A journey into the League’s grassroots: “Salvini has ruined us. Let’s save a dream”

Salvini is on his way out. His own people are pushing him out. “It is our duty to say that things are going badly. Very badly indeed,” is the voice of the League rising in unison from Lombardy. “We’ve been on this path for years: you don’t go from 34 per cent to 5 per cent overnight. We’re fed up. The situation is plain for all to see: only a group of MPs and senators keep turning a blind eye.” The captain’s yes-men. Trained to claim the sun is shining even when a storm is raging. “They tell Matteo that everything’s fine, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Out on the ground, we see it first-hand day after day, month after month. This is how we’re being ruined.” And here comes the appeal reiterated to Il Foglio with a clear head, following last Friday’s executive committee meeting which saw sparks fly: “Salvini must step aside. We’ve been far too quiet and compliant; now the League’s future is at stake.”

It is mainly local leaders who are raising the tone. Mayors, councillors, provincial representatives: those who once formed the historic backbone of the Carroccio, before its ill-fated shift towards sovereignty. “This continuous and steady decline confirms our secretary’s inability to captivate the crowds as he once did,” explains Renato Pasinetti, mayor of Travagliato (Brescia). “These results are no longer acceptable. At this rate, we will soon be an irrelevant party. We cannot hide; we have a moral obligation to our voters. I have been saying this for years, and more and more of my colleagues around me share these concerns. In the past we were ignored; today we can no longer be ignored: I hope we can finally manage to open up a genuine debate.” Giovanmaria Flocchini, president of the Valle Sabbia mountain community – a man who, just to give you an idea, displays ‘Slava Ukraini’ on WhatsApp, in defiance of the pro-Russian right – is calling for a clean slate. “A cycle has come to an end. We must have the courage to question ourselves, both on the political front and within the party leadership.” There are those, however, who are a little less optimistic: former MP Daniele Belotti, whilst reiterating the need for Salvini to step aside, perhaps hits upon the most tangled issue: “We Lombard activists have told it like it is, plain and simple. The front has been opened: now the rest of the party, its bigwigs, must step forward. Someone else needs to start speaking out for real.” A daunting task: to give just one example, MP Simona Bordonali, who within the walls of Via Bellerio had highlighted the political opportunism of some of her colleagues, has not issued any statement to the press. And she is not the only one.

Whilst Salvini’s electoral support is a sieve, his grip on the Lega’s leadership has so far been rather iron-fisted. From his re-election at the federal congress, nipping any competition in the bud, to the suppression of internal dissent. “Complaining is bad for the party,” says the Deputy Prime Minister’s inner circle. “Not doing so is bad,” retorts the rank and file. “The national shift had its own logic. But we’ve lost our way, without exporting any good governance: instead of extending the efficiency of the north, we find ourselves here too with the clientelism of the south.” And so the centrifugal forces are multiplying. Paolo Grimoldi, a staunch Bossi loyalist and now founder of the Pact for the North, says he is ready “to welcome with open arms” his old comrades-in-arms. “Today the question is how to save the League beyond Salvini, and it’s by no means a foregone conclusion. We lack the tools and the organisation to fight back. So what are the others doing? Are they continuing to wait for the coup de grâce, or do they have the courage to launch a new political project? Because Salvini will never step aside: like a good captain, he’d rather go down with the ship.” There are some signs pointing in this direction: Governor Attilio Fontana’s draft constitution for a new autonomist party; the restless north-east, champing at the bit, waiting – fingers crossed there too – for a move from Zaia or Fedriga. Yet, when it comes to leadership, in the land of the Carroccio there is confidence that they need not look too far afield: “We do have someone who is making a move,” Pasinetti points out. “It’s the regional secretary, Massimiliano Romeo: he’s saying important things, in his own style.” More than style, however, substance will be required.