Romeo: “Tajani? Parliament will decide on Safe.” The League’s conditions: “Support for small and medium-sized enterprises”

Massimiliano Romeo makes a customary opening remark. He warns: “In any case, the final say on the Safe bill rests with Parliament”. And according to the party’s Senate group leader, it is by no means certain that the Lega’s position will align with the push coming from Tajani and Crosetto. It will depend on various factors, including the framework within which the debate unfolds and the objectives: “We have reiterated this in every forum.” What exactly? “Any defence resources must be prioritised for internal security,” says Romeo. Forget rockets, weapons and cannons: when he thinks of the European loan, the Lega senator is convinced that the funds should be used for infrastructure, on immigration, and “channelled to support Italian businesses, particularly small and medium-sized ones”. 

Romeo, who is also secretary of the Lombardy League, adopts a less inflammatory tone than his party colleague Claudio Borghi. But he explains to Il Foglio what the party line will be in the coming weeks. With regard to the 14.9 billion from the SAFE fund, earmarked yesterday by Tajani, the priority is “internal security: from the protection of strategic infrastructure such as ports, airports, gas and oil pipelines, to border controls to combat irregular immigration, right through to space and cyber security”. The Carroccio group leader makes no mention of defence spending in the most traditional sense. He then adds, sending a message to his allies: “These funds must also be channelled to support Italian businesses, involving the entire production chain and, in particular, small and medium-sized enterprises, which form the backbone of our industrial fabric”. On this basis, in short, Romeo suggests that the Lega is ready to discuss and perhaps even agree to the European loan. If, on the other hand, the discussion centres solely on missiles and artillery, it will be far more difficult to reach a compromise. On the other hand, however, on this issue the League – which has recently been increasingly divided internally – may be able to find common ground, whilst other matters, such as criticism of leader Matteo Salvini’s political line, remain unresolved.

We had a taste of it, and then another, at the Lombardy League executive committee meeting two days ago. We’re in Attilio Fontana’s territory, in that part of the north that has never come to terms with the national shift and struggles to understand even the solutions proposed by Salvini. Until late yesterday afternoon, Salvini had not commented on the SAFE plan, but he celebrated the “League’s success in the provincial elections in Lecce: the leading centre-right party. Full steam ahead”. Someone at the Lombardy meeting is said to have once again raised the issue of the major mistake made with Vannacci, lamenting that whilst security and immigration are key issues, they cannot be the only ones. We cannot continue to give the impression of chasing after the general; we must return to focusing on pensions, the economy and, of course, the North. Otherwise, at this rate, all that will remain of Pontida will be the salamelle.