Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has served as

Deputy Prime Minister of Italy The Deputy Prime Minister of Italy, officially Vice-President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic (Italian language, Italian: ''Vicepresidente del Consiglio dei ministri della Repubblica Italiana''), is a senior member of the Cou ...

and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been

Federal Secretary The federal secretary (also referred to as the secretary to the Government of Pakistan) is the highest-ranking position in the Government of Pakistan, occupied by the most senior civil servant in a specific ministry or division. The secretary is ...

of Italy's Lega Nord ( Northern League) party since December 2013 and an Italian senator since March 2018. Salvini represented Northwestern Italy in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

from 2004 to 2018. Salvini has been considered a hardline

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...

politician, holding a starkly critical view of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, especially of the

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

. He opposes

illegal immigration Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...

into Italy and the EU as well as the EU's management of

asylum seeker An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and mi ...

s. He is also considered one of the main leaders of the

populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...

wave which shook Europe during the 2010s and a member of the

neo-nationalist Neo-nationalism, or new nationalism, is an ideology and political movement built on the basic characteristics of classical nationalism. It developed to its final form by applying elements with reactionary character generated as a reaction to ...

movement, which is a rightist ideology that emphasizes

de-globalization Deglobalization or deglobalisation is the process of diminishing interdependence and integration between certain units around the world, typically nation-states. It is widely used to describe the periods of history when economic trade and investme ...

, nativist and

protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

stances. During his time serving as Deputy Prime Minister, many international political commentators and newspapers, such as ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

'', and ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'', characterized him as a

strongman In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. Thes ...

and the most influential politician in Italy after the 2018 elections. Salvini condemned the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. He was previously a strong supporter of Russia's president

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

, describing Putin as "the best politician and statesman in the world".

Early life

Matteo Salvini was born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

in 1973, the son of a business executive father and a homemaker mother. In 1985, at the age of 12, he took part in game show ''Doppio slalom'' (the Italian version of '' Blockbusters''), hosted by Corrado Tedeschi on

Canale 5 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have a national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a s ...

and in 1993, at the age of 20, he participated on ''Il pranzo è servito'', hosted by

Davide Mengacci Davide Mengacci (born 8 September 1948, in Milan) is an Italian television host who has been working in television since 1986. From 2000 to 2005 he worked on the show ''La domenica del villaggio'' with Mara Carfagna, who in May 2008 was appointed Mi ...

, which was broadcast by

Rete 4 Rete 4 (in English Network 4) is an Italian free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset Italia and owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. Presently the director is Sebastiano Lombardi. Programs TV Programmes (currently) Rete 4's strengt ...

. Salvini studied at the

Classical Lyceum Liceo classico or Ginnasio (literally ''classical lyceum'') is the oldest, public secondary school type in Italy. Its educational curriculum spans over five years, when students are generally about 14 to 19 years of age. Until 1969, this was ...

Alessandro Manzoni Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel '' The Betrothed'' (orig. it, I promessi sposi) (1827), generally ranked among the maste ...

" in

. He later attended the

University of Milan The University of Milan ( it, Università degli Studi di Milano; la, Universitas Studiorum Mediolanensis), known colloquially as UniMi or Statale, is a public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe ...

where he first studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

before switching to history. However, he interrupted his studies to start his political career and never graduated. Salvini has sometimes claimed that, as a teenager, he used to visit the left-wing

self-managed social centre Self-managed social centers, also known as autonomous social centers, are self-organized community centers in which anti-authoritarians put on voluntary activities. These autonomous spaces, often in multi-purpose venues affiliated with anarchi ...

Leoncavallo Ruggero (or Ruggiero) Leoncavallo ( , , ; 23 April 18579 August 1919) was an Italian opera composer and librettist. Although he produced numerous operas and other songs throughout his career it is his opera ''Pagliacci'' (1892) that remained his ...

