Florence: Commission postpones vote on citizenship for Albanese

Florence, 3 December (LaPresse) – ‘At this moment, the conditions for honorary citizenship do not exist; there are not enough votes in the City Council. Mayor Funaro has taken a strong stance. What I am trying to reaffirm is the main content of the act: we want the contents of the report that Francesca Albanese wrote for the UN to be recognised.’ This is how Stefania Collesei, PD city councillor and chair of the Peace Commission of the City of Florence, explained the decision to postpone the vote on the resolution proposed by Dmitrij Palagi, of Sinistra Progetto Comune, entitled “Solidarity and honorary citizenship for Francesca Albanese”, UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian territories. During the committee’s proceedings, Collesei announced that a number of amendments to the text of the resolution would be discussed at the next meeting, including a proposal to recognise Albanese’s work, which could take the form of a conference in Palazzo Vecchio on the UN Special Rapporteur’s reports. According to Caterina Arciprete of Avs-Ecolò, “we must work to find a concrete form of recognition, so that it is also a recognition of Francesca Albanese and not just her report”, and for this reason “a conference is welcome but not enough, we need to work within the majority to take a further step”. Finally, for Palagi, “there is a political responsibility on the part of the mayor, who chose on Monday to bring forward the discussion without allowing us to explain our arguments” and “for us, it is essential that there be recognition for Albanese that makes it clear that she is welcome in this city”.