The mayors who manage to dodge an investigation? They are few and deserve to be in a register
The proposal is to establish a register dedicated to 'emeritus' mayors who have completed their mandate without being investigated or having been convicted of crimes against the public administration: here's who presented it
BOLOGNA – In a period in which news of corruption investigations involving politicians is spreading from north to south, the idea comes from the Senate to ‘reward’ those mayors who manage to conclude the they were sent to the Italian flag without any trouble with the law. The idea proposed by Senator Pietro Patton (SVP-Patt) with a bill deposited at Palazzo Madama a few days ago is called the “roll of emeritus mayors“. Indeed, it proposes to “establish with national law a Register dedicated to mayors who have concluded their mandate without having been convicted for crimes against the public administration, as recognition for the activity carried out with honor over the years in which they held the office of first citizen”. The Register would be established in each region to list the names of the first citizens who “have carried out their institutional activity in the relevant territory”. The methods of keeping and managing the Register will be defined by regulation adopted by the regional council.
In the report accompanying the proposal, Patton highlights that Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige-Südtirol have already established such a register. And in the autonomous province of Trento, in December 2007, the association of former mayors of Trentino was established, the second example in Italy, which since 2019 has been the “Association of Emeritus Mayors of Trentino“. But there is also an association of former mayors in Abruzzo. “To meet this trend, widespread in various regions and in different ways, aimed at identifying a way of collecting the experiences lived in local authorities, we hope for a rapid approval of this bill”, says Patton.
The bill, seen by ‘Dire’, has four articles. The first says that “the mayors of the municipalities of the region who cease to hold office after having served at least one mandate with honor assume the honorary title of mayor emeritus“. The second states that “mayors who have ceased to hold office and who have not received final convictions for crimes, whether committed or attempted, are entitled to be registered in the Register”.
The Register will indicate the duration of the mandate and the data of the organization where the mandate was carried out. “The regions, through the competent regional structure, propose to the retired mayors who meet the requirements, as recognition for the activity carried out, registration in the Register”. which will be published on the institutional website of the region.