. However, in his autobiography, he writes: "I went to the Leoncavallo just one time. For a concert. When I wasn't even interested in politics". An investigation by ''

Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...

'' magazine found that according to some witnesses, Salvini in that occasion was already a sympathizer of The League, the same party that was trying to close down the center, and that the narrative of Salvini at Leoncavallo serves the purpose of depicting him as beyond left and right.

Early political career

In 1990, Salvini became a member of the

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official n ...

, the regionalist and separatist movement founded by

Umberto Bossi Umberto Bossi (born 19 September 1941) is an Italian politician and former leader of Lega Nord (Northern League), a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padania. He is married to the Sicilian Manuela Marrone, and has fou ...

in 1989. He was an active member of Young Padanians Movement, LN's youth faction, of which he became city coordinator for Milan in 1992 and city secretary in 1997. In the same year, he started working as journalist for ''

La Padania ''La Padania'' was an Italian daily newspaper, and the official press organ of the political party Lega Nord. History and profile ''La Padania'' was the official newspaper of Northern League of Umberto Bossi founded in 1997 by Davide Caparini an ...

'', the official newspaper of Lega Nord. In 1999 he also worked on Lega's radio broadcaster ''Radio Padania Libera'' and since July 2003 he has been registered as a journalist on the list of Italian professional journalists. In 1993 he was elected in the

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

of Milan, a post that he would hold until 2012. While in 1997 he participated in the Padanian elections and was elected within the list ''Comunisti Padani'' (Padanian Communists), which gained 5 seats out of 210. In the following year, he was elected provincial secretary of the League for Milan. In 1999, during an official visit of Italian President

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (; 9 December 1920 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian politician and banker who was the prime minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and the president of Italy from 1999 to 2006. Biography Education Ciampi was born i ...

in Milan, Salvini refused to shake his hand, stating that Ciampi did not represent him.

European Parliament and local leader

Salvini was elected with 14,000 votes a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) for the

North-West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east ...

region in 2004 and participated in the European Parliament as a part of the

Non-Inscrits Non-Inscrits (; abbreviated NI; also non-attached members, abbreviated NA) are Members of the European Parliament (MEP) who do not belong to one of the recognised political groups. These MEPs may be members of a national party, or of a Europe ...

. During the legislature he selected Franco Bossi, brother of the party's secretary Umberto, as his parliamentary assistant. In 2006, he lost his office as member of the

and was replaced by

Gian Paolo Gobbo Gian Paolo Gobbo (Treviso, 1 April 1949) is an Italian politician. He is the President of Liga Veneta, the "national" section of Lega Nord in Veneto. In 1978–1980 he was a founding member of Liga Veneta. In 1990 and 1995, he was elected to ...

. Salvini was then re-elected city councilor in Milan, in the municipal election of that year, with over 3,000 votes. In the same year, he became deputy secretary of the Lombard League, along with

Marco Reguzzoni Marco Giovanni Reguzzoni (born 30 May 1971 in Busto Arsizio) is an Italian politician and entrepreneur. He was President of Varese Province from 2002 to 2008. He was a member of the Italian Parliament as congressman and president of the Nort ...

, and the party leader in the city council. He sat on the

Committee on Culture and Education The Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities of the Committee This committee has focused on the well-being of all members of the human race and the increased opportunities for educat ...

, 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. Salvini ran in the 2008 general election and was elected in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

for the constituency Lombardy 1. However he resigned on 13 July 2009, after being elected once again in the European Parliament in the June election. In the Parliament, he sat in the

Europe of Freedom and Democracy Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) was a Eurosceptic political group in the European Parliament. The group was formed following the 2009 European parliamentary election, mostly composed of elements of the Independence/Democracy (IND/DEM) and ...

