Regions

Crisis in Friuli-Venezia Giulia: councillors resign delegations. Fedriga: 'Politics must not be a power struggle'

Several councillors renounce delegations in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, majority tensions. President called upon to decide. Minister Ciriani criticised

18 May 2025Aggiornato il 18 maggio 2025, ore 20:30

4' min read

Key points

In the majority, disagreements over the third mandate
Third term, government considers challenging Trentino law
Fedriga: "I shy away from power struggles, I will decide within days"
Savino, "Fi remits delegations, trust in Fedriga"

4' min read

There is a crisis in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region after the councillors of the Lega Lega Nord and then Forza Italia and Lista Fedriga resigned their mandates. Casus belli an interview by Minister Luca Ciriani but in the background there is the clash over the third mandate. An open but for the time being frozen crisis: Fedriga has in fact announced that he will not make any decisionsuntil Tuesday 20 May when he will meet Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Venice on the occasion of the Conference of Regions event.

In the majority, disagreements over the third term

Ciriani's interview is just the latest blow in an increasingly intense skirmish within the regional majority fuelled by disagreements over the third term. Today, therefore, of the ten councillors that make up the regional council, only the three from Fratelli d'Italia remain in charge: Scoccimarro, Amirante and Anzil.

The regional secretary of the League, Marco Dreosto, does not mince words: Ciriani's words have 'in fact opened an irresponsible majority crisis'. Fedriga also launched a tirade: no decision 'until Tuesday, but there can't be no consequences'.

Third term, government considers challenging Trentino law

Meanwhile, in the national tactical scenario that looms around the third mandate and the individual initiatives of some regions, the government is reportedly considering proposing (the last day to raise the issue at the Constitutional Court) at the Council of Ministers the challenge of the Trentino law on mandates, i.e. the rule that would allow Maurizio Fugatti's candidacy for the third time at the Autonomous Province of Trento. The government had already challenged and obtained the Consulta's stop on Campania's law on De Luca's third term of office.

An intervention, however, limited to 'ordinary regions' while in the cases of the Trentino and possible Fvg rule, one speaks of regions with a special statute. Fedriga could try to pass a law allowing a third term in office, thus extinguishing FdI's ambitions. Which, for its part, believes that the limit should be applied in all regions. A consideration that leaves the League cold, which, in the wake of De Luca's rejection, sees a domino effect also on Luca Zaia in Veneto.

Moreover, the approval in April, in the Trentino Council, of the law wanted by the League, which increases from two to three the maximum consecutive mandates for the president of the Autonomous Province, had caused tensions in Fratelli d'Italia with three councillors dissenting. Moreover, if the regional government were to fall, Fedriga would be helped by the Friuli law that would authorise a new candidature. The region voted on 2 and 3 April 2023 for a five-year term of office (until 2028) and according to Regional Law 17 of 2007 (later updated), should the president find himself in the minority and therefore the Council be dissolved before two years, six months and one day, the same chief executive could run again. And in this case, it would not be a third term. A path that could lead Fedriga - who enjoys strong personal consensus - to a new mandate that would not count as a third term.

Fedriga, the crisis? Politics must not be a power struggle

"I want to make a commitment, to show that politics can be something different. It should not be a power struggle, but an answer to be given to the citizens, and I want to interpret this crisis in this way. Afterwards I don't know how it will end, but I want to show that politics can be something different and I will do my best to prove it'. This was stated by Fedriga in Venice, on the sidelines of the second day of the Festival delle Regioni, regarding the crisis triggered by the announcement of the return of the delegations of the Lega Nord and Forza Italia councillors to the Friuli Venezia Giulia region.

"I shy away from power struggles, I will decide any day now"

"In this debate I shy away from power struggles, I want to administer for the community that called me to do so, with a good consensus and with the results we have achieved. I have now taken some time to reflect, but I do not want to get into these dynamics, into the politics of power games from which I have always distanced myself. I will decide in the coming days,' said the President of the Region, at the end of the first day of the Festival delle Regioni, regarding the decision of the regional councillors from the League, the Fedriga list and Forza Italia to put their delegations back into the governor's hands.

Savino, "Fi remits delegations, trust in Fedriga"

"I reiterate with conviction," said the Regional Secretary of Forza Italia in Friuli Venezia Giulia and Undersecretary of State for the Economy and Finance, Sandra Savino, at the end of the majority meeting in Friuli Venezia Giulia, "the full confidence in the work of President Massimiliano Fedriga and Councillor Riccardo Riccardi, figures who represent an authoritative and responsible guide for the regional administration, and with whom Forza Italia has always shared a vision of government based on concreteness, institutional respect and political cohesion.