Ticino government sharply distances itself from Zali's conduct in EOC case

Ticino's cantonal parliament devoted a session to interpellations on the affairs involving state councillor Claudio Zali. The government answered a total of 63 questions. Pino Sergi (MPS) had requested a general debate combining all parliamentary motions on the topic. The presidential office decided to deal first with the interpellations linked to the summer's institutional crisis, leaving any general debate for the end.

The first topic addressed concerns a 14-year-old held at the La Farera centre. Responding to Sergi's interpellation, government president Marina Carobbio Guscetti said the case is the subject of an ongoing criminal proceeding and that parliament has activated its oversight powers. The cantonal government chose not to comment on facts still under review.

The EOC case

MP Matteo Pronzini asked for an explanation of the email in which Zali had approached the former president of the EOC cantonal hospital group, Paolo Sanvido, copying the head of the Department of Health and Social Affairs, Raffaele De Rosa, to support the hiring of an acquaintance. Carobbio Guscetti stated: "L'intero Consiglio di Stato stigmatizza l'agire di Zali e se ne distanzia" (The entire cantonal government condemns Zali's conduct and distances itself from it).

De Rosa, the president clarified, was not aware of the details. The email he had been copied on did not include the first name, surname or curriculum vitae of the person recommended, only initials. The department head was not even aware of the first message Zali had sent Sanvido on 8 June, and for that reason had not considered it necessary to intervene actively.

Six years after the events, the government concluded that both the email's recipients and the EOC's management chain had handled the report within their respective responsibilities. The cantonal government nonetheless stressed that such episodes draw attention to the risk of undue pressure linked to external reports, and underlined the importance of transparency.

An interpellation from Più Donne asked for guarantees on the impartiality of the inquiries into the death of a 52-year-old woman in Melide and the criminal proceedings involving Zali, to protect institutional credibility from possible conflicts of interest. Carobbio Guscetti pointed to the transparency of the government's communication and its willingness to consider legislative changes.

Pino Sergi then asked what the government had known about Zali's private affairs, recalling a question filed on 31 March 2025 that went unanswered for months. Carobbio Guscetti apologised for the delay and retraced the summer's events: the request that Zali give up responsibility for the judiciary and cantonal police, then the presidency of the government, and finally the leadership of the Department of Territory.

On the death of the 52-year-old woman found on 18 August in the waters off Melide, the government could say little, since the matter is in the hands of the judiciary. Carobbio Guscetti acknowledged: "Lo smarrimento della popolazione è comprensibile" (The public's bewilderment is understandable), while recalling the principle of separation of powers: the government cannot comment on facts under judicial investigation, but must act where responsibility is political.

After answering the parliamentary motions, parliament decided not to open the general debate. Questions remain about who within the cantonal administration should have intervened earlier in the face of reports of undue pressure, and how to ensure public employees can be hired and assessed without outside interference.