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🇮🇹 Italy /Sports

New challenge for Salvini as former allies revive the Northern League

From ANSA · () Italian

Translated from Italian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Former Northern League officials have formed a committee seeking a federal congress of the old party and control of its symbol.
  • Matteo Salvini’s allies dismissed the initiative as an attempt to secure positions, while northern party dissidents said it was separate from their internal campaign for change.
  • The dispute comes amid growing tension between Salvini and northern governors over the party’s direction and leadership.

Matteo Salvini’s difficult summer has opened another front: former Northern League lawmakers and provincial secretaries are trying to revive the old party and reclaim control of its symbol. They have created a committee demanding a federal congress, not of Salvini’s League for Salvini Premier, but of what remains of the former Northern League.

We want the congress to be convened and to unfreeze the old party.

— Gianluca PiniPini described the committee’s demand for a federal congress of the old Northern League.

Since 2017, the old party has effectively served as a separate vehicle for repaying the 49 million euros the League owes the state. The committee’s initiative has drawn a sharp response from Salvini’s camp. Party sources expressed surprise at the demand and accused its promoters of returning in search of positions after having endangered the League. They also asked whether those who had negotiated corruption cases were prepared to take responsibility for the debt inherited by the League for Salvini Premier.

Gianluca Pini, a former lawmaker and longtime Northern League secretary in Romagna, is among the committee’s promoters. He said hundreds of ordinary members had already joined and demanded that the congress be convened to “unfreeze the old party.” Pini accused those in charge of trampling the Northern League’s rules and statutes and threatened legal action. He also targeted Igor Iezzi, the commissioner appointed by Salvini, accusing him of blocking the congress, merging local sections and effectively halting membership drives.

Those who risked killing the League are now resurfacing in search of a position.

— Sources close to Matteo Salvini and the LeagueSalvini’s camp attacked the former officials behind the committee.

The committee emerged after a tense summer inside the League. Northern governors have been openly dissatisfied, while Massimiliano Romeo, the Senate group leader and secretary of the Lombard League, has written a book describing a grassroots desire for renewal.

An authoritative candidate.

— Tommaso GoriniGorini used the phrase to describe Mario Calabresi in a separate political story.

Yet the northern dissidents have distanced themselves from Pini’s move. They say their effort is being conducted from within the party and for its benefit. Lombardy Governor Attilio Fontana said the committee “has absolutely nothing to do” with the discussion being held with Salvini. That internal process is expected to culminate in a long-announced meeting between the northern governors and the deputy prime minister, with party officials still trying to make their schedules coincide.

Has absolutely nothing to do with the discussion we are carrying forward with Salvini.

— Attilio FontanaThe Lombardy governor distanced his internal reform effort from Pini’s committee.
About this summary

Originally published by ANSA in Italian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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