December 2020, Year XII, n. 12
Enzo Bianco
The Mayor of Mayors
Telos: Every time there is talk of the direct election of the Prime Minister, the evocative expression “The Mayor of Italy” is used. Is it true that today Mayors, in administering their cities, have more power than the Prime Minister?
Enzo Bianco: Unfortunately, no. The direct election of the Mayor, which was adopted into the Italian system in 1993 as a result of pressure by the Referendum Movement of Mario Segni (I was his vice president) was one of the institutional reforms that worked best in our country. Just think that the average lifespan of a city administration in Italy was 11 months (in my city, Catania, only six!). Many citizens hardly even had time to learn their mayor’s name ...more
Editorial
Initially, this interview was supposed to be called “The President of the Mayors”, a tribute to the office of ANCI National Council President, which our guest, Enzo Bianco, has twice been unanimously elected to serve as by the Mayors of Italy.
But this would have been trivialising, if not misleading. Bianco – who in his life has worn political, government and even business hats of every kind – is and will always be the historic Mayor of Catania.
He served as Mayor for four terms, both before after the 1993 Law ushering in the direct election of the mayor, a reform he helped to architect along with Mario Segni ...more
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