The no from Roberto Fico to the state of emergency for the earthquake in the Campi Flegrei could cost Neapolitans 100 million euros. The money is there: it was allocated by the government with decree-law 144 of 2026. But between a figure written on paper and a repaired house, there is an administrative machine made up of applications, inspections, resolutions, and investigations. The state of emergency would serve precisely to shorten this path. Fico, instead, decided to wait. It is on this point that the Campanian center-right has launched an attack again. Just yesterday, Gennaro Sangiuliano, head of the opposition in the Regional Council, met in Rome with the Minister for Civil Protection Nello Musumeci along with the group leaders of Brothers of Italy, Forza Italia, Lega, and Conservatives. On the table: homes, compensation, businesses in difficulty, suspension of mortgages and taxes. And above all those 100 million to be turned into concrete aid.
The urgency is measured by the numbers. The earthquake arrived on July 31 at 7:46 pm with a magnitude of 4.7 degrees and a hypocenter at just 2.6 kilometers depth. It was one of the strongest events recorded in the area. Then more than 200 minor tremors followed. The toll in the first 72 hours counted 26 injured, five hospitalized, and two initially classified as red code. No victims, fortunately.
The count of evacuated houses, however, continues to rise. On August 1, eight buildings and five commercial activities were declared uninhabitable. The evacuated families were 150. Three days later, the buildings were already 57, the homes 395, and the displaced more than seven hundred. On August 22, there were 215 uninhabitable buildings, 1,085 housing units involved, and 3,734 people displaced. To date, in Pozzuoli alone, the citizens out of their homes are 4,217. Of these, 3,392 have requested the contribution for self-accommodation, 112 ended up in hotels, and 50 in the Palatrincone. Another 663 did not request assistance. Only 59 households have been able to set foot back in their homes. “The situation is dramatic because 4,000 displaced people are many and losing one’s home is a real tragedy,” said Sangiuliano.
Faced with these data, on August 27 the Regional Council rejected the opposition’s resolution asking Fico to formally urge the state of emergency. The vote was cast by the red majority supporting the Five Star governor.
“The center-right has taken a clear position. We asked for the state of emergency because we believe that at this stage it is the most useful and concrete tool to meet these needs,” added Sangiuliano. And these are not legal technicalities. With the state of emergency, the government can adopt ordinances in derogation, speed up interventions, appoint a delegated commissioner, and put the damage assessment under a single management. It becomes easier to act on buildings, roads, services, and productive activities. It also opens the ordinary path towards the reconstruction state provided by law 40 of 2025. The point, insists Sangiuliano, is speed: “It would allow us to quickly spend those 100 million euros that the Meloni government has made available compared to only one million euros allocated by the regional government.”
The reference is to the first intervention of Campania. The Region then added another 7 million for civil protection, assistance to the population, and support for businesses. The comparison remains disproportionate: eight million regional against one hundred million state. Yet it will be the municipalities that will have to set deadlines, receive requests, check requirements, and conclude investigations within sixty days. If the machine slows down, the money slows down too. Why are the Pd and M5s so afraid to ask for the state of emergency that, moreover, Veneto and Lombardy have already activated in recent weeks for the early August storms? The official answer is that Fico is betting on a special law, which would also be compatible with the state of emergency. The problem is the calendar: that law still has to be written, discussed, funded, and approved. The decree, on the other hand, has already arrived. “I must say that Fico acknowledged that the decree was made immediately by the Meloni government. In other cases, they had to wait up to 50 days to have a decree with an allocation,” recalled the opposition leader. And there is already someone, in the corridors of the regional council, who links the failure to request the state of emergency to the upcoming election campaign ahead of the general elections. “We don’t want to give this advantage to the center-right, do we?” a senior Pd figure reportedly confided to some friends. A matter of priorities.
