Matteo Salvini

Matteo Salvini
MEP
Federal Secretary of Lega Nord
Assumed office
15 December 2013
Preceded by Roberto Maroni
Member of the European Parliament
Assumed office
20 July 2004
Constituency North-West Italy
Personal details
Born (1973-03-09) 9 March 1973
Milan, Italy
Political party Lega Nord
Other political
affiliations		 Us with Salvini (2014–present)
Relations Elisa Isoardi
Children Federico
Mirta
Occupation Politician
Profession Journalist
Religion Roman Catholicism
Website www.matteosalvini.eu

Matteo Salvini (Italian pronunciation: [matˈtɛːo sɑlˈviːni];[1][2] Northern Italian Pronunciation: IPA: [maˈteːo sɒlˈviːni]; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician and member of the European Parliament who has been the leader of the Lega Nord political party since December 2013 and of Us with Salvini since December 2014.

Early life

Matteo Salvini was born in Milan in 1973; he was the son of a business executive and an housewife.[3] Salvini studied to the classical lyceum Alessandro Manzoni of Milan and than he attended the University of Milan studing Historical Science, but he never graduated.[4]

In his youth Salvini became a member of the left-wing social centre Leoncavallo, which strongly influenced his political orientation; he became the main representative of the the left-wing faction of Lega Nord, the Padanian party.

Political career

Early career

Salvini has been a member of Young Padanians Movement, Lega Nord's youth faction and deputy secretary of Lega Lombarda, along with Marco Reguzzoni. At the 1997 Padanian elections he was a candidate of the list Comunisti Padani (Padanian Communists). According to one of his interviews he attended university for several years but he dropped out before getting his degree.

From 1993 to 2012 he has been a member of the Milan City Council.[5]

European Parliament

Salvini during a Young Padanians rally in 2006.

He was elected a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the North-West region in 2004 and participated in the European Parliament as a part of the Non-Inscrits. He switched as a member of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group in 2009 before switching back to the Non-Inscrits in 2014.[6] In June 2015, he was part of the creation of a new group, the Europe of Nations and Freedom, with parties such as the French National Front and the Dutch Party for Freedom; he is also the vice-president of the Italian delegation.

He sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education, and was a substitute for the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and a member of the Delegation to the EU-Chile Joint Parliamentary Committee. He stood down from the European Parliament in November 2006.

After he was re-elected in 2009 as an MEP, he sat on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and is a member of the Delegation for Relations with India, and the Delegation for Relations with the Korean Peninsula. He is a Substitute on the Committee on International Trade and the Delegation for Relations with South Africa.[6]

Head of Lega Nord

Matteo Salvini speaks during a Lega Nord rally, in 2013.

On 7 December 2013 Salvini, who counted on the support by Roberto Maroni and most of the party's bigwigs (including Flavio Tosi, who had renounced a bid of his own), trounced Umberto Bossi with 82% of the vote in the "primary".[7] A week later, his election was ratified by the party's federal congress in Turin.[8] Under Salvini, the party embraced a very critical view of the European Union,[9] especially of the Euro, which he described a "crime against mankind".[10] Ahead of 2014 European Parliament election, Salvini started to cooperate with Marine Le Pen, leader of the French National Front, and Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom.[11][12][13] All this was criticised by Bossi, who re-called his left-wing roots,[14][15] and Tosi, who represented the party's centrist wing and defended the Euro.[16]

In April 2014 Salvini presented the party's logo for the EP election, with Basta Euro ("No more Euro") replacing Padania,[17] to emphasize the new political trend, focused on Euroscepticism and the exit from the Eurozone.[18] The party included in its slates candidates from other anti-Euro and/or autonomist movements (hence Autonomie, meanining "Autonomies"), notably comprising The Freedomites, a right-wing populist and separatist party active in South Tyrol (whose symbol was included too).[19]

In the EP election the party obtained 6.2% of the vote and 5 MEPs.[20] The result was far worse than that of the previous EP election in 2009 (–4.0%), but better than that of 2013 general election (+2.1%). The LN arrived third with 15.2% in Veneto (where Tosi obtained many more votes than Salvini, showing his popular support once for all and proving how the party was far from united on the anti-Euro stance),[21] ahead of Forza Italia (FI) and the other parties emerged from the defunct PdL, and fourth in Lombardy with 14.6%. Salvini was triumphant, despite the party had lost Piedmont to the Democrats, after Cota had been forced to resign, due to irregularities committed by one of its supporting lists in filing the slates for the 2010 election, and had decided not to stand. Moreover, Bitonci was elected mayor of Padua, a Democratic stronghold.

