Beleaguered Rome Mayor Ignazio
Marino was expected to shuffle his council executive on Tuesday
amid intense pressure coming not only from city residents but
from across Italy and even internationally.
Even as Marino announced plans on Friday to fix Rome's
chronically dysfunctional public transport system, including
firing managers, Italian newspapers were filled with headlines
of the capital city's decline coming from such publications as
The New York Times.
Valeria Fedeli, Senate deputy speaker, said the clock is
ticking for Marino to take serious measures to clean up Rome.
"It is unclear" why the Italian capital "cannot be as clean
as other European capitals," Fedeli, a member of Marino's
centre-left Democratic Party (PD), told the RAI 3 program Agora
Estate on Monday.
"Marino has 24 hours to present a team and decide the
program quickly to solve Rome's problems".
Marino has also been hit with the fall-out from a major
investigation that uncovered mafia infiltration of Rome city
agencies, including lucrative housing and support services for
migrants.
Marino has not been named in that investigation but his
predecessor, Gianni Alemanno has been included in the probe.
As he prepared to shuffle Rome's council, Marino was
consulting with Matteo Orfini, chairman of the PD which is led
by Premier Matteo Renzi.
Orfini was named commissioner for the PD's Rome branch
earlier this year amid the Mafia Capitale scandal.
On Friday, Marino announced he would replace the board of
directors at the publicly held ATAC transportation company, and
would fire managers under whose watch the city's transport
system has degenerated into chaos.
"I have decided to...change the ATAC board and remove all
managers responsible for the inefficiencies," Marino said, amid
numerous strikes, accidents, and other problems in the
transportation system.
His next move was to ask transportation city council
member Guido Improta to step down.
"An immediate change of direction is needed," the mayor
said.
The shortlist of eligible candidates for the post of new
councillor for transportation reportedly includes women such as
Anna Donati, former councillor for transportation in Bologna and
in Naples, sources said.
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