Bologna, July 18, 2026 – Fratelli d’Italia launches a signature collection to ask the Municipality to give up the idea of guaranteeing free public transport to asylum seekers. The petition was presented by the Meloni MEP Stefano Cavedagna. “A year ago the Lepore administration increased the bus ticket to 2.30 euros if purchased at tobacco shops and to 2.50 euros if bought on board: it is the most expensive ticket in Italy and, from the data we have, one of the most expensive in Europe,” attacks Cavedagna. “At the same time, they want to propose exemption for asylum seekers. Today we start a signature collection to stop what for us is madness and reverse discrimination.”
“There are many other Bolognese who need to be helped and we want to prevent this proposal, which today is still only a hypothesis, from becoming reality,” he added. For Senator Marco Lisei “it is paradoxical that a left-wing administration, which says it wants to encourage public transport, has made the bus ticket in Bologna the most expensive in Italy.”
Di Martino joins FdI: “In the League it was time to give space to others”
The former city secretary of the League of Bologna, Cristiano Di Martino, joins Brothers of Italy. The announcement was made by the FdI group leader in the Chamber, Galeazzo Bignami, during a party event at the Bologna headquarters in via Stalingrado. “Today’s news is the entry of Cristiano Di Martino, a person we have known for some time and who, having concluded his experience in other movements, has made himself available for the center-right project in view of next year, but not only,” says Bignami. Bignami also thanked the provincial coordinator of FdI, Marta Evangelisti, “who kept relations alive during this period,” also recalling the work done together with Diego Bacciglieri, Stefano Cavedagna, Marco Lisei and Francesco Sassone to bring Di Martino into the party.
Di Martino could not fail to talk about the 2027 Municipal elections. “When you play with a jersey you try to score with that jersey. If you change teams, you inevitably have to score with the team you play for,” he says using a football metaphor. On the choice to join FdI he said: “It is a decision matured some time ago, then this opportunity arose and I gladly accepted to ‘return home’ to Brothers of Italy”
Horizon 2027: “Lepore? He has reached a point of saturation in the citizens’ tolerance”
In view of the upcoming electoral challenges, Bignami also comments on the current administration, led by Mayor Matteo Lepore. “We hope that the Bolognese realize that Lepore has reached a point of saturation in the citizens’ tolerance. The collapse he had in the rankings did not surprise us. What surprises us, if anything, is that there is still someone who trusts and supports him, because I struggle to find a positive element in the management of his administration,” Bignami says again. Garisenda, tram and construction sites: “I really struggle to find a point in favor of the Lepore administration. However, the Bolognese must also be convinced of this. The Garisenda issue, for which we had made funds available, is still unresolved. Regarding the tram, despite the deadlines being long overdue, the construction sites are still open.”
When asked about the MEP and leader of Futuro Nazionale Roberto Vannacci, Bignami replies: “He is rightly promoting his movement in the territory, as I believe is natural. For us, however, the opponent is the left.” According to Galeazzo Bignami, FdI group leader in the Chamber, General Vannacci “in Bologna will not be able to vote against Brothers of Italy to send Giorgia Meloni’s government home, since he governs the PD, and we hope he also wants to send the Democrats home.”
“Municipal elections? Civic profile. Maybe we already have the candidate in our pocket”
“We are convinced of the civic solution and, if we are convinced, it is because we have something more than a simple solution in mind. Maybe we already have it in our pocket.” Thus the FdI group leader in the Chamber, Galeazzo Bignami, confirms the party line ahead of the 2027 Bologna municipal elections at the margin of an event in Bologna.
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