Salvini secretary of the League until 2029. Meloni at the congress: negotiating and economic instruments to support businesses (and work for a mission to Washington)

"The issue of peace sees the greatest betrayal by the left. The League is a choice for peace. Those who choose the League choose peace, without ifs and buts'. So, adds Salvini, in his closing speech, 'let's overcome the stability pact not to buy a single missile or bullet but to invest in health, school, work. History teaches that when they decide to invest in tanks in Berlin, it does not always end well'.

'Matteo Piantedosi is a friend and an excellent minister. He has been a loyal, trustworthy person. This is a party congress, parties do politics, and it is my duty to listen to what my party asks of me. And so knowing that Matteo is and will be with serenity a man of the institutions, I will go and talk to both him and Giorgia Meloni. Because I am at the disposal of Italy and the League, without having any cravings'. Salvini accepts the request of the Lega congress to ask to return to the Viminale, but assures: 'They will never make us fight, they have been trying for two and a half years'.

"I get on very well with Giorgia, and our allies, we are now second in the coalition and sometimes it is also regenerating to be second, to have someone who opens the wind for you. Then the goal is to be the first to pull the group again. That's clear'. With an afterword. "But not to the detriment of our allies. There is a 50 per cent of Italians who no longer vote, it's up to us to go back to convincing them, in the territories, without having a quarrel with our allies'.

"It is fundamental to accept the challenge of openness and involvement, not only for Roberto Vannacci. As Roberto Calderoli said, it is clear that our assets are not money, which we do not have, but militants. Those who may not be here today and who do the gazebo both when things are going well and when they are going badly. But to change the world we face, we have to involve and open up. We must open seats to people who are better than us because they are here, they want to lend a hand and collaborate'. For Salvini, 'because now is a positive and growing moment, not only because the polls say so, but because there is a desire. Change must be made when things are going well, not when they are going badly, so let's accompany this positive change'.

A swipe at the Pentastellist initiative in Rome without mentioning it. 'Let's leave the squares of anger and jealousy to others. Yesterday we had one of the most important entrepreneurs in the world, elsewhere the star was the tiktoker inviting people to go to Roccaraso, everyone chooses the testimonials they want...'.

Matteo Salvini pays tribute to Silvio Berlusconi, calling him 'a man of peace who built bridges and brought peoples and cultures closer together'. The Lega Lega secretary said this from the stage of his party's congress, showing the photo of Pratica di Mare - projected on the big screen - that is the handshake between Berlusconi, US President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Salvini specified: 'The big one is the one in the middle' alluding to the Cavaliere who is in the middle between the two leaders. He added: 'Thank you Silvio for what you have done and what you have left behind. Let's see together with the others to carry it forward'.

25 April is approaching. "And I remember that among those who contributed to the Liberation were also the drafters of the Alpine Charter and the Charter of Chivasso. They fought against dictatorship and advocated the need for federalism. Let's go to high schools to explain this to those who don't know. 25 April does not belong to the red flags and comrades, and 1 May is the workers' holiday, not the CGIL's holiday. Hands off Italian history, let's put things back in place,' the party secretary concluded the party congress in Florence.

On the day of street demonstrations in France to protest against the ruling that excludes Marine Le Pen from the upcoming French presidential elections, the leader of the Rassemblement Nationale surprisingly connects with the league congress, for a brief exchange with Matteo Salvini. "You know very well what I am experiencing because you have experienced it too, the attacks of the judiciary against leaders who protect the sovereignty of the country," Le Pen says to the Lega leader, referring to the Open Arms trial. The ruling of the French judiciary 'puts an end to all the principles of the rule of law, the French will not be able to choose, they will not be able to vote for a candidate they want at the head of the country since she was favoured. But we will never give in, we will use all legal instruments to be able to present ourselves in these presidential elections,' Le Pen assures. And Salvini observes: 'It's singular that in France and Brussels they give lessons in democracy to those who are taking democracy away: in Romania, by excluding a candidate, in Germany, by reconvening a lapsed parliament, but they can only delay change, not stop it'. Le Pen obviously agrees: 'It is the freedom of all our peoples that is being challenged. Ours will be a peaceful, democratic struggle and the example comes from Martin Luther King. We sovereignists are not second-class citizens'.