GEMONIO – “Today it’s not politics, it’s love.” Love seasoned however with several straight jabs Matteo Salvinthe. “We need a new leader,” he syllables Umberto Bossi. Enjoying the chocolate cake for the 40th anniversary of the League and the procession in front of his house, the founder’s house. Dress code: strictly anti-Salvini green shirts. Gemonio, Saturday afternoon, the Sun of the Alps flutters on the flags and hits hard on the heads of those who have queued up, in front of a tonic Roberto Castelli which directs traffic. Bossi’s guests, around a hundred early militants and historic leaders of the former Northern League, care little that the official birthday was Friday. Even the others, those of “that stuff over there” who can’t even call Lega, are celebrating out of date, with a risotto this morning in Varese.
They remove Salvini from the symbol of the League, the revenge of the historical militants: “Continue like this until he gives up the party”
by Paolo Berizzi
The Senatur is a river in flood, in the garden of his villa. And despite the premises, a lot emerges about politics. The former secretary criticizes the government Melons who “doesn’t have the money” and without which “it’s difficult to do things”. But above all: «The League needs a new leader», says Bossi flanked by his son Renzowho does the honors of the house, and from Giuseppe Leoni vwho on 12 April 1984 was with him in Varese to sign the birth of the Lombard Autonomist League, ancestor of the Lombard League. “We need a new leader who goes in the direction of autonomy and who puts the northern question back at the centre.” Someone mentions the minister’s name Giancarlo Giorgetti and Bossi immediately grasps: «Giorgetti is a good guy, but I won’t say anything otherwise they’ll massacre him». And then, he adds, “if the base doesn’t approve the programs, you’re not going anywhere.”
Bossi from renegade to superstar, his face on posters, cakes and t-shirts: in Gemonio the 40 years of the League are a revenge against Salvini
by Emanuele Lauria
The base, yes. The same as, according to a critic like the former Lombard regional councilor Andrea Monti, is walking away from the Captain. Who, explains Bossi, “took his path”. He certainly didn’t take the one for Gemonio, even if the Senatur would have welcomed him with pleasure. Telling him that «the League of 40 years ago was a movement closer to the people». And amen if “we started from the Municipality of Varese: I won’t be going to the celebrations with Salvini tomorrow in Varese”.
The secretary and deputy prime minister takes the blow: «I have been used to Umberto Bossi’s criticisms for thirty years, I also talk about it in my book which will be released at the end of April. I listen to them with attention and gratitude, I only reply that seeing him healthy is the best gift for this holiday.” And his most loyal man, the deputy Andrea Crippa: «Without Salvini who brought it to 35% the League would no longer exist».
In Gemonio, however, the militants don’t really agree: “Salvini is a traitor”, we read on a sign. Any of them, like Pier Italo Bosio from Rovato, tried the experience of the Northern Committee but without too much enthusiasm: «I have been a member since ’87, I remain a Northern League member, autonomist and not Salvinian». The «season of Bossi’s charisma is over» and «Salvini has betrayed a dream» he says melancholy Roberto Castelli that together with Paolo Grimoldi organized what “was supposed to be a surprise day” for the founder. There are also party historians Luca Leoni Orsenigo (thirty years ago, in the midst of Tangentopoli, a noose was waved in Parliament against the decree that decriminalized illicit financing of parties) and Roberto Bernardelli, founder of the Great North movement. Which is not so subtle with Salvini: “At least have the good taste to remove the word prime minister from the symbol, and in any case that is certainly not the League.” «PadaniaLibera!», someone shouts next to the churchyard of San Rocco. «Long live the bridge!», jokes a militant, referring to the one over the Strait of Messina, symbol of the Northern League’s southern turn. «The League did not need to be normalized and instead Salvini did just that», says Andrea Monti. Predictions for the European Championships? Again Castelli: «With the help of Roberto Vannacci maybe the bar reaches 7%.” In short, for Gemonio’s friends “Salvini’s season is also over, take note of it”. None of the militants crouching in front of the Senatur villa will be in Varese today. «Salvini who?». No risotto. Chocolate cake, in these parts, is decidedly less indigestible.
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– 2024-04-13 20:12:24
