September 2022, Year XIV, n. 9
Marco Bucci
The Commissioner Mayor
Telos: Every time someone talks about the direct election of the Prime Minister, people use the very evocative expression “Mayor of Italy”. So, is it true that Mayors have, in the administration of their own city, more power than the Prime Minister has today?
Marco Bucci: Mayor don’t have more power than the Prime Minister. I wish they did! They certainly have better knowledge of the local area and a direct relationship with the city and its citizens. The city administration must be seen as a facilitator, not as something foreign to the city. That was our attitude in Genoa. In my role as Mayor, I often go to Rome, even more frequently after being appointed Commissioner, which in September 2021 was extended for another year. I understood how important it is for the good of Genoa to have a constructive relationship with the government. What we’ve done and are doing in Genoa is important not only for the nation but for Europe ...more
Editorial
A commissioner? You mean, like a police commissioner? Like Inspector Montalbano from the world-famous Sicilian TV and book series? Not really, or maybe a bit. For Marco Bucci, Mayor of Genoa and our guest in the September issue of PRIMOPIANOSCALAc, being appointed “Commissioner for the reconstruction of the Polcevera viaduct” [Editor’s note: the Morandi Bridge] has meant and still means constantly having to make sure things are in accordance with the law.
In our interview, the Morandi Bridge was inevitably a big talking point. The Commissioner-Mayor, as we’ve decided to call him, succinctly illustrates the constant conflict of interests he had to face in these two roles: “as Commissioner my goal was to quickly demolish the bridge in absolute compliance with all the rules, as Mayor, to safeguard citizens’ health”. Bucci just started his second term a few months ago after getting re-elected last June. Let’s not forget that he was the first centre-right Mayor of Genoa since the introduction of the direct election of the mayor and the first to lead an executive that wasn’t connected to the centre-left since 1975 ...more
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