Sicily advances regional leadership reform and sees Five Star candidate announce presidential bid

Nuccio Di Paola, the regional leader of Italy's Five Star Movement, announced his intention to run for president of Sicily. He called on the centre‑left coalition to forgo primaries and select a single candidate, proposing a pact with Ismaele La Vardera to concentrate support behind his own candidacy.

The Sicilian Regional Assembly's Institutional Affairs Commission gave its first‑reading approval to a draft law that restructures the region's management hierarchy. The reform merges the third tier of directorate into the second, and authorises the recruitment of 156 new senior managers to fill existing vacancies, with further contests planned in subsequent years.