(by Andrea Pinto) Minister's service accommodation Elisabetta Trenta, a terrible speculation against the former defense minister. For political reasons, the former Defense Minister did well to leave the service accommodation, however it is not right that his spouse, the Major, had to do it. The catwalk which, as read in the Defense response, had full title. Major Passarelli was therefore discriminated against because he was the husband of the Minister of Defense. Beyond personal considerations, a clarifying the whole affair was directly the minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini who, with a written answer, provided the necessary answers to the question, Moles-Gasparri. Too bad that this written answer was not followed by the same media hype that had when the news bounced on all the major Italian newspapers.
For the record, it is therefore necessary to report some passages of Guerini's written answer who, finally, puts an end to the whole affair by certifying that there has been a masterful speculation against the former Minister of Defense. According to what emerges, everything was done in harmony with the regulations in force on the subject.
The main points of the written answer: "....The Army General Staff card highlights that this pre-designation was possible as the reference legislation (article 318, paragraph 1, of the Presidential Decree n. 90 of 2010) establishes that ASI housing cannot be granted to staff who own a suitable, available and habitable home within the district where they serve, “fwith the exception of job holders, included in the first group of job lists, of particular relevance when the lodgings are located within or in the immediate vicinity of military installations and areas".
"at the end of the mandate, the military command of the capital, the body responsible for the management aspects of the accommodation, communicated the loss of the title to the user, with release request by 3 December 2019, that is 90 days from the end of the assignment (article 329, paragraph 2, of the decree of the President of the Republic no. 90 of 2010) ";
"on 18 September 2019, the major Claudio Passarelli, consort of Dr. Trenta, has filed an application for the granting of ASI accommodation in relation to the position held, starting from September 5, 2019 ("Field Assistant of the Secretary General of Defense - National Director of Armaments"), belonging to the range of ASI - Officers ";
"On October 2, 2019, having carried out the necessary checks, the Army General Staff pre-designated the ASI housing, already occupied by Dr. Trenta and in the process of being released, to the military requesting the property in which the same was domiciled".
Then there is an observation that should not be overlooked, namely that the Ministry of Defense "devours" ministers and undersecretaries, a kind of "curse". In recent history, the dicastery in via XX Settembre have followed one another Ignazio La Russa, Giampaolo Di Paola, Mario Mauro, Roberta Pinotti, Elisabetta Trenta and many undersecretaries.
Almost everyone, after the prestigious mandate, ended their political career, or they were relegated to the far corner of their party. They are, in short, disappeared from the scene, or have been made to disappear.
The reality, however, is not in the "curse" intended to make politicians at the top of the dicastery believe to justify the failures or pseudo-such. The truth is that the defense ministry is one of those that cannot be directed by a normal politician, by a politician who wants to change the patterns. The previous Minister of Defense, Elisabetta Trenta, fought to the end to change and bring new things especially for the benefit of the staff with the stars. He dared and encouraged the growth of military unions by adopting sentence n. 120/2018 of the Constitutional Court, even in the absence of a Law. A law that is still stranded at the Defense Commission, a law never digested by the leaders of the Armed Forces, despite the feeble openings and convenience smiles when the Minister Trenta was head of the Dicastery.
As soon as she left her post in via XX Settembre, Elisabetta Trenta's ordeal began. Continuous were the attacks received on the major newspapers that were relentless, "clockwork", against a minister considered weak because "not political" and far from the halls of Parliament, also downloaded today by his "friends" pentastellati. She remains with the esteem and appreciation of tens of thousands of military and civilian defense personnel who had seen in her an impartial and above-the-part reference.
As for the civilian defense personnel, the former minister Trenta tried to open a table on a possible republication of civilians. She was unable to do anything, if not some declaration of intent, because they immediately put a spoke in the wheel. However, among the civilians of the Defense (about 30 thousand) the argument is very heartfelt and they will certainly support the former minister in any future initiative.
Elisabetta Trenta's tenacity and desire for justice will surely allow her not to end up in oblivion and maybe "create" something new that represents all the military and civilians of the Dicastery in a truly credible way.
Written answer published in file n. 048 to Question 4-02517
GUERINI LORENZO Minister of Defense 06/12/2019
Answer. - In order to better frame the matter in its legal references, it is desired to specify that the matter of "service accommodation" is mainly governed by the Code of the military system (legislative decree no. 15 of 2010 March 66) and by the Consolidated text of the military system (Presidential Decree no. 15 of 2010 March 90).
The property subject to attention is a service accommodation classified as ASI (Service accommodation connected with the assignment) which, in accordance with article 281, paragraph 1, of Legislative Decree no. 66 of 2010 and article 313, paragraph 1, of the decree of the President of the Republic n. 90 of 2010, can be assigned to employees who are entrusted with tasks that require the obligation to live at the service location, or that require the constant presence of the owner to meet the functionality and safety needs of the service itself.
