Picking up on Adi’s comments re the recent elections in Rome [I will get back to the more general topic of the Italian political scene in a later post], I must say I share his concern over the most recent developments there.
To sum up, Sunday’s local elections in Rome saw an unlikely winner emerging - his name is Gianni Alemanno - a member of Berlusconi’s Party and a former fascist. Initially an underdog, he ran on an anti-crime, anti-immigration ticket, vowing to curb crime and to expel all illegal immigrants caught committing offenses. He was undoubtedly helped by a recent wave of crime perpetrated by Romanian immigrants.
I am concerned because this means that Italians are fed up with immigrants [and I am not going to question their justification here], and that may lead to a rising wave of intolerance.
Without further ado, let me give the floor to a person with much more insight than me on this issue, an actual Roman, who has agreed to give an ‘exclusive interview’ for datelinebucharest.com 
DC: have you seen we have a new major in rome
SB1: yeah
DC: a post-fascist!
SB1: yeah, crazy huh
SB1: what can you tell me about him?
DC: well
DC: personally he’s a very nice chap
DC: very devoted to politics
DC: I’ll tell you
DC: my friend is hard-leftist and kind of works for him
DC: he told me: I dont shre the views but I admire the man
DC: he started the campaign as the underdog
DC: with 20 % disadvantage
SB1: i see
SB1: so basically it’s an anti-crime ticket
SB1: what are his views on immigration?
DC: he said the first thing to do in his mandate is
DC: kick off all illegal migrants who get caught committing crimes
DC: and eliminate 85 illegal rom camps in the city
DC: does it give you a flavour of his view?
DC: lol
DC: Day 1 of the new fascist era
SB1:
SB1: interesting lol
DC: funnily
DC: he was put there as they were sure to loose
DC: and he should have become ,i,ister in the new government
SB1: i see
SB1: so what happened?
DC: 1.he campaigned very well
DC: 2.the left candidtae tutelli
DC: who had been major in the 90s for 2 terms
DC: people were a bit tired of having the same faces for over 15 years
DC: 2 terms for rutelli plus 2 terms for veltroni
SB1: ya
SB1: well, it has to suck being veltroni right now
SB1: first lose the country, then your own city
DC: a disaster for him
DC: in rome it was also a vote against his 7 year administration
DC: the population felt he focussed on cinema and make-up of the city
SB1: was he that bad?
DC: he overlooked themes such as security
DC: and that’s a boomerang
DC: in the campaign the right overran him on security
DC: there were several cases of rapes in the last weeks
SB1: who were the perpetrators?
DC: im not saying
SB1: romanians?
DC: yep
SB1: oops
DC: anyways
DC: while alemanno
DC: the new mayor
DC: was going to see these people and was in direct touch with population of the periphery
DC: veltroni and rutelli appeard on tv to say that there’s no real problem of security in rome
SB1: so is alemanno a new sarkozy then?
DC: hmmm
DC: I wouldnt say that
DC: as he very right-wing of the old school, from the hard time of the seventies
SB1: ok
DC: he got a friend killed
DC: by communists
SB1: brigate rosse?
DC: not exactly
DC: hard-left youngsters
DC: so yesterday
DC: at the campidoglio
DC: the city hall
DC: a mob was shouting
DC: veltroni dacci le chiavi! [veltroni give us the keys!]
DC: hehehe
SB1: wow
SB1: it’s kinda scary actually, the mood i mean
SB1: although i can fully understand why people are pissed off
DC: well
DC: they voted also for the provincia
DC: in rome
SB1: what do you mean?
DC: and there the leftist candidate won
SB1: right
DC: so it as quite personal against veltroni-rutelli and pro alemanno
DC: he actually wants to involve people from the left in the administration
DC: along the lines of the commission attali
DC: it sound fancy nowadays
SB1: do you think he would really do it?
DC: I think so
DC: he did it already
DC: when he was minister for agriculture
SB1: interesting figure
DC: maybe he was the most appreciated minister from the opposition
DC: thats a quitye neutral article
DC: I find
SB1: cool
SB1: thanx man
SB1: i will put this on my blog, if you don’t mind
DC: je t’en prie
DC: hehe
SB1: merci
SB1: that was dc in brussels, for datelinebucharest.com
May Day should have been a day of celebration for Gordon Brown’s Labour Party, as a reminder of its trade union roots and past connection with the blue collar industrial heartland of Britain. This year’s local elections pretty much spoiled Labour’s party. And things are not looking to get better anytime soon.