Premier Giorgia Meloni on Monday
asked Naples protesters to give her government the chance to
show it can change things during a visit to the southern city to
sign an agreement for the renewal of its Bagnoli and Coroglio
districts with Mayor Gaetano Manfredi.
"I saw that there are demonstrators outside - from the slogans I
would say that they are from (left-wing) social centres, but if
they were not, if they were citizens' committees, I would say
that I understand them," Meloni said at the ceremony to sign the
agreement.
"So many promises have been made and betrayed here in the past.
"But I would tell them to give us a chance to show that things
can be changed.
"The state, the institutions are in Bagnoli, and they have
decided to show their face (and commit to solving) a
long-standing problem, which has been going on for so long that
citizens are convinced it cannot be solved.
"But the political world must set itself the challenge of
achieving difficult goals, not easy ones.
"It is the only way to show that politicians are not all the
same, and it is the only way to bring citizens closer to the
institutions".
The Memorandum of Understanding signed by Meloni and Manfredi
regards the appointment of an extraordinary commissioner for the
Bagnoli-Coroglio area and the implementation of 1.2-billion-euro
environmental reclamation and urban regeneration programme.
Urban decay is a major problem for Bagnoli, which used to be
home to a major steelworks plant.
"We will do what needs to be done," Meloni continued.
"To those who thought that these territories were doomed, that
they had no hope, that they could only be maintained with
welfarism, we will show these people that they were very wrong,
that much more can be done, in a different way.
"And (we will show) you can put these territories in a position
to compete on equal terms and prove their worth".
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