Clemente Mastella Advocates for the Creation of 'Molisannio' Region to Strengthen Internal Areas

Relaunches and tries again. Clemente Mastella writes to his fellow mayors of Campobasso, Isernia, and Termoli and to the provincial presidents of the two capitals to revive the discussion on 'Molisannio', the region constituted by Sannio plus Molise and possibly also by the Alifana valley: an 'internal macro-area' to not succumb under the weight of larger territories, with more say in negotiations with the government. He writes after the initiative taken by some spontaneous committees that would like the annexation of the province of Isernia to Abruzzo. "I have learned from the media," writes Mayor Mastella in the letter, "that the initiative of some spontaneous committees has brought back the issue of the territorial reorganization of your region. In particular, I refer to the ongoing petition to propose the annexation of the province of Isernia to the Abruzzo region. It is evident that the reform of differentiated autonomy, which is under examination by Parliament, feeds perplexities and fears among the citizens for the real risk that the internal areas pay the highest price again and remain entangled in an uneven contest that would probably see them further humiliated. However, I do not believe that an annexation of Isernia to Abruzzo would be a useful or effective solution. The territory of Isernia would remain a mere appendage, a geographical frill of Abruzzo both for demographic reasons and for the scale of territorial dimensions." "Only with Molisannio," concludes the tenant of Palazzo Mosti, "would an 'internal macro-area' be composed capable of having greater bargaining power in the binary system State-Regions which already now focuses on the republican setup and which with autonomy would screw in a regionalistic centralism from which both Molise and the province of Benevento would probably be crushed. I therefore invite you to consider the possibility of recovering the option of Molisannio, even before on the plane of constitutional feasibility, on that of the concept, constructive debate and political reasoning to propose to the public opinions of the respective territories."