Lega, Salvini secretariat armored
There is a lot of talk about the very evident difficulties of Matteo Salvini’s leadership but no one goes out of their way to clearly state that the Captain (as they used to say in the sweatshirt era) he has no real alternatives. In fact, it has none at all!
Of course, prominent personalities with national resonance -from Luca Zaia to Massimiliano Fedriga, to the governor of Lombardy- there is no shortage in the League, ma no one really seems to have, perhaps, the ambition or, simply, the charisma of a people’s leader.
To be a “political leader” you don’t need the features or the skills of a good person, as in the case of Veneto or Friuli Venezia Giulia, an excellent administrator.
Leadership presupposes other qualities: that of‘enterprising, from the wagerfrom the strategic visionfrom the mediation skills but also of tenacity to know how to conduct negotiations without taking a step back. Gifts like Bossi (the leader in a vest) or, more modestly (and, perhaps, approximately), like Salvini.
In short, something that goes beyond management, the mere management of an institution, albeit complex and demanding, such as that of a region or a large city.
Doing politics is an art and there is no doubt that in recent years Matteo Salvini has been a very lively interpreter of the Italian political scene with unimaginable peaks of consensus (unimaginable not even by his own) and equally impressive (if not literally deadly) lapses in style.
But beyond this apparent (almost banal) analysis lies a reality that seems difficult to take note of.
Apart from the historic (and never resolved) parochial dispute between the Lombard League and the Venetian League, it cannot escape the most astute political commentators that Matteo Salvini has recorded, even in recent weeks, more victories than defeats, especially within the League.
If it is true that the Abruzzo elections saw a retreat of the Northern League as the third leg of the coalition, the situation recorded in Sardinia describes a completely different reality where the votes of the League must necessarily be combined with the votes of the Sardinian Action Party whose leader it is the Salvinian Christian Solinas.
But if this is the external side, within the Lumbard, the definitive collapse of the third mandate for Luca Zaia which occurred just 24 hours ago, seals – almost hermetically – the Salvini secretariat.
In the space of just 45 days Zaia, the one most credited with succeeding Salvini, suffered three sensational defeats: on the end-of-life law, on the third mandate in the Senate commission and yesterday, in the chamber.
But it is not the defeat that makes him less credible in the eyes of the Northern League people but the fact that the defeat came because – the unwary Zaia – he would have trusted the promises of the Democratic Party in the Region as in Rome.
A sin that can hardly be forgiven for a candidate leader. For Lumbard ideology, exaggeration is better than gullibility!
Finally, it must be said with extreme clarity that 8-10% has always been the true strength of the League and that the peaks of 4% (the condition reached by the Bossi secretariat) and 34% were mere accidents.
Salvini with his – sometimes embarrassing – extravagances can still sleep many peaceful dreams.