attitudes perhaps yes. And unfortunately I continue to see little professionalism within the departments. However, what happened in Sicily also happened elsewhere: from Forza Italia they sent me things about Emilia that are scary. I don’t understand why they don’t come out with the emphasis on the Sicilian story ».
Are you also attacking the magistrates?
“For heaven’s sake, the judiciary is doing its job. In my opinion the problem is always that certain things, towards those who govern, should be done with less fire games. What President Musumeci said is correct: we need more sobriety ».
The same sobriety, perhaps an external aspect of ethics, invoked by her, who from the highest seat, literally said to Ars: “I’m so pissed off that I’d like to kill someone”…
«The video in which I say that I broke the balls of those who did not want to vaccinate us reached a million views on the web. That video wasn’t sober, but it was due to a moment of tiredness, of exasperation. I went back to the courtroom and I apologized, because I realized I had exaggerated. But at Ars there were even less sober and unethical moments, without a million people having seen them ».
Here we return to the debate at the Ars. And to his appeal on ethics …
“Yes, let’s go back to when the government asked me for the debate on Razza. Although we had planned to do it the following week, he insisted on doing it and establishing the order of business. And I was silent. When Musumeci gets up and tells me “I don’t agree with his order of work”, I preferred to leave. Perhaps the best answer would have been: you make the president of the Region that I make the president of the Assembly ».
And instead he kept silent. It’s not like her …
«I love Sicily too much and I know very well that this type of clash in the courtroom would have created an image damage to our land. And so I wanted to avoid. But it is as if the Lord had told me to leave, because I do not know what I would have done if I had been present at some interventions by the opposition, the response from the presidential benches and above all the absurd speech by Musumeci, which I consider the worst , and I’m sorry to say. The opposition does its job, Di Mauro was exasperated, but the president of the Region cannot afford that reference to the anal bleaching of his predecessor ».
The Democratic Party speaks of an attack on parliamentary prerogatives, after the lawsuit announced by the engineer D’Urso in Dipasquale who asked for news on the Covid construction sites. The climate is heavy even outside the classroom.
«D’Urso must be stopped and calmed down. It is not clear under what title he is making a complaint to a deputy who has asked a parliamentary question to find out about the situation. But are we mad? Tell Mr. D’Urso that I, in the name of Ars, will act as a civil party alongside the deputy of the Democratic Party, Dipasquale, if there should be a cause ».
She who defends Dipasquale, the group leader Lupo who quotes his words as a warning. Do you have a flirtation with the Democratic Party? On the other hand, in Forza Italia – between hands-free phone calls, letters and pressure on Arcore – it’s not that you pull a good air …
“Forza Italia is fine in Sicily and I’m fine there. Everything you talk about happened outside the Assembly. And this is also part of ethics. I have learned in life that you have to be appreciated for what you can do and not because there is someone else who forces you to appreciate you ».
Any reference to Sicilian pressure on Berlusconi against Miccichè’s idea of reshuffling …
«… It is purely causal. Falcone left Gasparri to cry, who in turn turned to Berlusconi. When Berlusconi called me about this four days ago, I replied: “President, then I don’t give a damn. I don’t change anyone, so everyone is happy … But what kind of people do we have? You must avoid being replaced, not claiming your friendship with Gasparri, who today is the head of the local authorities of Forza Italia for which he still has a formal weight with respect to a story of this kind, but because you work well. Consensus cannot come from above ».
The same principle, given that there are those who contest your regional leadership, should also apply to you …
“It goes for me, of course, first. Berlusconi would never be able to force others to have Miccichè. My relationship with Berlusconi helps me, but when he says that I am in Sicily, he proves to anyone that there is no better, he does not force them. I can’t stand those who look for the “little helpers” to save their chair and plot against me ».
By the way: how is your forced cohabitation with Armao going?
“Well, also because I’m not sure what he does. I tell you one thing: do you know why the group does not accept it? Because he has never been a deputy. Many have done the bunch in the elections, many would like to be councilors, many consider themselves better. At the very least, if you have a role without even being a candidate, you have to make it available to others. If I look at the data, I do not see what gain we had in having Armao councilor, who arrived there for free, without looking for a single vote ».
On this basis, what is the future of your party in Sicily?
“Is fantastic. We just have to decide whether to make a list of 25-30 percent or we are satisfied with 15 ”.
Someone talks about escapes from Forza Italia, especially towards the Lega.
«Those who have disappeared from Forza Italia for 10-15 years have fled, and I didn’t even know what happened to them: all politically dead people. While in the group, in the Assembly, those alive and well have entered ».
Aren’t you afraid of movements in the center either?
“I’ve never been afraid of the center. I think it is the will of many Sicilians to be governed by moderate forces ».
But now they are governed by a right-wing president, also supported by you, whose resignation M5S and Pd are calling for. Is Covid Data Chaos Really the Beginning of the End?
«The discussion on the data is serious, because with the data the red zone is created, as in Palermo, where he killed the traders. Now the coup de grace has come with the closure of the whole province. I want to know the numbers and know who decides. I asked the president of the health commission, La Rocca Ruvolo, to immediately summon the heads of the department. I will be present to evaluate the choices that have been made. I want to see clearly, we have to go all the way ».
But there is also a political aspect. On the budget, even before the investigation, the center-right majority had to beat a retreat …
“A majority meeting is needed, and I will call it, because if anyone thinks that a year and a half before the elections we can give this show, they are wrong. This cannot go on. It takes more capacity, but first of all even more willingness to listen on the part of the regional government and President Musumeci. There may be a temptation to consider the regional parliament an unnecessary annoyance. But the rules of democracy apply. Which, as Churchill said, is not the best regime that exists, but no better ones are known. The impression is that asking for the debate on Razza was not a move to favor a peaceful climate. If that day, after closing a financial institution in which nothing passed for the majority, with that climate of exasperation, no confidence had been voted on the ARS, was President Musumeci sure to overcome it? We must understand that politics is made up of continuous dialogue, which no longer exists here ».
Is Musumeci right to keep the interim of Health without replacing Razza?
“If he is sure he can be the president of the region, the Covid commissioner and the councilor for health at the same time, I trust his conviction. If he asked me for advice, I would tell him to appoint a councilor who works full time ».
From “Radio Fronda” they say: even if Miccichè agrees, Musumeci will not be re-nominated. What is in your head for the 2022 Regionals?
«I have always said that it is not easy to point out another president of the Region, who is not better than him. But there is no doubt that Musumeci is deciding whether to stay or not. In Nello I have said this many times: “It depends on you, only on you”. And, from his attitude, it seems to me that he doesn’t want to do it anymore. He is making it clear in every way that he does not want to do it anymore ».
Maybe this perception might not be enough. But what if, as you say, Musumeci “doesn’t want to do it anymore”?
“We have to look for a strong name who really wants to be president of the Region.”
Isn’t it that in the end the strong name is really yours?
«I wanted to do it 15 years ago, the president of the Region. I would have gladly done it, when I had the physical strength to do it. I will be almost 70 in 2022. There is an age for everything ».