The long-awaited comparison of the candidates for the presidency of the Region organized by Coldiretti has begun. Only Lucia Chessa (Sardinia R-esiste) is missing, while Renato Soru (Coalizione Sarda), Alessandra Todde (Campo Largo), Paolo Truzzu (centre-right) are present .
The Fair pavilion is full: almost two thousand in the audience. The president of Coldiretti Battista Cualbu and the director Luca Saba introduced the debate.
The formula: eight questions each and four minutes to answer on the topics of agriculture, territorial governance, energy, water, territorial continuity and transport, bureaucracy .
Agriculture, department and agencies
The first question concerns the vision of the Agriculture Department and the reform of the agencies .
Renato Soru is the first to respond. "The department needs to be reorganized and filled with human skills." As for the agencies, the staff has increased but the number of those providing technical assistance in the fields has decreased. We propose to refocus the three agencies, Laore goes back to providing assistance with agronomists and veterinarians, new training is needed. For practices of any origin, a new agency is needed, a single point of contact, and this agency is Argea. Agris, which deals with research, must enter Laore ."
For Alessandra Todde the key word is " discontinuity ": «Skills are needed to understand how to enhance the sector. If we are late on CAP payments, how can we tell a young person who wants to become an agricultural entrepreneur that he can be trusted ." Todde proposes «the reform of the department and agencies, restoring research and not overlapping responsibilities». Furthermore, "the Department of Agriculture cannot be in Cagliari but close to the farmers" .
For Truzzu, " we need to invest in people, but we don't always have the opportunity to choose them. I ask agricultural associations to help us identify people with competence ."
Bureaucracy and delays
Second question on bureaucracy and delays, again within the Agriculture Department. For Todde "we need a profound review of the entire administration machine, promoting the digitization and integration of data so that they are the real assets of those who have to manage the files". Truzzu recalls that «today we have the possibility of managing a lot of data. This helps us make the right choices and give timely responses to those who work in this sector." Soru reiterates that "to speed up and provide certainty we need to refocus the agencies' mandate".
Territorial government
Third question on the government of the territory and on the opportunity to free the encumbered lands. The centre-right candidate Truzzu admits that «I like the environment with man inside: I intend to review the PPR and work on a new urban plan, also to bring the lands back to full use, because shepherds and farmers are the first guardians of our environment." Soru of the Sardinian Coalition recalls that «land is a common good that must be recovered. As? It's not easy but it has to be done." On the government of the territory "we must complete the PPR, but first we need to approve an urban planning law that facilitates the approval of the PPR, otherwise we will only know the constraints of the PPR". Todde del Campo largo: «We propose a framework law on territorial governance that gives guidelines for a new urban planning law. We must have an urban planning office, a structure that can guide in the interpretation of the rules."
Water, energy and food
Water, energy and food are the other three issues posed by Coldiretti. In particular , on the topic of renewables, Truzzu thinks that «to make Sardinia self-sufficient we need to identify places for renewables, perhaps starting from compromised areas such as industrial ones. What is certain is that it was a mistake to give up gas: in the energy transition phase, gas is necessary." Soru recalled that "sun and wind are our oil", but that not only others can benefit from them. For Todde "we are under attack, we need to make a map of the suitable areas, the Region could have done it, it didn't do it".
Fourth question on food as a strategic axis and on production in Sardinia with reference to logistics problems. Fifth on the theme of water and the sustainability of water resources . For Todde «it is necessary to review the functioning of the reclamation consortia. We are moving towards a context of climate change with drought to manage: we want to set up a regional energy company to reduce bills and so that the water from the reservoirs can be used for agricultural purposes." Truzzu recalls that «water is a fundamental good not only for agriculture. The next conflicts will break out over the control of water. Sardinia has a reservoir capacity equal to the whole of Southern Italy and a large part of the reservoirs are connected." Soru declares that «we have great capacity to capture water, but we must move forward with the testing work on the dams. European funds are conditional on the reuse of wastewater."
The energy controversy
The debate organized by Coldiretti only heated up at the end, once again on renewable energy, directly involving the centre-left candidates Renato Soru (Sardinian Coalition) and Alessandra Todde (Campo Largo). The first recalled that «on the assault on wind power, the Campo Largo candidate blames the Region for not making a map of the useful areas, but the blame lies with those who thought that the installation of these mega parks was a It is a work of public interest, and as such, expropriations could only be carried out with the authorization of the Ministry of the Environment. At the ministry, with Draghi, there was someone who authorized this. We can't blame others, sometimes you have to take it on yourself, in fact you have to take it all on yourselves. There is someone who in the past governed with Salvini, with the left, and with Draghi." Todde, who was deputy minister of economic development in the Draghi government, replied that «the Draghi decree has an article 4 where it is written that the autonomous regions have 180 days to identify suitable areas and if Sardinia does not 'he did is certainly guilty." Then: «I was technical deputy minister, I wasn't a member of parliament, and I didn't have the opportunity to vote. In Renato Soru's team there are Giuseppe Luigi Cucca who was a senator and Romina Mura president of the Labor commission in the Chamber, who voted for that decree. So Soru ask them."
The nomination
Last question. Cualbu and Saba asked the candidates if they will be ready to appoint a significant Agriculture Councilor, without observing the Cencelli manual and if they will be available to indicate it even before the others. The three clarified that the councilors will be appointed all together and not in time different.
