Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
SYRACUSE – A fierce stance has shaken the political landscape of the Syracuse capital. Over the ongoing problems, pressure drops and service failures affecting the city’s water supply, Luca Cannata, vice-chair of the Budget Committee in the Chamber of Deputies, has launched a frontal attack on Syracuse mayor Francesco Italia and MP Giuseppe Carta.
“A failing model and a lack of public control”
According to the Fratelli d’Italia MP, the current state of the water network epitomises a management failure that directly penalises the public:
“Continuous cuts, pressure drops and service failures: water service management in Syracuse has become the symbol of a political and administrative failure. Citizens are paying the price for a model that guarantees neither efficiency nor certainty. Mayor Francesco Italia and MP Giuseppe Carta designed and backed a model that is now showing all its limitations, unable to manage the transition from the old to the new operator and creating a system that risks slipping beyond genuine public control.”
The Aretusacque issue and the €21m dispute
Cannata highlights the institutional and corporate clash over the legal nature of the management company Aretusacque S.p.A., urging an urgent meeting of the ATI Mayors’ Assembly:
“Despite an open dispute over the legal nature of Aretusacque S.p.A., the ATI chair Francesco Italia has yet to convene the Mayors’ Assembly to address the issue collectively. The legal opinion obtained by the ATI classifies the company as subject to public control, while the management board argues the opposite. On top of this is the major economic issue of the takeover value of around €21 million demanded by the previous operator. We must prevent the economic consequences of these choices from falling on Syracuse’s citizens.”
The appeal: “Scrap the leadership and oust mayor Italia”
In the national MP’s view, managing public water requires a drastic and immediate turnaround that goes beyond technicalities to become an eminently political matter:
“We need to scrap the Aretusacque supervisory board and bring about a radical break in the governance of the ATI Idrico. But we also need a political consequence: the water affair is further proof of the failure of the Italia administration. We need to oust the mayor, give the people of Syracuse a voice and let the city turn the page. Syracuse cannot keep paying the price for wrong choices and an inability to manage essential public services.”