Group. After he was re-elected in 2009 as an MEP, he sat on the

Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) is a committee of the European Parliament. Work of the committee The committee is responsible for: * coordination at Community level of national legislation in the sphere of th ...

and was a member of the delegation for relations with India, and the delegation for relations with the Korean peninsula. He was a substitute on the

Committee on International Trade The Committee on International Trade (INTA) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Bernd Lange.relations with South Africa. On 2 June 2012, Salvini became the federal secretary of the Lombard League, defeating Cesarino Monti with 403 votes against 129. Following the election, on 12 October he decided to leave the office of group leader and city councilor after 19 years. Salvini was later elected deputy in the 2013 general election, but he renounced his mandate on the first day of the legislature, and was replaced by Marco Rondini; Salvini maintained the position of MEP. After the 2014 European election, in which he was re-elected, he returned to the Non-Inscrits. In June 2015, he was part of the creation of a new group, the

Europe of Nations and Freedom Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF; french: link=no, Europe des nations et des libertés, ENL) was a political group in the European Parliament launched on 15 June 2015. The group was the smallest within the European Parliament during the eighth ...

, which also included parties such as the French National Front and the Dutch

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( nl, Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nine ...

; he was also the vice-president of the Italian delegation.

Federal Secretary of Lega Nord

Manifestazione Lega Nord, Torino 2013 51

In September 2013,

Roberto Maroni Roberto Ernesto Maroni (; 15 March 1955 – 22 November 2022) was an Italian politician from Varese and a past President of Lombardy. He was the leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padan ...

, secretary of LN and Salvini's mentor, announced he would soon leave the party's leadership. After a few weeks, Salvini announced his candidacy for the first Lega's

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...

. A congress was scheduled for mid-December and in accordance with the new rules set for the election five candidates filed their bid to become secretary: Umberto Bossi, Giacomo Stucchi, Manes Bernardini, Roberto Stefanazzi and Salvini. Of these, only Bossi and Salvini gathered the 1,000 necessary signatures by party members to take part in the internal "primary", and Salvini collected four times the signatures gathered by Bossi. On 7 December 2013, Salvini, who counted on the support of

and most of the party's senior figures (including

Flavio Tosi Flavio Tosi (born 18 June 1969) is an Italian politician who served as the mayor of Verona from 2007 to 2017. He has been a long-time member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord. Political career Having joined Liga Veneta (LV) in 1991, Tosi was elected ...

, who had renounced a bid of his own), defeated

with 82% of the vote in the "primary". A week later, his election was ratified by the party's federal congress in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

. Under Salvini, the party embraced a strongly critical view of the

, especially of the

, which he described a "crime against humanity". Ahead of the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

, Salvini started to cooperate with

Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician who ran for the French presidency in 2012, 2017, and 2022. A member of the National Rally (RN; previously the National Front, FN), she served as its pre ...

, leader of the French National Front, and

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

, leader of the Dutch

. These moves were criticised by Bossi, who called attention to Salvini's left-wing roots, and Tosi, who represented the party's pro-European wing and defended the euro. In April 2014, Salvini presented the party's logo for the European Parliament election, with ''Basta

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

'' ("No more Euro") replacing ''Padania'', to emphasize the party's

Euroscepticism Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...

and desire to exit from the

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU policies ...

. 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 Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establi ...

and separatist party active in

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

(whose symbol was also included). In the European Parliament election, the party obtained 6.2% of the vote and 5 MEPs. The result was far worse than the previous EP election in 2009 (a fall of 4.0%), but better than that of the 2013 general election (a gain of 2.1%). The LN were third with 15.2% in Veneto (although Tosi obtained many more votes than Salvini, a fact that demonstrated Tosi's popular support and that the party was far from united on the anti-euro stance), ahead of

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

(FI) and the other parties having emerged from the defunct

People of Freedom The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia a ...

