Sala: 'My hands are clean', call for political responsibility

"Are we afraid of Milan's verticalisation? I think it is wrong to be afraid of it. How can we gain more space for sociality, for greenery, for the revitalisation of the city if we do not delegate to verticality functions of living and working that this city, fortunately, continues to need so much?", the mayor of the Lombard capital said again.

The answers to the 'structural problems' of a 'city that is becoming a metropolis' have always been 'decidedly progressive', with the aim of 'making Milan grow on a path that holds together the reasons for development and support for those who are struggling'. At the same time, 'we can do more', for example, 'we must ensure that the next urban developments pay more attention to public services, work on the extraordinary housing plan and on vacant flats, including those of the Region, improve local public transport, public green spaces, improve the care of each neighbourhood,' Sala said, claiming what has been done in the years of his mandate already completed and accepting the call for a change of pace on some issues made to him by forces in his majority.

"We must be aware and also proud of our path: with the financial instruments at our disposal, we have always acted towards openness to progress. We have made budgets together, and we have made choices together, in the spirit of the other large cities governed by the centre-left. Not everything is perfect, but we must observe the historical trajectory under the three centre-left unions: the most suitable line of development for a city that has always expressed dialogue and international attractiveness. Isn't it? Let us think about it. It is said that we have left too much room for private property interests. The Pirellino affair says otherwise. We have spent a billion euros on social services. Can more be done? More must always be done, and woe betide those who shy away from this debate'. "I am here to reiterate the fact that nothing has ever been spared to balance the issue of economic development with the growth of public services aimed at helping people who have seen their financial, housing, and social difficulties worsen," Sala added.

'It is a delicate moment for many reasons that have to do with my person,' Sala began. "These are confusing days in which everything seems to become obscure, certainties seem to waver, and even the best-known figures seem to get confused. And that is why I want to be very clear'. "It is a source of great distress that I am involved in the investigation," he continued. "I have thought seriously, and I have talked about it with the family, about the possibility of not going on," Sala said again. "It is 16 years that I have given professionally and humanly everything I have for Milan," he added, "and if I still find motivation and energy it is not for my personal satisfaction, but for a very simple reason, for the teaching I had from my father: when I realised that I would not follow in his footsteps, he told me 'choose the job you want but remember that I will be watching you and I want to be sure that you are doing your duty'".

'I do not pass judgement on the work of the judiciary,' Sala continued, 'but I cannot refrain from pointing out a recurring behaviour in this country that I consider deeply wrong. The media also report that, according to the judiciary, it would not have been necessary to notify me of anything because there was no need to carry out investigations in which the suspect is expected to participate. Why was this information released to the media? And I ask you, fellow politicians, if this is still OK with you'.

"Justice and politics have to deal with different spheres," the mayor of Milan went on to say, adding that 'our response to what is happening must be political, in the highest tradition of Milan, with the aim of intervening to improve the lives of the citizens who have the most difficulty'.

"Certain politicians" who have "ungainly behaviour" are "making a mistake", he continued, adding that if this is done to get "a headline" on the local pages that is fine but "if you do it to destabilise me you don't stand a chance, in life I have dealt with things that are a hundred times more serious".

"To councillor Marcora, who felt he had a moment of fame by posting a picture of me dressed as a convict, I want to say that I have reported his gesture to his party leadership, the Prime Minister and the President of the Senate," Sala added again, addressing Fratelli d'Italia councillor Enrico Marcora, who published, then deleted, a post with Sala dressed as a convict. 'What they replied to me I keep for myself,' he added, 'Now I will see: if the political force you joined will make your career, it will mean that you share and support its behaviour. If this does not happen, the party that governs our nation has a minimum of institutional respect and cares about it'.

This was Enrico Marcora's reply: 'You have to answer our questions, not the posts, you are a little mayor'. 'The post I made I found on the net,' Marcora explained, 'it's a satirical post, Crozza would have said 'poor Milan, how we are tanned with this mayor'. Marcora then recalled that 'I was elected in his list and then I left because I didn't like what I saw. Then I stood as a candidate with Fratelli d'Italia and was elected in Fratelli d'Italia'.

'I have resigned from the post of councillor' for Urban Regeneration of the Municipality of Milan. This was announced by the councillor Giancarlo Tancredi, taking the floor in the City Council after Mayor Beppe Sala's speech. "It is an experience that I close unhappily," but "my conscience is clear," Tancredi said.