Impatience with Vannacci is growing in the League. But Salvini puts the brakes on: 'He is an added value'.

It is an increasingly open clash in the League between the northern 'old guard' and Roberto Vannacci. The former general of the 'Mondo al Contrario', now an MEP and deputy secretary of the Carroccio, has ended up in the crosshairs because of his prominence and the role he wanted to carve out for himself. "They tell me that the former general is often in the Varese area for initiatives that involve Leghists but of which the party, of which he is deputy secretary, knows nothing," complained Massimiliano Romeo, leader of the Carroccio group in the Senate and secretary of the Lombard League, who added: "Since I want to avoid dangers or misunderstandings, I think the time has come to sit around a table with Vannacci to discuss with the utmost sincerity for the good of the League. I think it is useful to meet as soon as possible, before the Pontida rally (21 September, ed.). We must avoid overlapping that could generate confusion within us'.

Vice-President of the Senate Gian Marco Centinaio, who explained in an interview on the website of La Stampa, feels the same way: 'If Roberto Vannacci continues to move in this way, the relationship will not recover. I am also convinced, as Romeo says, that a clarification with Vannacci is necessary, before Pontida, to avoid any further doubts about this situation'. He adds that he expects 'Vannacci to start respecting the rules of the League. If they don't suit him, let him be his own party. If, on the other hand, he says he wants to change them, it means he wants to aim for the leadership and I'm not happy with that,' because 'he has joined a structured party, which already has its own leader. And it is our secretary who makes the decisions. If he wants to be accepted, it is Vannacci who must save himself'. While Lombardy president Attilio Fontana had blurted out a few days earlier at the Young Padans congress held in Busto Arstizio: 'Like hell they're going to salvage the League'. And again: 'I am of the League, our values are always the same', recalling the first meetings at the Bologna restaurant in Varese, the city of which he was also mayor, the meetings with Umberto Bossi and, above all, the teachings of the Senatur

Serene in his reply, the MEP said: 'Let us all go forward together for an ever larger and more influential League,' Vannacci said on the phone from Strasbourg. 'Everyone brings the best of themselves. Words reminiscent of those of Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, who tried to dampen the polemics this way: 'The League is made up of many realities, many diversities. We are for exalting diversity'.

Throwing water on the fire, after two days of back-and-forth, is the leader of the Carroccio. "We are too busy working to devote time to polemics or anything else. Mayors, governors, ministers, parliamentarians and MEPs, each with their heads to their own role and to the citizens. We are also preparing a big Pontida '25, on Sunday 21 September there will be thousands of people from all over Italy, and on stage all the Lega League bigwigs who, each with their own style and personality, are making the Movement grow. Subscribers are increasing, elected members are increasing, consensus is increasing. Vannacci is an added value, we are doing and will do a great job together,' Matteo Salvini wrote in a note.