Calabria, Occhiuto: ‘I won't let them stop me, I'm resigning and running again’

Reggio Calabria, 31 July (LaPresse) – ‘But why, when someone tries to do something good in this region, do so many others – who only enjoy Calabria's failure – want to stop them? That's what's happening in Calabria today.’ These are the words of the president of the Calabria Region, Roberto Occhiuto, in a video posted on social media. "I decided to bring you here to show you this construction site, the Catanzaro metro construction site. But I could have brought you to many other places in Calabria – to Sibari, to the Sibaritide hospital; to Vibo, to the Vibo hospital; to Palmi; to the airport construction sites; to those on the SS106 – to show you how many projects are being carried out and how many projects people would like to stop today. Who would like to stop them, the judiciary? No, I have nothing against the judiciary. I have not changed my mind: I have always said that in a complicated region like Calabria, magistrates must do their job in peace. On the other hand, I have clarified everything, I have nothing to fear from the judicial investigation. Do you know who I am angry with? I am angry with all these second-rate politicians, all those who have never achieved anything for Calabria in politics in so many years. I have a problem with these haters, with these people who are angry with life, who cheer for Calabria's failure, who are almost happy when people speak ill of Calabria. I have a problem with those who use the judicial investigation as a club to weaken or politically kill the president of the region: it will not be so. However, I must also consider what is happening in my administration. Look, I think that in a civilised country, no one should resign because they receive a notice of investigation, no one. But in my administration today, everything is at a standstill: no one is taking responsibility for signing anything, everyone thinks that this experience is like the previous ones. Over the last 30 years in Calabria, in the last year or year and a half of the legislature, presidents have been involved in judicial investigations, which may then have been dismissed, ending in nothing, but they were politically decapitated, and the legislature came to a halt. In fact, for a year, that was all anyone talked about. Calabria cannot afford this. Calabria has embarked on a path that is finally making it a region that is no longer on its knees compared to other regions of Italy. So I decided to resign, but I also decided to run again. I decided to say to the people of Calabria: you write the future of Calabria, you decide whether Calabria should stop or whether this work should continue. In a few weeks, therefore, we will go to the polls, and it will be the people of Calabria who decide the future of Calabria, not others,' concluded President Occhiuto.