Calderoli, minister in Italy’s longest-serving governments: “I stand with Meloni and Berlusconi. Both knew how to persuade”

Roberto Calderoli has served as a minister under two of Italy’s longest-lasting center-right governments, first under Silvio Berlusconi and now under Giorgia Meloni. Asked about the difference between the two periods, the Lega politician gives a blunt answer: “Today the left no longer has Romano Prodi.”

“

Today the left no longer has Romano Prodi

He says the center-right has Giorgia Meloni in place of Berlusconi. Under a new electoral law, Calderoli argues, the alliance has a candidate it can present to the president, one on whom all its parties agree and for whom they will work.

Calderoli describes Berlusconi as an extraordinary political figure. “It was impossible not to love him,” he says, rejecting the idea that Berlusconi simply charmed people. Calderoli says he saw him as sincere and willing to discuss everything. “He did not enchant me: he convinced me.” He says Meloni has the same ability to persuade, although Berlusconi’s empathy was exceptional.

“

It was impossible not to love him

The moment he identifies as decisive in the earlier legislature came when he learned that Umberto Bossi was seriously ill. Calderoli later replaced Bossi as minister in 2004, after Bossi told him: “You go on, I cannot.”

“

He did not enchant me: he convinced me

He also revisits the center-right’s referendum defeat, blaming Gianfranco Fini for holding the vote after the elections rather than before them. Calderoli claims the alliance consequently lost both the elections and the referendum. He says the left has been better at creating slogans that reach voters, while the right’s approach has changed little in structure. The difference, he adds, is that decisions once remained settled, whereas today some people try to alter them along the way.

“

You go on, I cannot