N recent days and the commissioner of finance Formia has announced that by the end of February will be installed in place of the gazebo to meet the demands of citizens on the Budget participated. "This is - says councilor - to give as concrete and visible management on proposals and suggestions coming from the citizens on the needs and concrete action by the city ." jump on the chair, I naturally like a applause. Finally - I think - is open to direct democracy. ... But then I read: "... Recommendations that will be screened by the authorities and subsequently included in the budget document to bring to the discussion and approval by the City Council .
Fine words, indeed. All right, then collect the requests that come from citizens, but .... all here? Two, three gazebos in the coming weekend in anticipation of the discussion of the budget, but then will still decide the City Council discuss this issue again and to participate, maybe next year?
bring you all in the first paragraph of the article to which I have heard the news and the question becomes clear: the news is the aftermath of the grant received by the Lazio region of € 10 000 to allow some form of public participation in the budget the municipality. The impression that emerges is that it may be just the umpteenth sweetener against direct democracy, an expression that in its various terms and expressions continuously and is now literally swallowed up by the parties and the institutions which they interpret in their own way, emptying it of its original meaning and the potential for real transformation of the ways in which public affairs are managed today. In short, the "participation " proposal in this case it seems neither more nor less than an opportunity to spend a little more 'money, pick up some tips if the majority agrees to turn and pull straight line's Office of Policy and Planning parties and the interests they represent.
The fundamental error in the same words can be seen talking to the councilor of participatory budgeting defines it as " a process of direct democracy whereby citizens are called to speak in order to achieve things for the territory . Oh no, this is not "express" in direct democracy the citizens are called to "decide" .
Participation in the municipal budget is only one of the ways in which they can express and direct democracy can not be reduced to a few square gazebo, but it is decision making that involves citizens in person through which we can reach to determine projects that the community considers most urgent and useful. It passes through the calling of meetings of the district, the proposal and public discussion of the various proposals and agreed to define the necessity and the validity, feasibility studies carried out together with the technical and administrative offices of the municipality, the choice of priorities made in a democratic way and agreed that the Administration is committed to achieving, in its capacity as executor of the will of the people, and finally and not least, the detailed verification of the implementation process.
There is limited then only the aspects bilancistici as the participatory mechanisms of direct democracy should be applied to other strategic sectors crucial to the government of a territory, first of all For example, the definition of the New Plan that will undoubtedly have an important role in the future socio-economic and urban city.
So, if you do not smoke, instead of spending it in useless Euri handful of "gazebo", they are used to make available to citizens throughout the city one or more salt to the neighborhood assemblies in which citizens can begin to participate freely without the "filter" and the mediation of other "elected" and to inform them adequately on administrative procedures and problems to be assessed, and above all bring the innovations and changes necessary to ensure the participation of citizens in governance of the country at last - more than 60 years after the proclamation of our Constitution - began to be realized, just starting our municipalities.
This transformation is a long and difficult and is one of the battles as MoVimento 5 Stars support forever. We need to start somewhere and if this administration will have the courage to do so, as is already happening in many municipalities in Italy, at least on this topic, will have all our cooperation as citizens to whom the press and not the common interest personal or partisan and provided that the facts and not rumors. Otherwise we will do everything to prevent any form of demagogic manipulation.
sovereignty and dignity of citizens to the institutions
John Nocella
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