, and fourth in Lombardy with 14.6%. Despite the party having lost Piedmont to the Democrats, after Roberto Cota had been forced to resign, Salvini was triumphant, with the success of

Massimo Bitonci Massimo Bitonci (born 24 June 1965, in Padua) is an Italian Venetist politician. He is a member of Liga Veneta– Lega Nord, which he has served as national president since 2016. In 1993, he joined Lega Nord and was deputy mayor of Cittadella f ...

in being elected mayor of

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

, a Democratic stronghold, adding to the successes. The party's federal congress, summoned in Padua in July, approved Salvini's political stance, especially a plan for the introduction of a

flat tax A flat tax (short for flat-rate tax) is a tax with a single rate on the taxable amount, after accounting for any deductions or exemptions from the tax base. It is not necessarily a fully proportional tax. Implementations are often progressiv ...

and the creation of a sister party in

central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...

and the Isles. In November the Emilia-Romagna regional election represented a major step for Salvini's "national project": the Lega Nord, which won 19.4% of the vote, was the region's second-largest party, and far ahead of Forza Italia, helping paving the way for the Lega Nord to become the dominant centre-right party. In December the sister party for southern Italy, Us with Salvini (NcS), was launched. The party's growing popularity among voters was reflected also in a constant rise in opinion polls. A December 2014

Ipsos Ipsos Group S.A. () (an acronym of ) is a multinational market research and consulting firm with headquarters in Paris, France. The company was founded in 1975 by Didier Truchot, Chairman of the company, and has been publicly traded on the Pa ...

poll showed that Salvini's approval rating had increased by from 28% to 33%, "cementing his position as a rising political force in Italy". On 28 February 2015, Salvini led a rally in Rome protesting against illegal immigration. In March 2015, after a long struggle between the two main Venetian party's leaders

and

Luca Zaia Luca Zaia (born 27 March 1968) is a Venetian and Venetist politician, who has been President of Veneto since 2010. Prior to that, Zaia was President of the Province of Treviso from 1998 to 2005, Vice President of Veneto from 2005 to 2008 and M ...

, backed by Salvini, over the formation of the slates for the upcoming regional election in Veneto, Tosi was removed as national secretary of Liga Veneta and ejected from the federal party altogether. Despite this in-fighting, the 2015 regional elections were another success for the LN, especially in Veneto, where

was re-elected with 50.1% of the vote and the combined score of the party's and Zaia's personal lists was 40.9%. The party also came second in

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

with 22.3%, second in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

with 16.2%, third in the

Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

with 13.0% and third in

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

with 14.0%. The LN had never polled so high in those five regions before. After the 2016 local elections, in which the party ran below expectations in Lombardy (while doing well in Veneto—thanks to Zaia—as well as Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany) and the NcS performed badly, Salvini's political stance came under pressure from Bossi, Maroni, and especially the recently elected leader of Lega Lombarda, Paolo Grimoldi, who criticized the party's right-wing turn and its focus on the South, while reclaiming the federalist and autonomist identity of the LN. In the run-up of the 2017 leadership election, Salvini focused on becoming the leader of the

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

and, possibly, changing the Northern League's name by ditching "Northern". Paolo Grimoldi, leader of Lega Lombarda, chose not to run against Salvini (and Maroni maintained his neutrality), but Gianni Fava, Lombard regional minister of Agriculture in the old social-democratic tradition, announced his bid aiming at representing the federalist / autonomist / separatist wings of the party. Fava, who was anti-

prohibition of drugs The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances. While some drugs are illegal to possess, many governments regulate the ...

, pro-

civil union A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

s for

same-sex couples A same-sex relationship is a Romance (love), romantic or Human sexuality, sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil ...

and, like Bossi, anti-National Front (" tis one of the most centralist and conservative blocs in Europe, what does it have to do with us?"), recalled an old activist saying "let's hurry up in making Padania, then I want to return voting the left" and added "this was the League and it has to be like this anew".

