Anatomy of the ‘Lega Pontina’, destined to become increasingly marginalised

Newspapers can be ruthless when they want to be. In recent weeks and months, they have cajoled and encouraged the northern members of the Lega in their efforts to oppose Salvini’s leadership and challenge the priorities set by the delegation leader in the Meloni government. The governors of the northern regions aligned with the northern faction—namely Luca Zaia, Massimiliano Fedriga, Attilio Fontana and, to a slightly lesser extent, Maurizio Fugatti—were interviewed and given ample space almost every day. Every passing remark they made was highlighted and given generous coverage. But as soon as Matteo Salvini organised a counter-offensive with the early party congress and put his opponents on the back foot, the tone of the newspapers shifted, and those governors who had been elevated to the status of key players in national political life were demoted. The accusation – whether explicit or not – is that they are cowards, capable of making grand proclamations but little else. In contrast, Salvini has suddenly once again become a great strategist, capable of crushing anyone within the League who opposes him. In this portrayal, Massimiliano Romeo, the Senate group leader – perhaps the most prominent of the opponents – has been depicted as a shady conspirator, and so on. Reports indicate that Zaia has recently arranged a visit to distant Armenia. As for Fedriga, his demotion has been all too easy: after all, he has always been regarded as the sort of Christian Democrat unaccustomed to a fight.

However, the conspirators were accused of more than a mere lack of courage. They were portrayed as incurable nostalgics, still clinging to the myth and political stance of Umberto Bossi’s era—dinosaurs, to put it bluntly. Even the Venetian sociologist Paolo Feltrin, a long-standing expert on Carrocciology, whose advice has been very useful to Zaia in the past, has delivered his verdict: “Returning to the ‘Party of the North’ is not a viable strategy. The secretary will not be challenged by the four governors!” In his view, every avenue for creating a ‘Northern Question’ party has been explored in the past, but from secession to differentiated autonomy, they have yielded absolutely nothing. Ergo, Zaia, Fontana and Fedriga are in a tight spot partly because they lack ideas. Mind you, Feltrin isn’t saying anything absurd – quite the contrary. The portrayal of the North that drives Salvini’s opponents is stereotypical; the idea of reviving the ‘SME party’ does not hold water in the face of the profound transformations of the modern economy, which demand consolidation and critical mass. Finally, innovation is not a field with which League members have ever been particularly familiar, yet it is precisely technologies and their implementation that will ultimately determine the future of the North. Confusion now reigns supreme among both Salvini’s supporters and the rebels; as Carlo Stagnaro noted, at Pontida every topic was discussed except the agreement between Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Liguria and Emilia-Romagna on industrial policy – rightly described as one of the most interesting political developments of the last thirty years from a northern perspective.

However, while the regional governors prepare to make their decisions and Zaia remains in Armenia, attention turns to Matteo Salvini’s purported triumph. Skillfully capitalising on the Leninist-style political and organisational tradition that the Lega has always upheld (even under Bossi), the leader is preparing to hold a party congress that will consolidate his position at the helm and, in a sense, confirm that his true deputy is Claudio Durigon. As his surname suggests, he is of Venetian origin and his grandparents moved in the 1930s to what were then the Pontine Marshes. After a brilliant career in the UGL trade union, Durigon rose through the ranks of the League and realised that his role could expand by offering himself as a counterweight to the northerners. Lega members from central and southern Italy are seen as the faction most loyal to the leader and, at the same time, the source of new policy inspiration. In short, Durigon – who is already formally one of the deputy secretaries – has not only brought a few coachloads of Lazio activists to the historic Pontida meadow (an extraordinary feat in itself), but has also promised the secretary that he will work with him to seek out a new constituency for the Lega after the congress.

Everyone in Rome knows Durigon for his gift of the gab and his ability to mediate; everyone remembers how the ‘Quota 100’ pension scheme was the result of his pension simulations; and everyone knows that he is the go-to politician for small employers’ organisations and trade unions. In short, he is the linchpin of the ‘pirate’ contracts, but when he tried, during the 1 May decrees, to influence even Giorgia Meloni, he ended up taking a beating that would have been enough for half a person. But – and this is the most intriguing question – how will the new Pontine League, set to emerge from the congress, sustain itself? Can it really hope to win support simply by promising to lower the retirement age for everyone? Can it rely solely on the votes that the ‘Conf-something’ organisations will bend over backwards to secure for it? Based on what we know today, and without consulting sociologists, it seems highly unlikely. The fate that the Pontine League risks facing is akin to a slice of cheese squashed between General Vannacci’s advance and Giorgia Meloni’s frantic shift to the right. She, too, sees opportunities in the north and has taken to visiting factories as if they were day trips, from rice mills to arms manufacturers (Beretta). In short, it is clear where the League’s support base is being poached by others; what is not clear is where Salvini’s and Durigo’s supporters might be able to cast themselves as the hunters.