Marino defies calls for his resignation

ROME- Mayor Ignazio Marino is fighting calls for him to resign amid a parking fines scandal, anti-immigration riots in the suburbs and a Democratic Party ‘diktat’ ultimatum. 

 The past two weeks haven’t been easy for Marino and his administration as the majority of Roman citizens and politicians, from both sides of the spectrum, have accused him of underestimating and neglecting the reality of the situation in the city’s outskirts.

 Despite Marino’s visit to Tor Sapienza, where on Nov. 11 clashes took place between police and residents protesting against a new refugee centre, public opinion doesn’t seem to have swayed in his favour. It appears as though residents do not believe the mayor’s promises of restoring the precarious situation.  

 From the political administration, Marino doesn’t garner either sympathy or consideration among his former supporters especially after the parking fine scandal in which the mayor was accused of using an expire parking permit at the expense of taxpayers.

 Minister of the interior Angelino Alfano attacked the mayor, accusing him of not redistributing and correctly using emergency funding. Around 450 million euros was awarded by the government under the name – Decreto Salva Roma- of which 150 million was actually distributed and 80 already used for the opening of one part of the Metro C line.

 Also from the Democratic Party, who originally backed Marino’s mayoral candidacy, came a ‘diktat’ ultimatum which threatened that, “either Marino is going to change a consistent part of the Council or we are going to look forward to a new mayor’s election.”

 Yesterday Pope Francis also seemed to point his words towards the problems in Tor Sapienza, calling for tolerance towards immigrants, a comment that surely reflects the gravity of the current situation and the position that Marino is facing.

 According to the recent poll by SWG, committed by the Democratic Party, out of 2000 Romans interviewed, only 20 percent think Marino is doing a good job, the remaining 80 percent think that Marino has done nothing significant for Rome. A revealing statistic considering that Marino gained an impressive 64 percent when he won the election against Alemanno.  

 Despite the criticism, Marino seems to be committed to keep his role and rebuffed each accusation ad personam that has been raised in the past weeks.

 Indeed, he agreed with the Democratic Party that there needed to be a proper ‘clear out’ of the Council, abandoning certain members that were counterproductive for the administration.

 According to sources in the main office of Campidoglio, there are some Council members at risk of being ousted such as Giovanni Caudo -Council member for Infrastructure- and Guido Improta- member for Mobility-. The reason seemed to be the necessity of improving these two sectors that are suffering the most from the capital’s current administration.

 In addition to this possible reshuffle, the previous resignation of Francesco d’Ausilio from the Democratic Party’s office (he allegedly took responsibility for the SWG investigation that discredited Marino) was a significant event which reflects the ongoing tensions between Marino and the council. The incident indicates the mayor’s determination to keep his job and to restore his credibility in the public and political spheres at any cost.