2018 general election

On 21 December 2017, Salvini presented the new electoral logo of the Northern League for the 2018 general election; for the first time since its foundation the party ran in all the constituencies of the country, using a logo without the word "Northern". The League obtained a resounding success, becoming the third largest party in Italy with 17.4% of the vote. The ticket won most of its votes in the North (including 32.2% in

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

, 28.0% in

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

, 26.7% in

Trentino Trentino ( lld, Trentin), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous region ...

, 25.8% in

Friuli-Venezia Giulia (man), it, Friulana (woman), it, Giuliano (man), it, Giuliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_t ...

and 22.6% in

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

), but also made inroads in the rest of the country, especially in

Central Italy Central Italy ( it, Italia centrale or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region, and a European Parliament constituency. Regions Central It ...

(notably 20.2% in

), the upper part of the South (13.8% in

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...

) and

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

(10.8%). The League became the party with the most votes in the

centre-right coalition The centre-right coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-destra) is an alliance of political parties in Italy, active—under several forms and names—since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed his Forza Italia party. Despite ...

and thus Salvini was ''de facto'' chosen as coalition's leader; the centre-right won a plurality of seats in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate; however, no political group or party won an outright majority, resulting in a

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisl ...

. After the election's results were known, both Salvini and the head of the

Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( it, Movimento 5 Stelle , M5S) is a political party in Italy. Its leader and president is Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy from 2018 until 2021. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian an ...

Luigi Di Maio Luigi Di Maio (; born 6 July 1986) is an Italian former stadium beverage vendor and politician. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2019 to 2022, as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Economic Development, Labour and Soci ...

, stated that they deserved to receive from President

Sergio Mattarella Sergio Mattarella (; born 23 July 1941) is an Italian politician, jurist, academic and lawyer who has served as the president of Italy since 2015. A Christian leftist politician, Mattarella was a leading member of the Christian Democracy par ...

the mandate to form a new cabinet, because they led, respectively, the largest party and the largest coalition. On 6 March, Salvini repeated his campaign message that his party would refuse any coalition with the Five Star Movement. On 24 March, the centre-right coalition and the Five Star Movement agreed on the election of presidents of the Houses of Parliament,

Roberto Fico Roberto Fico (; born 10 October 1974) is an Italian politician. He is a member of the Five Star Movement, and has been serving as President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 2018 to 2022. Previously, he was the Chairman of the RAI Supervis ...

of M5S for the Chamber and

Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati Maria Elisabetta Casellati (; born 12 August 1946) is an Italian lawyer and politician. She was President of the Italian Senate from 2018 to 2022. She was the first woman ever to have held this position. Casellati is a long-time member of the li ...

of Forza Italia for the Senate. On 7 May, President Mattarella held a third round of government formation talks, after which he formally confirmed the lack of any possible majority. The Five Star Movement was rejecting an alliance with the entire centre-right coalition, the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

was rejecting an alliance with both the Five Star Movement and the centre-right coalition, and the League refusing to enter a government with the Five Star Movement without

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

's Forza Italia party (yet whose presence in the government was explicitly vetoed by Luigi Di Maio). Consequently, Mattarella announced his intention to soon appoint a "neutral government" (irrespective of M5S and League's refusal to support such an option). This would take over from the

Gentiloni Cabinet The Gentiloni government was the 64th government of the Italian Republic, in office from 12 December 2016 to 1 June 2018. The government was headed by Paolo Gentiloni, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Renzi government. The government ...

