"After two years of Covid and 500 fewer employees, I take it for granted that there could be some difference." The speaker is Paolo Truzzu, mayor of Cagliari until April 20, in response to Massimo Zedda who - last week - said he had found a worse city than the one he had inherited in 2011 from Delogu and Floris . "We have gone to great lengths on certain things," underlines the group leader of Fratelli d'Italia in the Regional Council, a guest on the program "A tu per tu" on Radiolina hosted by Alessandra Carta, "and I want to thank the employees who have always guaranteed services in a difficult period. What Zedda says seems to me to strip himself of his responsibilities and seek justifications for what he said during the election campaign: that's fine, but I also found something that wasn't right when I became mayor. But I rolled up my sleeves and didn't look for excuses or delegate to the deputy mayor ."
Truzzu had run for the regional elections, where he failed to win the challenge with Alessandra Todde also because he had little support in Cagliari, the city where he was mayor. "We were unable to explain in the best way that the sacrifices were made to improve the city," he admits. "I took Cagliari in 2019, which had 147 euros of investment per citizen, and I left it in 2023 with 375: it means that a great job was done . We did not pay attention to the small things, thinking about how to spend large resources. Why did I not run for a second term? It is not a question of prestige: in front of a coalition that repeatedly asked to participate in the regional elections, I made myself available."
In 2019, Truzzu won thanks to an electoral campaign largely based on the waste issue, a highly topical and controversial issue even today: «I arrived in the city with certain areas invaded by garbage. Today there are limited problems compared to the past, there is a problem of cleanliness because street cleaning was not planned but I saw that the Council is moving in this direction. If the street cleaner passes every day and the city is dirty there is a problem of incivility and lack of respect. But in these years the city has always been clean , there have been efforts and if everyone did their little bit we would all be happier».
On the topic of renewables, Truzzu and Fratelli d'Italia are in favor of Pratobello 24 («Our thinking is positive») and against what the Region has done («My personal opinion is that this bill is difficult to improve, our vote will be against») . His position is more detailed: « I believe that none of the Sardinians can be in favor of the assault and speculation, it seems to me to be widely demonstrated . At this time, Sardinia does not have a comprehensive strategy on the topic of energy: if there had been a roadmap, explaining the steps of the transition, the appreciation of the minority and citizens would probably have been different. Instead, I also see a bit of disillusionment on the part of those who voted for the center-left». With a proposal: «First analyze Pratobello 24, reiterating the basic principle that the definition of the areas in which to make the interventions is entirely regional competence and governments and the State come later. The text of the suitable areas is detailed, but the general situation is lost».
On healthcare, Truzzu emphasizes that the current difficulties are not only the result of the recent period: «I do not presume to have the solution, the problems are there and must be addressed. There are widely distributed responsibilities over the last fifteen to twenty years, with all sides. The population is older, there are ever-increasing costs and less staff: today, more than the activity of a single individual, we need an authoritative task force of people who are as detached from politics as possible and who have a clear idea of the next ten years of healthcare. With carte blanche to work». With a thought for the Health Councillor Bartolazzi: «He has shown little knowledge of Sardinian healthcare, but he is put in a position where he cannot operate by his own majority who would like to remove him and cannot» .
For the next five years, Truzzu will be a regional councilor ("The impression I have is of a majority that is wrapped up, without a strategy and that lives day by day: it is difficult even for us as an opposition, we have nothing to argue about because very little is happening") and in his party, Fratelli d'Italia, last month there was the handover from Antonella Zedda to Francesco Mura as regional coordinator ("In a few weeks she will begin to give her line, now there is still an in-depth discussion with the representatives and the organs of the party"). He does not regret not having chosen to be mayor for a second term: "No, also because when you run you do not know the result. The elections confirmed to me what I already knew: correctness does not always pay. There was a relentless attack against me, even with false news, by certain opposing groups . I tried to set up an electoral campaign on the proposal: it would have been easy to attack my opponent on renewables, I never did it because I wanted to bring an idea of Sardinia. A vision that they don't have: in the wide field I see a boiling pot, but they are good at masking the divergences".