Photo: La Presse
Tommaso Manni
This regional election marks the end of an era. Vincenzo De Luca, Michele Emiliano and Luca Zaia have reached the end of their candidacy, although the governors of Campania and Veneto hope to be able to carry out other mandates until the end. «Gloria Mundi’s Transit». But for the three presidents, who have shaped their region like few before them, the glory is unlikely to be lost altogether. Tomorrow night we will witness the moment in which they will leave, at least formally, the chairs they have occupied for so long. Their careers spanned an important period in Italian political history.
De Luca entered politics in the late 1980s, in an Italy emerging from the First Republic and facing Tangentopoli: he was a city councillor, then a councilor in Salerno. In 1993, as the old parties collapsed and the system was transformed, he won his first mandate as mayor, inaugurating the personalistic and interventionist model of administration that would accompany him until he became leader of Campania. Emiliano, a judge involved in the fight against organized crime in the years when the Anti-Mafia was a bulwark for new institutional lines, broke that record in 2004 by winning a civil coalition in Bari and marking the start of the Apulian center-left group as a national political laboratory.
Zaia, younger in his career but with deep roots, began leading Veneto in 2010, when fiscal federalism was at the center of political debate and the League was going through an expansion phase. Since then, he has become the most popular figure in Northern regionalism, even as his own party sheds its skin. Their balance sheet, after years of rule, consisted of light and shadow. In Veneto, Zaia has built an efficient administrative machine, and the healthcare model is valued for its ability to keep waiting lists low across many specialties and for hospital-region integration. The other side of this concerns health services: the centralization of decisions in the Regional Health and Social Services Units (ULSS) and the growing role of the private sector have led to regional imbalances and criticism of difficult access in some provinces. In the infrastructure sector, many projects have been launched, but are often hampered by complicated administrative procedures.
De Luca has transformed Campania into a region capable of attracting more European funding than in the past and has achieved results in the mobility sector, from strengthening rail transport to digitalizing public services. This has improved urban areas and cultural centers, making these areas more competitive in tourism. However, there are critical issues affecting health services, including commissioning, structural weaknesses and difficulties in managing relationships with local health authorities; and his centralizing style sometimes isolated administrators and their allies, giving rise to internal strife.
Emiliano focuses on Puglia being open to energy and agricultural innovation, with business support programs and environmental policies recognized at national level. This has encouraged community participation and invested in international promotion of the region. However, his long mandate was marked by the Xylella crisis, which many observers said was not always clearly managed, and by strains in the regional healthcare system, especially in terms of staffing and waiting lists.
What will they do starting tomorrow? Zaia hinted at a return to family life, but remains best prepared for a new national role. Emiliano spoke about his newborn daughter and her separation, although her name was already circulating in the corridors of the future Apulian council. De Luca left every hypothesis open: from a personal list guide to a possible return to his Salerno.
