Rovigo’s ‘Curse’: Mayor Fires Fourth Councillor in Two Years

Rovigo’s centre-right administration is again under pressure after Mayor Valeria Cittadin dismissed Deputy Mayor Andrea Bimbatti, the fourth councillor she has removed in two years.

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I cannot reconsider my decision, we were overwhelmed by complaints and reports

Forza Italia said it was leaving the governing majority because it no longer had a representative in the executive. Regional coordinator Flavio Tosi said the party would not support replacing Bimbatti and criticized the timing of the explanation for the decision.

Cittadin rejected a proposal to reappoint Bimbatti as his own replacement. She said the positions were based on trust and that her relationship with him had broken down. The revocation decree appears to link the decision mainly to the urban-planning sector.

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Without any representatives left in the executive, we are outside the majority

The mayor said she had received a large number of complaints and reports about the department. She denied what she called fanciful accounts circulating in the city and said the reasons were those set out in the decree. She described the decision as painful but necessary.

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How could I reappoint a councillor I have just dismissed?

Rovigo has a long record of administrations ending before their full term. Since the city’s first directly elected mayor in 1994, only three administrations completed their terms. Cittadin nevertheless says she will stay on and is working with the general secretary on the department’s management positions.

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The reasons are and remain those I set out in the decree