Turning now to the issue on the merits, the following are the elements as represented in the documentation sent by the Army General Staff:
- on 19 April 2019, a housing unit was assigned to Dr. Elisabetta Trenta, by virtue of the position of "Minister of Defense" (assignment within the range of the ASI-civil list of entitlements);
- at the end of the mandate, the military command of the capital, the body responsible for managing the accommodation, communicated the loss of the title to the user, with a request for release by December 3, 2019, i.e. 90 days from the termination of the assignment (article 329, paragraph 2, of the decree of the President of the Republic no. 90 of 2010);
- on September 18, 2019, Major Claudio Passargli, consort of Dr. Trenta, filed an application for the granting of ASI accommodation in relation to the position held, starting from September 5, 2019 ("Field Assistant of the Secretary General of Defense - National Director of Armaments "), belonging to the ASI - Officers category;
- on 2 October 2019, having carried out the necessary checks, the Army General Staff pre-designated the ASI housing, already occupied by Dr. Trenta and in the process of being released, to the military requesting the property in which the same was domiciled.
The same file of the Army General Staff shows that:
- this pre-designation was possible since the reference legislation (article 318, paragraph 1, of the decree of the President of the Republic n. 90 of 2010) establishes that ASI housing cannot be granted to personnel who own a home suitable, available and habitable within the district where he serves, “except for the holders of the positions, included in the first band of the lists of assignments, of particular relevance when the accommodations are located within or in the immediate vicinity of installations and military areas ";
- the current provisions on the matter (article 323, paragraph 2, of the decree of the President of the Republic n. 90/2010) provide that only "if the needs in the priority order of the bands are met, the accommodation available does not allow to fully satisfy the following bracket, for the latter, a list is created for the holders of offices included in the bracket "while, in the case in question, all the ASI lodging requests for the 2019 session had already been satisfied (requests from the, 2nd and 3rd bracket presented from 1st January to 30th June 2019) and housing was still available;
- the competent Military Command of the Capital, on 23 October 2019, proceeded to assign the accommodation in question;
- with specific reference to "who signed the related administrative documents" the documents provided by the Army General Staff highlight that the current legislation on the matter (article 315, paragraph 3, of the decree of the President of the Republic 15 March 2010, no. 90 ) provides that the granting of ASI lodgings "to personnel in service at the central bodies located in the housing district of the capital is carried out, on the indication of the Armed Forces Chief of Staff", by the command designated by the Armed Forces General Staff. Therefore, in the cases in question, as anticipated, the applications were assessed by the Army General Staff, which proceeded to carry out the relative pre-designations, on the basis of which the Military Command of the Capital subsequently assigned the accommodation;
- with reference to the amount of the rent, in the premise that the assignment of ASI housing takes place through the stipulation of a deed of concession and is subject to the payment of a monthly fee (and not a rent), it is specified that the doctor Thirty paid a monthly fee of 141,76 euros, in compliance with current legislation on the matter (article 336, paragraph 1, of the decree of the President of the Republic 15 March 2010, no. 90) which states that "ASI housing is granted to payment, the monthly amount of which is calculated by multiplying the value of the square meter of surface area, equal to € 1,60 by the conventional surface of the accommodation (up to a maximum of 120 square meters) and by the coefficients relating to the floor level, age and state of conservation and maintenance ". In addition, he paid a monthly sum of 173,19 euros for the use of furniture already present in the accommodation.
The same amounts, following the new concession, are paid by Major Passarelli;
- the accommodation (whose identification code is ERM0088) has a total width of 231,9 square meters;
- with reference to the circumstance "if the former Minister and Major Passarelli are owners of housing in the city of Rome", it appears from the documents that the interested parties, within the housing constituency of Rome (ie Rome and surrounding areas), have the property ownership;
- regarding the release of the property, it should be noted that on 19 November 2019 the major Passarelli formally communicated his intention to release the accommodation, once the tasks related to the transport of furniture and household goods and the cessation of utilities were completed.
Furthermore, the document of the Army General Staff reports that:
- in relation to the question concerning "which other officers belonging to the armed forces have applied for the same accommodation", the ASI lodging requests are not presented with reference to a specific accommodation, but are aimed at assigning a housing unit of the type in question located in the relevant housing district;
- having regard to the circumstance "if there are rankings and what their consistency is with regard to service accommodation in Rome and other cities", without prejudice to what has already been highlighted on the provisions of article 323 of the President's decree of the Republic March 15, 2010, n. 90, it should be noted that, as regards the staff employed in the central organization (i.e. the responsibility of the Army General Staff), in recent years the ASI lodging requests (2st, 32nd and XNUMXth band) have been always satisfied;
- as regards the management of requests received from peripheral entities both in Rome and in the rest of Italy (and therefore not attributable to the case of housing assigned to the major Passarelli, managed directly centrally, as required), the aforementioned documentation highlights that the situation, on a national basis, against 55 applications received for ASI housing, foresees the availability of 146 ASI / AST housing.
It should be noted, in fact, that the reference legislation (article 316 of the aforementioned presidential decree no. 90 of 2010) prescribes that, once the ASI housing requests have been satisfied, the remaining housing must be destined for AST housing (temporary service housing accommodation for military families) for which specific rankings are mandatory.