, which was considered unable to lead Italy into a second consecutive election as it was representing a majority from a past legislature, and offering an early election in July (on what would be the first ever summer general election in Italy) as a realistic option to take into consideration due to the deadlock situation. The Lega and M5S agreed to hold new elections on 8 July, an option that was however rejected by all other parties. On 9 May, after a day of rumours, both Salvini and Di Maio officially requested that President Mattarella give them 24 more hours to strike a government agreement between the two parties. That evening, Silvio Berlusconi publicly announced Forza Italia would not support a Five Star Movement – League government on a vote of confidence, but he would still maintain the centre-right alliance nonetheless, thus opening the door to a possible majority government between the two parties. On 13 May, the Five Star Movement and the League reached an agreement in principle on a government programme, likely clearing the way for the formation of a governing coalition between the two parties, but could not find an agreement regarding the members of a government cabinet, most importantly the prime minister. Five Star Movement and League leaders met with Mattarella on 14 May to guide the formation of a new government. On their meeting with President Mattarella, both parties asked for an additional week of negotiations to agree on a detailed government programme and a prime minister to lead the joint government. Both M5S and the League announced their intention to ask their respective members to vote on the government agreement by the weekend. Salvini Centinaio Giorgetti

On 21 May 2018, Di Maio and Salvini proposed the professor of private law

Giuseppe Conte Giuseppe Conte (; born 8 August 1964) is an Italian jurist, academic, and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy, prime minister of Italy from June 2018 to February 2021. He has been the president of the Five Star Movement (M5S) sin ...

for the role of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

in the

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Italian government The government of Italy is in the form of a democratic republic, and was established by a constitution in 1948. It consists of legislative, executive, and judicial subdivisions, as well as a Head of State, or President. The Italian Constitutio ...

, despite reports in the Italian press suggesting that President Mattarella still had significant reservations about the direction of the new government. On 23 May 2018, Conte was invited to the

Quirinal Palace The Quirinal Palace ( it, Palazzo del Quirinale ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, one of the three current official residences of the president of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporzian ...

to receive the presidential mandate to form a new cabinet. In the traditional statement after the appointment, Conte said that he would be the "defense lawyer of the Italian people". However, on 27 May, Conte renounced his office, due to conflicts between Salvini and President Mattarella. In fact, Salvini proposed the university professor

Paolo Savona Paolo Savona (born 6 October 1936) is an Italian economist, professor,CV Paolo Savona
, ...

as Minister of Economy and Finances, but Mattarella strongly opposed him. In his speech after Conte's resignation, Mattarella declared that the two parties wanted to bring Italy out of the

, and as the guarantor of the Italian Constitution and the country's interest and stability he could not allow this. Moreover, in the same speech he affirmed that a possible abandonment of the euro had never been declared during the electoral campaign. On the following day, Mattarella gave

Carlo Cottarelli Carlo Cottarelli (; born 18 August 1954) is an Italian economist and former director of the International Monetary Fund. On 28 May 2018 he was designated Prime Minister of Italy by President Sergio Mattarella, to lead a caretaker government that w ...

, a former director of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

, the task of forming a new government. On 28 May 2018, the Democratic Party (PD) announced that it would abstain from voting for Cottarelli, while the Five Star Movement and the center-right parties

(FI),

Brothers of Italy Brothers of Italy ( it, Fratelli d'Italia, FdI) is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Italy. It is led by Giorgia Meloni, the incumbent Prime Minister of Italy and the first woman to serve in the position. Accor ...

(FdI) and the League announced their vote against. Cottarelli was expected to submit his list of ministers for approval to President Mattarella on 29 May. However, on 29 and 30 May he held only informal consultations with the President, waiting for the formation of a "political government". Meanwhile, Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio announced their willingness to restart the negotiations to form a political government;

Giorgia Meloni Giorgia Meloni (; born 15 January 1977) is an Italian politician who has been serving as the Prime Minister of Italy since 22 October 2022, the first woman to hold this position. A member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2006, she has led the ...

, leader of FdI, gave her support to the initiative. On 31 May, the Five Star Movement and the Lega Nord reached an agreement on the new government, without Paolo Savona as finance minister (who would become Minister of European Affairs instead), and with Giuseppe Conte at its head.

Party's developments

Along with the membership recruitment of the League in the Centre-North, in 2018 the party launched a parallel membership recruitment in the Centre-South under the name of "League for Salvini Premier" (LSP), practically supplanting the Us with Salvini movement. The LSP, whose platform had been published in the ''

Gazzetta Ufficiale The ''Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana'' (Italian, ) is the official journal of record of the Italian government. It is published by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato in Rome. Function The ''Gazzetta Ufficiale'' promulgate ...

