Sala, ultimatum to stay: the mayor is blocking five projects and awaiting responses from the Democratic Party. Tomorrow's City Council meeting will be decisive.

Milan, July 20, 2025 – "His choice will depend 90% on the answers the Democratic Party gives this weekend." This is the response of a Giuseppe Sala loyalist when asked how much the Democratic Party's stance will influence the mayor of Milan's decision to remain in office. There are two years left until the end of his term, and Sala, his close associate, wants a guarantee above all else : "Not to spend these two years like the last six months. That is, without a real majority, with constant internal squabbling over every issue and every major issue on the city's agenda, from the Save Milan bill to the future of San Siro."

Sala prepares to address the City Council on Monday, July 21st

In short, "just getting by" is out of the question. On the contrary, Sala and his entourage believe that if they must restart, "they must do so in a united and compact manner, as if starting over again, as if beginning a new legislature, a two-year term."

Cohesive and compact – it is repeated – on some dossiers and some issues in particular: "The sale of San Siro, the BEIC (i.e.: the major European Library project), the acceleration of the flood control basins of the Seveso , given that only one has been built so far", and, again, "the transformation of Piazzale Loreto" and the new Museum of the Resistance. As for San Siro , a first compromise has been reached: the resolution will not go to the City Council either tomorrow, as was expected before the new line of investigation into urban planning broke out, or by the end of July. It will be discussed again in September. A postponement which, from a political point of view, meets the request Democrats to take a little more time, in light of the investigation, before passing the resolution.

The City Council chamber at Palazzo Marino

But it's painless from a substantive standpoint because it doesn't jeopardize compliance with the final deadline of November 10, 2025, the date on which the architectural constraint on the stadium's second tier will come into effect, making it impossible, at that point, to proceed with any demolition and renovation plans for the facility. Further responses, further agreements, will have to arrive between now and Monday to determine whether Sala's second term can continue, as the Democratic Party itself hopes. It's possible that the mayor and a delegation from the largest majority party will meet again this afternoon. Yesterday, Sala met with the city councilors of his civic list and spent much of the day at home, preparing his speech to the City Council tomorrow.

This is what the European Library of Milan will look like, which is expected to open its doors in mid-2027.

"He will arrive very well prepared, he will leave nothing to chance," his supporters assure. It will be a speech of pride: he will focus on the contribution he has made to Milan over the past 15 years, first as sole commissioner of Expo 2015 and then as mayor. Only later, only at a later stage, will he emphasize the need to march together in the final two years to best close all the agenda items. But the tone of the final lines of his speech, the ultimate message of his speech , will depend, as mentioned, on the responses of a Democratic Party that yesterday closed in conclave: first, a meeting between the city secretariat, the Lombardy secretariat, and the Democratic parliamentarians. Then further discussions between the secretariats.