Milan and the 2027 municipal elections. Beppe Sala: “It is possible that the centre-left will win again”

Milan, May 10, 2025 – “I don’t comment on polls on individuals, but in my opinion” in the next municipal elections “there is a chance that the center-left will win again, there is indeed”. It is a well-rounded Giuseppe Sala who spoke this morning with reporters on the sidelines of the event “The challenges of tomorrow” at the Franco Parenti Theater. “ This is a city that is positioned, we have seen, in all the elections, since I have been mayor we have obviously won not only in the municipal elections, but in the European and regional elections, in the political ones - he continued -, and I say this with regards to the votes on Milan. The city apparently still has the desire to express a center-left leadership, so I would start from this”.

The “papabili” of the center-left

"Then the candidate has a lot of influence, because the people of Milan look to the mayor," Sala explained. Among the possible candidates for the center-left, the names of the Democratic Party representative Pierfrancesco Majorino and the journalist Mario Calabresi have been mentioned, although he has already said he is not interested. "When they asked me if Calabresi could be a good candidate, I said yes, but of course, as I would say of others - the mayor recalled -, but whether Calabresi wants to make himself available, whether he is able to convince, I don't know." The time for this "is still premature, if we started talking now it would cause damage to everyone, so I would postpone everything until after the Olympics," he concluded.

A common name

As for the name to propose to the citizens, in light of the declarations of Carlo Calenda who said yesterday that Azione will present its own candidate, "I think it would be a great advantage if the left could all stay together , it is not easy, because this long season, which I and my councils have also embodied, is a season, I would not say particular, but it has been characterized by a development of Milan, by an international opening, by an activity of urban regeneration, which is evidently not liked by everyone".

"I certainly don't think that whoever succeeds me, at least as a candidate on the left, will say 'well, let's move forward with Sala's work', it wouldn't make sense. I've said it a thousand times, I remember, when I ran I said 'I'm not Giuliano Pisapia, but I respect his work a lot'. This is the point, respect for work, so I don't know if the whole left has this desire to respect the work that has been done in recent years, this will obviously condition the presence of another part, saying that it is the center is a simplification, but just to be clear, so it is not a simple synthesis that I hope will be found; now it is early, but I believe that there is a lot of work to do".

An eye on the centre-right

"What I hope for the municipal elections" to be held in Milan in 2027 "is that there is a strong candidate on the left and a strong candidate on the right, that the city is contestable". The mayor's hope is therefore that there is a candidate "also strong on the right, because what a mayor wants is for the city to remain in good hands - he added -. I don't know if I would be happy to see a strong candidate on the left and on the right, a random one, who if by chance wins will still be a random one".

On the stadium and urban planning

Commenting on the request of the center-right group leaders at Palazzo Marino that the mayor come to report in the chamber on issues such as urban planning and the stadium , "there is nothing to report" in the City Council, "I will go to the chamber when I can, as always". Furthermore, "they invite me to report, to have a relationship with them, I replied 'the discussion is fine, but the discussion must be civil', reminding them that in the City Council you do not take administrative documents and throw them in the bin , you do not make noise, you do not proceed with signs, if this is the behavior then collaboration becomes difficult". In any case, the mayor reiterated that "there is nothing to report, reporting is to start the usual polemics in favor of the cameras or of what you write". "The Mayor must recognize the role and value of the City Council, and these gentlemen must recognize the fact that we are in Milan, in the tradition of the City Council certain things must not be seen". “I also invited them to a coffee in my office to discuss how we want to proceed,” he concluded.