Salvini responds to northerners: “Involve the regional governors? I’ve been planning to do so for months.” The Pontida wall

Salvini is open to a meeting with the regional governors but is not making any concessions on the approach. In an interview with Marco Cremonesi in "Corriere della Sera", the Lega secretary – whilst on holiday in Pinzolo – dismissed the request made at the Versiliana by Attilio Fontana and Massimiliano Romeo as follows: "Did it really take a week of controversy in all the newspapers to ask for a meeting?"

He did not watch the Versiliana video. At the same time, he was doing something else: “I was busy with a remote meeting on immigration”, as well as on the phone with Giulia Bongiorno “about the ‘red alert’: we need an anti-violence unit in every public prosecutor’s office. And proven abusers must end up in prison – forget about electronic tagging…”. This detail is not insignificant: Giorgia Meloni’s camp took note of that interview.

On the substance of the matter, Salvini claims credit for someone else’s proposal. “Look, if the issue is involving local councillors and regional governors, that’s something I’ve been intending to do for months. Without needing to write books and without needing to stir up controversy in mid-August.” The book in question is Romeo’s; the mid-August controversy refers to Fontana’s interview with Il Corriere. As for the substance: “It is very much in my interest to involve those who want to build and those who have the League’s best interests at heart.” He sums up the week himself: “The main effect of the week of controversy we’ve had to endure has been to make Elsa Fornero and others on the left smile.”

Then the outlook, which is always the same: “We are preparing a major Pontida event. At which we will launch the great battle of 2027: to defeat the left, and prevent the country from falling into the hands of Schlein and Conte”. On criticism of the government, he concedes the principle but denies the forum: “They’ve said it’s right to criticise the government. It’s clear that more can be done on certain issues. But we’ll discuss this in the appropriate forums…”. The meeting will go ahead, however: “My diary for the last week of August is already almost full of meetings between Rome and Milan. So there is time.”

The timetable remains the real issue. Northerners are calling for clarification before 20 September, whilst Salvini has just released an emotive video about the rally and its history. And the ‘Pratone’ has already started to speak out. Exactly one month before the event, a banner has appeared reading: “A renewed League or a Pontida uprising”. It is unsigned and has been hung on the white wall of “Padroni a casa nostra” – the wall that borders the open field. In March, the same spot had hosted Umberto Bossi’s funeral procession. 

Meanwhile, at the Versiliana, Fontana and Romeo were confronted by three activists – two from Naples, one from Florence – chanting “un capitano, c'è solo un capitano”. And the secretary’s loyalists continue to reduce the rift to a matter of electoral lists. The northerners, for their part, are not talking of a split: Romeo uses a domestic metaphor – the friend who warns his friend before they hit a wall – whilst they ask Salvini to sit down at the table and discuss matters. On the table, alongside collective leadership and the involvement of Luca Zaia, is the idea of a confederation — Northern League, Central League, Southern League — with the regions taking the lead and a unified presence at national level.

Meanwhile, a last-minute withdrawal. Maurizio Fugatti, who has attended all the Northern League meetings, was due to speak in Pinzolo on Saturday just before the secretary. He has let it be known that he will not be attending: family reasons, officially. To avoid fuelling malicious speculation and rumours, he is expected to pop in for a coffee with Salvini this morning.

On the domestic front, Claudio Borghi also spoke, offering a review of 2019 that is both a eulogy and a criticism: “Thanks to Salvini’s clear objectives and effective governance, the League reached 34 per cent,” but “our allies at the time were not suited to revolutionary politics” and “President Mattarella nipped any excessively aggressive policy towards the EU in the bud”.

The banking chapter remains, where Salvini puts a figure on it. “We participated enthusiastically in the bailout of MPS. But today we have finalised the proposal for the contribution we intend to ask of the banks: 5 per cent of profits derived from interest. This amounts to around 2 billion a year.” On this, as on the rest, Antonio Tajani’s position is well known.