The party's federal congress, summoned in Padua in July, approved Salvini's political line, especially a plan for the introduction of a flat tax and the creation of a sister party in central-southern Italy and the Isles.[22] In November the Emilia-Romagna regional election represented a major step for Salvini's "national project": the LN, which won 19.4% of the vote, was the region's second-largest and far ahead of FI, paving the way for a bid for the leadership of the centre-right.[23] In December Us with Salvini (NcS) was launched. The party's growing popularity among voters was reflected also by a constant rise in opinion polls.

Matteo Salvini in 2015.

A December, 2014 Ipsos poll showed that his approval rating had increased by 5 percentage points, from 28% to 33%, "cementing his position as a rising political force in Italy".[24]

On 28 February 2015, Salvini led a rally in Rome protesting against illegal immigration.[25]

In March 2015, after a long struggle between the two main Venetian party's leaders Flavio Tosi and Luca Zaia, backed by Salvini, over the formation of the slates for the upcoming regional election in Veneto, Tosi was removed from national secretary of Liga Veneta and ejected from the federal party altogether.[26] However, the 2015 regional elections were another success for the LN, especially in Veneto, where Zaia was handily re-elected with 50.1% of the vote and the combined score of party's and Zaia's personal lists was 40.9%. The party also came second in Liguria with 22.3%, second in Tuscany with 16.2%, third in Marche with 13.0% and third in Umbria with 14.0%. The LN had never polled so high in those five regions before.

Political views

Matteo Salvini embraces a very critical view of the European Union (EU), especially of the Euro, which he once described a "crime against mankind".[27] Salvini is also quite opposed to illegal immigration, which has emerged in 2012 as a serious problem for Italy.[28][29]

On economic issues, he supports flat tax, tax cuts, fiscal federalism, protectionism[30] and, to some extent, agrarianism. On social issues, Salvini opposes same-sex marriage and the EU's management of immigration, while it supports family values and the legalisation of brothels.[31] In foreign policy he opposes the international embargo against Russia of 2014[32][33] and supported an economic opening to Eastern Europe and to countries of the Far East such as North Korea.[34][35]

Salvini also endorsed the Republican candidate to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump, who met in April 2016 in Philadelphia.[36]

Personal life

In 2001 Matteo Salvini married Fabrizia Ieluzzi, a journalist who worked for a private radio station, from whom he had one child Federico in 2003.[37] After the divorce with his wife he had another child, Mirta, from his new domestic partner Giulia Martinelli in 2012.[38]

In 2015 the weekly celebrity Novella 2000 reveals the love story between Salvini and television host Elisa Isoardi.[39]

