Andrea Casu, the new deputy elected in Rome who speaks Sardinian

But also the success of Andrea Casu is overwhelming and takes place precisely in those suburbs that in recent years had always turned their backs on the PD and the center-left: with over 43% of the votes he enters the Chamber of Deputies and returns to Parliamentary in the austere ones rooms where his father took him, while still a student, to get to know the Montecitorio Library, one of the most significant places of culture and history on the Italian scene.

How did your passion for politics arise?

“Among the school desks, I saw Rome transform thanks to the action of the Mayor Rutelli and I recognized myself in the national battle of Romano Prodi. When the first Government of the Olive Tree fell I was only 17 years old but I felt that I had to do more to defend my ideas. Together with a dear friend, we asked ourselves which party was the best to do so and we realized that it did not yet exist: then we chose the Democrats to build a large Democratic Party in Italy and commit ourselves directly to our city. I have never stopped since then ”.

It comes at a difficult time in the legislature. How do you see the political situation today?

"The end of this legislature coincides with the beginning of the new world beyond Covid. The virus has changed everything, even politically we cannot look to the post-pandemic with the categories we had before. To face the emergency and the crisis in the territories, we stronger social networks are formed, in the tragedy we understood that no one is saved alone, solidarity has won, not individualism. Now the challenge is to make the protagonist of the rebirth those who were at the forefront of the battle to give life to a new and a broad political and social coalition of the center-left, capable of defeating the right of Salvini and Meloni in 2023. Our secretary Enrico Letta has chosen to open a new political phase through the agora precisely to build a new alliance starting from the themes and people . The administrative victory shows that we are walking in the right direction ".

In the meantime, start from the great success of Roberto Gualtieri, as a Roman what will you expect from the new mayor not in the first 100 days but in the first 10 days?

"It is thanks to the commitment of Roberto Gualtieri as Political Minister of Economy of the Conte II Government that Italy has the 200 billion Pnrr to spend on the ecological, digital and social transition. An unrepeatable opportunity, which we cannot waste . Roberto made a choice of love for Rome, he has the right qualities to give it back its role as European and world capital and heal the deep wounds that run through our neighborhoods, especially in the suburbs. Where the problems are greatest we must double ours. efforts, as was the case in the years of the great Mayors Petroselli, Rutelli and Veltroni. In the first 10 days we have already achieved some results thanks to the amendments to the Infrastructure DL to sign an agreement with Anas against potholes and unblock the long-standing affair of the Rome motorway Latina ".

Raggi attributed to President Zingaretti the blame for the now famous wild boars wandering in the Eternal City, an accusation rejected to the sender. How do you rate the 5-star administration?

"Rome has never been so dirty, perpetually on the verge of a health emergency, with piles of waste everywhere. This also pushes wild boars, seagulls and other animals to invade the streets in search of food. Gualtieri's first commitment is to clean the city, collaborating with the Region that with Nicola Zingaretti has always been at the forefront to do the good of the city. The Romans are not interested in the controversies and blameworthiness of the past but in the solutions in the present, as soon as the extraordinary cleaning starts also in the streets that no one has been cleaning for a long time, you will see that we will also see more people and fewer wild boars walking around on our sidewalks ".

There are so many problems on the carpet. Let's start with pensions. You are a young man who has a career horizon of almost thirty years ahead of him. What do you ask the government from the majority benches?

"The PD's position on pensions is clear and our secretary Letta expressed it through three key words: women, young people and strenuous jobs. We must think of both today's retirees and tomorrow's. I fully recognize myself in this line".

The new budget law is about to be passed.

"In the new Budget Law we are fighting as a Democratic Party to increase funding on the country's strategic priorities and consolidate social cohesion by investing in health, education, work and sustainability, with an ever-special focus on women and the youngest. the strengthening of funds on culture announced by Minister Franceschini will be fundamental and will affect all sectors and territories, from cinema and entertainment to the protection of cultural heritage, from contrasting the depopulation of the villages to the extension of the bonus facades ".

The Zan bill on homotransphobia was rejected. What went wrong with your party's strategy?

"It was a black page for democracy. The majority of Senators did not limit themselves to rejecting the Zan bill, they chose to hide behind the secret ballot with the aim of blowing the bank despite the openings made by Secretary Letta. L The ramshackle applause that followed the vote shows that there has never been any desire for dialogue on the part of the right. The battle for rights and against all forms of hatred and discrimination does not stop, the reactions of these hours show that the Italian society is far ahead of Parliament ".

The provision for the recognition of insularity in the Constitution was recently discussed in the classroom. Will it be possible by the end of the legislature to bring home this historic result triggered by a great mobilization of the Sardinians?

"The historic result for which we must fight is to ensure that recognition of insularity is matched by concrete interventions to offer all citizens the same levels of performance for all services, from transport costs to energy costs. they can disregard geography, living on an island involves objective disadvantages which the legal system must take into account ".

It seems right to her that any Italian from the Peninsula or Sicily to arrive in Sardinia on vacation, including emigrants and therefore she too, starting from Rome or Milan, must spend 3 times more than a resident Sardinian, as happened up to 15 October last. ?

"On the issue of territorial continuity, both air and sea, an intervention is always necessary in the direction of guaranteeing all citizens the right to the same levels of services. It is a responsibility that concerns everyone, from the Region to Europe. I know that the national coordinator Marco Meloni and all the Sardinian parliamentarians of the PD are at the forefront of the battle and I joined the Transport Commission also to give a hand ".

You support Turin while Andrea Marcucci from Palazzo Madama waves the Cagliari flag. There is something wrong?

"I fell in love with garnet colors as a child, and I never betrayed them. From my football faith I learned that in life as on the pitch before the result, which never depends only on you, commitment always counts. do your best and play with your heart you never lose ".

When do you go back to Sardinia what are you looking for on the island?

"That feeling you get on a ferry or plane when you still don't see the earth but you already feel that something has changed in the air, that scent and that lively silence that always keeps you company, even when you are alone. Only those who carry inside if a piece of Sardinia can understand what I mean ".

LP