Eternal City power vaccuum after mayor ousted

On his bike: Marino

Rome -- The resignation of flamboyant mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino could herald a nightmare for authorities if the Eternal City is rudderless during the upcoming Jubilee, political experts said Friday.

On Thursday night, after a chaotic beginning of the week in which the mayor was brutally accused by the media regarding his involvement in a mushrooming ‘credit card’ expenses affair, Marino- discredited also by his own party- decided to resign.

 The main accusation against Marino from political opposition parties such as Movimento 5 Stelle and Fratelli D’Italia was the alleged misuse of a city credit card in order to pay for lavish dinners and foreign travels worth some 20,000 euros.

 Marino on Thursday morning handed to the Capital accounts department a cheque for 19,800 euros, the exact amount of his city credit card expenses.

 However this was not enough to repair his image or calm down the Democratic party, which had just been waiting for the ‘last straw that broke the camel's back,’so as to get rid of him.

 At midday on Thursday three other city officials resigned (vice mayor, Marco Causi and council members Stefano Esposito and Luigina Di Liegro), heralding Marino’s throwing in the towel.

 “Rome needs honesty, not politics” was Marino’s campaign slogan in 2013. His demise was a sad epilogue, considering that he had won that election with the 63.9%, an absolute and unprecedented majority.

 It would perhaps be hypocrital to deny Marino’s significant efforts in resolving some of the capital’s problems even if he left many others untouched.

 During these two years, he was the first mayor able to make the the Forum and the most famous “Tridente” a pedestrian area.

 Then he closed on October 2013, Malagrotta, the biggest garbage dump in Europe.

 In July 2014, the mayor initiated a spending review that would allow Rome to save up about 400 million euros in the following three years.

 However, public opinion and the Democratic Party had always been sceptical about his flamboyant public and private images. Indeed, in the last two years, Marino has been pressed many times to resign but until now stubbornly fought back to hang on to his job.

 His resignation leaves the city still heavily indebted as the special Jubilee called by Pope Francis draws near. But Prime Minister Matteo Renzi reportedly is considering several candidates to replace Marino including popular Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, political sources say.  

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