Salvini his a strong supporter of the football team A.C. Milan.[40]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Migliorini, Bruno; Tagliavini, Carlo; Fiorelli, Piero. Tommaso Francesco Borri, ed. "Dizionario italiano multimediale e multilingue d'ortografia e di pronunzia". dizionario.rai.it. Rai Eri. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  2. ↑ Canepari, Luciano. "Dizionario di pronuncia italiana online". dipionline.it. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  3. ↑ Il ragazzaccio del Carroccio dai boyscout al Leoncavallo
  4. ↑ Matteo Salvini si presenta
  5. ↑ Biografia di Matteo Salvini
  6. 1 2 "Your MEPs: Matteo SALVINI". Europa. European Parliament. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
  7. ↑ "Lega: primarie, a Salvini l'81,66% dei voti a Bossi il 18,34%". Rome: Adnkronos. 8 December 2013.
  8. ↑ Cremonesi, Marco (16 December 2013). "Parte l'era di Salvini E Bossi difende l'euro". Milan: Corriere della Sera.
  9. ↑ "Matteo Salvini: “Basta essere succubi dell'Unione Europea e di Roma” Mattinonline". Mattinonline.ch. 2013-12-16. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
  10. ↑ "Lega, Salvini contro euro: 'Crimine contro l'umanità'". ANSA.it. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  11. ↑ "Europa, Marine Le Pen preferisce Salvini e la Lega Nord a Beppe Grillo". Il Sole 24 ORE. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  12. ↑ "Salvini: “Al congresso della Lega Marine Le Pen e Wilders” | L'Indipendenza Nuova". Lindipendenza.com. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
  13. ↑ "askanews". Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  14. ↑ di LAVINIA RIVARA (3 April 2014). "Umberto Bossi: "Il blitz del Ros? Colpa dei Servizi, la gente si incazza"". Repubblica.it. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  15. ↑ "Bossi: con Le Pen alleanza transitoria. Boso: la Lega non è di destra | L'Indipendenza Nuova". Lindipendenza.com. 2014-05-29. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
  16. ↑ "Tosi: non si può uscire dall'euro. L'Italia sarebbe preda di speculazioni". Il Sole 24 ORE. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  17. ↑ RQuotidiano. "Europee 2014, nuovo simbolo Lega. Via scritta "Padania", al suo posto "Basta euro" - Il Fatto Quotidiano". Il Fatto Quotidiano. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  18. ↑ "Salvini: nuovo simbolo Lega per Europee". rainews. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  19. ↑ "Salvini: simbolo Lega con 'Basta euro'". ANSA.it. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  20. ↑ "[Scrutini] Europee - Elezioni del 25 maggio 2014 - Ministero dell'Interno". Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  21. ↑ "La grande vittoria (politica) di Tosi". Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  22. ↑ "Salvini avverte: la nuova Lega corre da sola". Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  23. ↑ "La Lega doppia Forza Italia L?urlo di Salvini: "È storico"". Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  24. ↑ Rachel Sanderson; James Politi (December 2, 2014). "Italy’s new political star: Northern League leader Matteo Salvini". Financial Times.
  25. ↑ Associated Press, "Italy's anti-immigrant movement brings protest rally to Rome", http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-2973389/Italys-anti-immigrant-movement-brings-protest-rally-Rome.html
  26. ↑ "Salvini e la rottura nella Lega: Tosi non è più un militante del partito". Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  27. ↑ "Lega, Salvini contro euro: 'Crimine contro l'umanità' - Politica". ANSA.it. 2013-12-15. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  28. ↑ ""Lasciate gli immigrati al largo". E scoppia la bufera su Salvini". IlGiornale.it (in Italian). 2015-02-15. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  29. ↑ "Il Cittadino di Lodi". Ilcittadino.it. 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  30. ↑ "I 10 punti del programma ECONOMICO della Lega nero su bianco.". Libero Quotidiano. February 11, 2015.
  31. ↑ Carta dei Valori. Noi con Salvini. 2015.
  32. ↑ "Russia, Salvini: Ci batteremo per rimuovere sanzioni a Mosca". il Velino. June 9, 2015.
  33. ↑ Anna Lesnevskaya (October 15, 2014). "Lega, Salvini in Russia alla Duma: “No alle sanzioni Ue”. E la Padania lo celebra". il Fatto Quotidiano.
  34. ↑ Luisa De Montis (September 3, 2014). "Salvini elogia la Corea del Nord". il Giornale.
  35. ↑ Massimo Rebotti (September 3, 2014). "Salvini: la Corea del Nord? C’è uno splendido senso di comunità". Corriere della Sera.
  36. ↑ E Trump incorona Salvini a Filadelfia: «Diventerai premier in Italia»
  37. ↑ Salvini, il comunista padano che per Milano dà il sangue
  38. ↑ Lega: Matteo Salvini è il nuovo segretario del Carroccio
  39. ↑ Matteo Salvini dalla compagna Elisa Isoardi alla fidanzata Martinellil
  40. ↑ Comunnque vada ringrazio Dio di avermi fatto milanista

External links


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