'' in December 2017 and had been described as a "parallel party", might eventually replace both the LN and NcS, which would be merged into one. In the meantime, the parties' joint parliamentary groups were named "League–Salvini Premier" in the Chamber and "League–Salvini Premier–

Sardinian Action Party The Sardinian Action Party ( sc, Partidu Sardu, it, Partito Sardo d'Azione, PSd'Az or PSdA) is a Sardinian nationalist, regionalist and separatist political party in Sardinia. While being traditionally part of the Sardinian centre-left, the p ...

" in the Senate. According to news sources, all this is closely related to the seizure by the judiciary of the bank accounts of the LN, after the conviction of Bossi and Belsito for fraud (see Lega Nord#From Bossi to Maroni). If the seizure is confirmed, extended to the bank accounts of the party's national sections or even involves any political entity featuring "Lega" in its name, Salvini might launch a brand-new party and absorb most of the centre-right parties into it. On 22 February 2019, the Italian magazine ''

L'espresso ''L'Espresso'' () is an Italian weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is ''Panorama''. Since 2022 it has been published by BFC Media. History and profile One of Italy's foremost newsmagazines, ''l ...

'' published an investigation revealing a 3 million euro funding scheme, paid for by Kremlin-linked entities and disguised as a diesel sale. The scheme involved the Russian state-owned oil company

Rosneft PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian Vertical integration, integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, Extraction of petroleum, extraction, production, refining, Petroleum t ...

selling 3 million dollars worth of diesel to an Italian company. Allegedly, the money was to be transferred from Rosneft to the League through a Russian subsidy of the Italian bank

Banca Intesa Banca Intesa S.p.A. was an Italian banking group. It was formed in 1998. In the next year the banking group merged with another bank Banca Commerciale Italiana to become IntesaBCi. However, the name of the group was reverted to Banca Intesa in 2 ...

, in which League's federal council member Andrea Mascetti is a board member. The money was supposed to fund the coming European election campaign. Italian authorities are currently investigating the matter. The case obtained renewed attention in July 2019 when

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...

made public the voice recordings and full transcripts of the meeting at the base of the investigation previously published by ''L'Espresso''. The recordings show Salvini's public relations officer Gianluca Savoini meeting with Russian agents close to

in Moscow, at the same time when Salvini was also in Moscow on an official trip. The meeting centered around providing the Lega with $65 million of illegal funding by the Russian state. The matter was made part of a larger investigation by Italian authorities into the League's finances. The League has an official cooperation deal with Russia's governing party

United Russia United Russia ( rus, Единая Россия, Yedinaya Rossiya, (j)ɪˈdʲinəjə rɐˈsʲijə) is a Conservatism in Russia, Russian conservative List of political parties in Russia, political party. As the largest party in Russia, it hold ...

. In August 2019, in yet another funding scandal unrelated to the previously mentioned Russia investigations, Italy's highest court sentenced Salvini's party to pay back 49 million euros ($54.83 million) of illegally acquired taxpayer funding to the Italian state. Additionally, Belsito was given prison sentences. In the summer of 2019, Salvini visited several public beaches to campaign, something unusual for an Italian politician. In September 2022, numerous League committees expressed their desire to call for a Federal Congress and replace Salvini as Secretary. In October, the party founder

announced the creation of the "Northern Committee" to re-gain trust from voters. Many politicians within the party joined this faction, which is openly challenging Salvini.

European politics

Leading up to the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...

