"Defending Milan from the prosecutors' assault." Stefano Parisi speaks.

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" Blocking Milan's urban development and regeneration based on theories that appear to be more moral and ethical than criminal is enormously damaging to Milan and the country . Suffice it to say that Aspesi, the association representing real estate entrepreneurs, estimates the impact of the construction halt caused by the prosecutor's investigation at as much as €38 billion , more than the impact of Trump's tariffs." Speaking to Il Foglio is Stefano Parisi, manager and losing mayoral candidate in Milan in 2016 against the current mayor, Beppe Sala , who is under investigation in the Milan prosecutor's major investigation into urban planning . For Parisi, "the initiative by Milan's prosecutors seems to show a desire to prosecute behaviors that might appear morally reprehensible, rather than conduct that could constitute a crime. Justice should not do this. It should focus on enforcing the rules and addressing potential crimes." Instead, Parisi continues, " you only have to read the newspapers that report the prosecutor's documents, the well-known megaphone newspapers of the prosecutors, to realize that there is nothing in the investigation . However, every day in the newspapers we find photos of the magistrates and their CVs: they are the heroes who are saving Milan from the skyscrapers. It's the usual feeling we have had about the actions of the Milan prosecutor's office for the last thirty years."

Regardless of whether any individual criminal liability is being determined, the impression is that the Milan prosecutor's investigation is intended to criminalize the profession of politics: the city administration is attempting to implement a model of urban transformation based on close collaboration between the public and private sectors and accelerated building permit procedures. "That's exactly what it is," says Parisi. Milan took its first steps toward urban regeneration in 1997, when Gabriele Albertini was mayor and I was the city's general manager. In cities around the world, urban regeneration is achieved through a close relationship between the public and private sectors . This is done by large groups that invest in urban areas because they want to profit. Politicians find the contribution of the private sector to be a lever for regenerating and improving the urban structure of their city by making agreements with those who know how to do this. This has happened and is happening in cities around the world, except in Italy, where this is often questioned from the outset. But if the city's architects and professionals aren't the ones dealing with this matter, who should? A small town surveyor?

"Milan's vertical growth also has a positive impact on the environment and work organization. Today, Milan is much more livable than it was thirty years ago," Parisi emphasizes. "Unfortunately, the judiciary is politically convinced that this model is flawed and therefore must be prosecuted."

The documents from the Milan investigation even reveal an ideology intolerant of the logic of profit , as if the entrepreneur's goal wasn't to make money from his business. "Not just entrepreneurs, but also professionals, who work to carry out highly complicated operations that also involve many risks," notes Parisi, who then attacks: "We are a capitalist society. It is the capitalist model that brings wealth to all. If the Milan prosecutor's office is against it, they should accept it. Because this is the model under which, fortunately, the West lives and prospers."

But Parisi doesn't spare criticism even for Sala, who now, faced with the prosecutors' initiative, seems to be renouncing the urban planning policy he has pursued in recent years : "Apparently he spent a weekend in doubt as to whether to abandon everything or propose a new line for the next two years. This is truly incredible. The mayor of Milan must defend the urban planning choices of the last ten years, not retreat into doubt. You wanted that development model? Then defend it!" says Parisi, who then recalls: "During the election campaign, several members of the Democratic Party chained themselves in front of the construction sites in Piazza Gae Aulenti, where some of the most famous skyscrapers that today constitute the city's business and commercial center were built, because they were against that urban development. When Sala won the election, some of those members became councilors of the city council, which took up that urban planning model uncritically, without rethinking it, and continued to cut ribbons and inaugurate projects started by previous administrations." And so, Parisi continues, "if you've carried it forward, you have to defend that model. You can't say 'we need to change the system' because you received a notice of investigation. Schlein did the same. But change in what sense? Change in such a way as to do nothing, which is the Five Star Movement's approach? Politics must make decisions and prevent potential corruption by choosing honest people, period. It must not shy away from decisions," says the former center-right mayoral candidate for Milan firmly.

Rather, he adds, the model launched in 1997 needed to be updated to meet the city's needs: "There's dramatic degradation in the suburbs. The gap has become even more evident with the development of the more central areas. Our development project was based on the social housing model, with the demolition of old public housing and the reconstruction of new ones that were much healthier from an urban and environmental perspective, including spaces that allowed for greater integration. Fighting crime isn't just about cops, but also about regenerating an urban fabric that allows people to integrate into the city. This aspect has been completely forgotten," Parisi emphasizes.

Meanwhile, we must once again acknowledge the lack of a true culture of protectionism among the parties: "The only one who took a pro-guarantor stance was Giorgia Meloni, who said that one doesn't resign when faced with a formal investigation. The others acted as usual: pro-guarantors with their friends and pro-executionists with their adversaries. This is very serious because, faced with this attitude, prosecutors know they will never find a unified political response to judicial actions that go far beyond their institutional duties."

Not to mention the surrender on the Save Milan bill: "That would have been a serious move, even if it were just a patch," says Parisi. "There's a deeper issue that politicians never address, which is the quality of legislation. The rules are confusing because they're the result of a process of mediation and compromise. All this confusion places enormous power in the hands of the judiciary—criminal, accounting, and administrative. Politics is jointly responsible for what's happening in Milan. It's not just the fault of the ideologically-driven prosecutor's office."

You announced your retirement from politics in 2020. Are you having second thoughts about this crazy scenario? "Active engagement in politics isn't about the individual, as politics seems to have accustomed us to. Active engagement requires a system that can accommodate ideas, professional skills, and projects. Right now, I don't see such a context, so my answer is no," Parisi replies.

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