Luca Zaia: "Preferences? Citizens must be able to choose. Roggero? He’s not eligible to stand for election"

“Broadening the scope of self-defence? If this broadening is intended in terms of psychological stress – which is a different matter altogether – the Roggero case serves as a prime example.” Luca Zaia made these remarks whilst addressing the Chamber of Deputies on the issue of self-defence, which had also been raised by the Lega and Matteo Salvini following Mario Roggero’s conviction. “I have seen the videos of the case and it is clear that the jeweller went outside and sought a confrontation without even protecting himself. Two people have died; the judges will have taken all relevant mitigating circumstances into account, and there is an aspect relating to psychological stress that should be assessed – but by experts and by those who make the laws,” says the President of the Veneto Regional Council.

Matteo Salvini issued a statement in recent days explaining that the League is considering putting the jeweller forward as a candidate, even though he is not eligible. “I did, in fact, understand that at this stage he is not eligible to stand, so I’ll leave it at that…”, Zaia added. We asked the former president of Veneto to comment on the statements made by the Lega leader during a dinner hosted by Lega MP Antonio Angelucci: “Enough of the North and the party of the nostalgic.” Zaia replied: “We are inextricably linked between the North and the South. There is an urgent need for fiscal equalisation regarding the ‘southern question’, and there is an equally urgent need for fiscal equalisation with regard to the north of the country as well.” But on Salvini’s remarks, he is clear: “I am not aware that he has ever said anything of the sort.”

And then there is the issue of the electoral law and preferential voting, which were scuppered by the very same majority that proposed them a few weeks ago following a secret ballot. The battle to reintroduce them, under pressure from FdI, is now in the Senate: “I believe that if we want to see the citizen as a key player in the political life of their country, the citizen must be able to choose their local representatives and those who will govern,” says Zaia. “It’s already done in local councils, it’s already done in the regions; I don’t understand why it can’t be done in Parliament.”