Toti case, excluding the commissionership of the Liguria Region: the reins go to vice-president Piana

Doubts about who will take the governor's place in the regional council

GENOA – An intertwining of the anti-corruption provisions of the Severino law and the Statute of the Liguria Region. These are intense hours for the legislative offices of the regional council and council, after the arrest, among others, of the governor Giovanni Toti and his chief of staff, Matteo Cozzani. Sources in the legislative assembly exclude the possible use of a commissioner. The reins of the Region pass temporarily and automatically to the vice-president of the Region, the Northern League member Alessandro Piana. Article 41 of the Statute of the Region, in fact, in paragraph 2 states that “the vice-president replaces the president in the event of temporary impediment”. Toti, however, as president of the council, is also an official regional councilor. A position from which, as a result of the Severino law, he was suspended due to house arrest.

In this case, things become more complex for subrogation. There is a precedent, in the last legislature, of Matteo Rosso: the then group leader of the Brothers of Italy had been suspended by the legislative assembly following the conviction in the first instance in the context of the trial on the so-called ” crazy expenses”. Until Rosso’s reinstatement ordered by the Genoa court, Augusto Sartori took his place, the first of those not elected in the Genoese constituency from which Rosso came. But Toti does not have a college of origin, since he is a member of the regional council by right. In the meantime, the offices in Via Fieschi explain, a decree from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers is needed, which certifies Toti’s suspension as a councilor. Then, the uncertain game of subrogation will open. If the task fell to the unelected councilor who received the greatest number of preferences among all four constituencies, the person to enter the chamber would be Maurizio Morabito from Bordigo.