Lega: pressure mounts for Zaia to join the political secretariat

The green light has been given to Matteo Salvini’s proposal for a political secretariat: nine members appointed by the federal secretary, tasked with ‘providing support and collaboration in the implementation of the political line’. A seat is almost certain for the former Doge Luca Zaia. This is the main development from the first day of proceedings at the extraordinary congress of the Lega, which will reach its climax today with the election of the new secretary by secret ballot, following speeches by the two candidates Matteo Salvini and Massimo Garavaglia.

The rivals greet each other with smiles. They shake hands and pose for the customary photo before the congress begins. But the day at the Allianz MiCo in Milan (where 705 delegates from all over Italia have gathered) is not without its moments of tension. Massimiliano Romeo, secretary of the Lombardy branch of the League, comes under fire for his criticism of Salvini (“Going to the press to discredit us is not what a team player does,” he is rebuked, amongst others, by the outgoing deputy secretary Claudio Durigon, plenipotentiary for central and southern Italy). The man in question does not back down: “The problem is the people out there who no longer vote for us,” he says heatedly from the stage. “I have raised a political issue.” And to those who remind him that his future as Senate group leader hangs in the balance, he assures them: “I will always remain a member of the League.”

Whilst Romeo’s fate may be sealed, there are nevertheless numerous signs that the rift between the two factions is healing. The political secretariat is the mechanism that Salvini has devised to meet the demands for a more collegial leadership of the party put forward in recent months by the ‘northern faction’, led by Romeo and the Governor of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana, who are now pinning their hopes on Garavaglia to drive forward the call for renewal in the name of a more pragmatic and less ideological liberal federalism (“we are neither right-wing nor left-wing”).

Durigon, a staunch supporter of Salvini, addressed Zaia from the stage, explicitly asking him to join the party: ‘I’m sure Matteo will ask you; Luca, you’ve got to put yourself on the line: you won’t be able to get out of it,’ he pressed. The Doge, who has not taken sides with either candidate, remains non-committal on the political secretariat as well. “I have never sought party positions,” he remarks. But his call for unity (“Whoever loses will have to say ‘He is my secretary’, and whoever wins will have to bear in mind that, in any case, we are one big family”) is seen as a sign of his willingness to get involved. And there is speculation about him taking on the role of sole deputy secretary.

But that is not all. Of the 11 motions approved, the most politically significant was drafted by Riccardo Molinari, the party’s leader in the Chamber of Deputies, in consultation with Salvini. Presented by Zaia himself and signed by all the League governors (from the ‘rebel’ Fontana to the ‘Salvinian’ Stefani), the motion bridges the gap between the Northern bloc and the outgoing secretariat by placing the Northern question at the centre, identifying as a priority for political action ‘the full implementation of differentiated autonomy and fiscal federalism’.