After the thrust of the governor of Lombardy Attilio Fontana, who asked the secretary Matteo Salvini to consider a step backwards, the group leader in the Senate Massimiliano Romeo is thinking of shaking up the League with his new book. The title is already quite explanatory: 'Building the League, agenda for renewal'.
A manifesto, anticipated by ANSA, with which Romeo, who is also the Lombard secretary of the Carroccio, puts the importance of the base and the movement as a "territorial union" back at the center in a moment "for us that is complicated". "Spending a lot of time among the militants - he observes -, I wanted to talk in a constructive way about the great desire for renewal that comes from the base. We need advice to relaunch the movement. And I think that the signs of recent times cannot be ignored".
In circles close to the secretariat who were asked about this, they simply pointed out that Matteo Salvini is working for the ministry, for the League and Pontida and does not dedicate himself to controversy. A projection that does not stop at the next few months but looks to the next few months. There is no going back on the national party, but it must be "capable of safeguarding territorial identities and transforming Italy into a federal Republic", with the key words returning to those of the past, above all autonomy and federalism, but also that "Celodurism" of Bossian memory: "A return to the roots which is not nostalgia, but the condition for facing tomorrow" argues Romeo, who will make an advance presentation on 20 August at the Versiliana, flanked, not by chance, by governor Fontana. Together, the two rode out that "discomfort" that exploded during the last Lombard board meeting in which Salvini also participated. And during which, for the first time, several provincial administrators and secretaries asked the secretary to step aside. To Fontana's interview, the representatives closest to Salvini responded by flooding the WhatsApp chat of the Federal Council - where the governor is also present - with messages of closeness to the deputy prime minister and also with a certain annoyance at the continuous controversies in the press. Recent events line up around the secretary. The board, then Fontana's words and now the book complete with a presentation together.
A "non-spontaneous" operation, it is argued, but a thoughtful one, which inevitably tarnishes the leader's image, is commented in various sectors of the party. In circles close to the secretariat who were asked about this, they simply pointed out that Matteo Salvini is working for the ministry, for the League and Pontida and does not dedicate himself to controversy. A projection, therefore, which does not stop at the next few days but looks to the next few months, is explained at the conclusion of the reasoning. Supporting the secretary's line is the President of the Chamber Lorenzo Fontana, who asks for more respect for Salvini: "If you really care about the movement - he tells Il Giornale -, it is right to discuss and think about the future. But we must do so by avoiding public conflicts and confusion".
Even the president of Veneto Alberto Stefani, interviewed by the Corriere, distances himself from the other governors: "We are just over a year away from a congress in which no one raised a finger. Whoever is arguing today, why didn't they choose to run and collect the vote of the militants at the time?". And on the malaise, "I - he says - think of that of the citizens". Words that the deputy and coordinator of the Youth League Luca Toccalini makes his own: "The new generation is interested in working, not controversy. We prefer facts to words" stings Toccalini, who, taking inspiration from Stefani's election, adds piqued: "When we talk about renewal, we must remember that, in Veneto, Salvini nominated a 33-year-old boy for the Region who already had one mandate as mayor and two as deputy". Romeo assures that his book is not intended to represent a break from the party. But today "we have become gentrified" the senator points out, relaunching the northern question "more relevant than ever". The book, he concludes, is intended to be "an appeal to rediscover a popular and combative soul", because "the Northern League dream is not over: the League just needs to go back to being the League".
