Valle d'Aosta, Testolin confirmed as president. Fi in the majority, centre-right splits

Renzo Testolin has been confirmed as president of the Valle d'Aosta. A 57-year-old Union Valdôtaine member and financial consultant, he has been president of the region since March 2023. The regional council elected him today with 21 votes out of 35. Testolin is at the head of an autonomist-driven majority in which Forza Italia has joined, instead of the PD. In the last regional elections he was the most voted candidate with 3,808 preferences. In the small Alpine region there is no direct election of the governor, who is elected by the renewed regional council (35 members).

After dominating the 28 September regional elections with his Union valdôtaine (32% of the vote and 12 seats out of 35), Testolin is thus confirmed as president of Valle d'Aosta with a radically different majority from the previous legislature: no longer with the PD, but with Forza Italia, Azione, and the centre autonomists of Stella Alpina and Rassemblement valdôtain. Fratelli d'Italia and Lega remain in opposition and the centre-right, which had presented itself as a coalition, is shattered. 'The closure of the agreement for the new regional council represents, in our opinion, the most serious political and strategic error that could be made for the future of Valle d'Aosta at this crucial moment,' thundered Enzo Amich, commissioner of the party of Premier Giorgia Meloni in Valle d'Aosta.

Testolin presented the majority programme to the courtroom. Forty-three pages of resolutions with one watchword: 'sustainability'. 'Our autonomy,' he said, 'must be concretely interpreted in a dynamic vision, with the decisive exercise of our competences and the defence of our identity, so that the spirit of pride and belonging to the community, which has somewhat waned over the years, can be reinvigorated. To this end, it will be necessary to consolidate the transparent and loyal dialogue with the national government'. Testolin's goal is to open a channel of dialogue and cooperation with the centre-right national government, which has so far remained politically distant.

With the blue party, the Union valdôtaine has reached a 'political programmatic' agreement to deal with the national government on some of the key dossiers that the Testolin bis junta must urgently resolve: first and foremost, protecting the regional hydroelectric giant Cva, avoiding the loss of concessions vital to the Valle d'Aosta economy, and reforming the special statute of autonomy, strengthening regional prerogatives.

Forza Italia will have a representative in the government team: the expert councillor Mauro Baccega has been indicated as councillor for the budget (not without the belly ache of councillor Marco Sorbara, the most voted member of the list). The executive will then be completed by five councillors from the Union valdotaine and two from the Autonomists of the Centre