MILAN. Not even 24 hours have passed since the meeting at Bossi’s house between Attilio Fontana and the senatur, that the tests of “safeguarding the unity of the League” which had been discussed have already foundered. In fact, it seems that MEP Angelo Ciocca, one of the founders of the Northern Committee inspired by Umberto Bossi, has offered explicit support to Letizia Moratti for her list in a face-to-face meeting with the former number two of the Pirellone. From the Committee they do not confirm. But neither do they deny, continuing to reiterate that today’s meeting in Gemonio with Fontana – which was also attended by Ciocca and the former secretary of the Lombard League Paolo Grimoldi – will be followed by another after New Year’s which will also be attended by the Minister of Economy and deputy secretary of the League, Giancarlo Giorgetti, in the role of mediator with the federal secretariat, read Matteo Salvini. The Committee’s objective is in fact to obtain the candidacy of individual directors on the Fontana list, people close to the Committee for “identity with the territory” reasons, and to intercept the votes of that part of Northern League voters of the first hour, linked to the idea of Padania, who have drifted apart in recent times.
Sources close to Letizia Moratti, on the other hand, say that “something is brewing”. It is not clear whether the support that the Committee has offered will have the form of a real list or will be little more than the sharing of thematic points and objectives. What is certain is that, if the agreement were made official, Fontana’s position, even within the centre-right coalition of which he is the candidate, would be much more uncomfortable. This would also explain the reason for his visit to the senator’s house this morning. Only a few months ago it would not have been news: the governor and the founder of the Northern League are both from Varese and have known each other for forty years: “I came to wish Umberto a happy birthday” – he said as he left Gemonio’s cottage. “As my habit for 20 years, this morning I met him for the end of the year greetings”. Then, on the Northern Committee he had added: «We have agreed that the priority for everyone is to safeguard the unity of the League and that our party is only one. The ongoing dialogue must consolidate this common intention and put the ambitions and destinies of individuals in the background».
Fontana and Bossi had already met at the Pirellone last December 20 when the senator had gone to find the regional councilors of the newborn Northern Committee group, who had been expelled from the Carroccio precisely because of his birth. Since then, Fontana has repeatedly called for dialogue as the “guarantor of the coalition”. Salvini had passed the ball to the coordinator of the Lombard League Fabrizio Cecchetti, who, however, showed little intention of welcoming the defectors from the Lega group to the regional council.
The game, however, is not over yet: if on the one hand Giorgetti’s intervention could unblock the impasse of Via Bellerio, on the other – say the “Morattians” – «every day that passes the Committee moves away from the League a a little more and he gets closer to Letizia Moratti».