, Salvini worked to create a pan-European alliance of nationalist political parties, and he continued these efforts after the election. He founded the European Alliance of Peoples and Nations on 8 April 2019. In the European elections in Italy, the League won a plurality of votes for the first time in a nationwide election, gaining more than 34% of votes, something which strengthened Salvini's position in Italy. Overall, the European coalition

Identity and Democracy Identity and Democracy (french: link=no, Identité et démocratie, ID) is a right-wing to far-right political group of the European Parliament, launched on 13 June 2019 for the Ninth European Parliament term. It is composed of nationalist, ...

, which the Lega is part of, became the fifth-largest group in the newly elected

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister (2018–2019)

On 1 June 2018, Matteo Salvini was sworn in as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

and

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

. He immediately stated that his main aim was to drastically reduce the number of illegal immigrants to Italy. Early in his tenure, numerous media outlets noted that despite Salvini's junior status in the governing coalition, he placed himself in a role even more dominant than Conte and appeared to set Italy's agenda. The media also noted Salvini's "savvy social media presence." Days after taking his oath, the new Interior Minister created a

diplomatic incident {{Refimprove, date=December 2011 An international incident (or diplomatic incident) is a seemingly relatively small or limited action, incident or clash that results in a wider dispute between two or more nation-states. International incidents can ...

with

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, stating that the country sent Italy only convicts who came to Europe with the sole aim of committing crimes. The Tunisian government expressed "profound amazement at the remarks of the Italian interior minister regarding immigration." On 10 June 2018, Salvini announced the closure of Italian

ports A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

, stating that "Everyone in Europe is doing their own business, now Italy is also raising its head. Let's stop the business of illegal immigration." The vessel ''

Aquarius Aquarius may refer to: Astrology * Aquarius (astrology), an astrological sign * Age of Aquarius, a time period in the cycle of astrological ages Astronomy * Aquarius (constellation) * Aquarius in Chinese astronomy Arts and entertainme ...

'', which is operated jointly by ''

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced ), also known as Doctors Without Borders, is a humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation (NGO) or charity of French origin known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases. M ...

'' and ''

SOS Méditerranée ''SOS Méditerranée'' is a European, maritime-humanitarian organization for the rescue of life at sea, currently operating in the Mediterranean sea in international waters north of Libya. The organization chartered the ''Aquarius'' and more rece ...

'' and carried more than 600 migrants, was refused a port of disembarkation by the Italian authorities despite having been told to rescue the migrants by the same co-ordination centre. The Italian authority told the vessel to ask

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

to provide a disembarkation port, but Malta has also refused. On the following day, the new Spanish Prime Minister

Pedro Sánchez Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón (; born 29 February 1972) is a Spanish politician who has been Prime Minister of Spain since June 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since June 2017, having pr ...

accepted the disputed migrant ship. On 16 June 2018, Matteo Salvini said, "These people should know that Italy no longer wants to be any part of this business of clandestine immigration and they will have to look for other ports to go to", adding "As minister and as a father, I take this action for the benefit of all". On 18 June 2018, Salvini announced the government would conduct a census of

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

in Italy for the purpose of deporting all who are not in the country legally. However, this measure was criticized as unconstitutional and was opposed by all the opposition parties and also by some members of the M5S. On 19 June 2018, Salvini announced his intention to conduct a compulsive racial census of Italians to register

Roma people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

, while stating that Roma who are Italians could "unfortunately" not be deported. This caused an outcry in Italy since racial registration is forbidden by the Italian constitution. Italian Prime Minister

forced Salvini to drop the proposal. The opposition leader

Matteo Orfini Matteo Orfini is an Italian politician, a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and President of the Democratic Party. Biography Matteo Orfini was born in Rome in 1974. He started his interest in politics when he attended the lyceum. In 20 ...

reacted by suggesting Salvini should rather do a "census of racists and fascists". On 24 September 2018, the Council of Ministers approved the so-called "Salvini Decree", which contained a series of hardline measures that abolished key forms of protection for migrants and made it easier for them to be deported. The decree also suspended the refugee application process of those who were considered "socially dangerous" or who had been convicted of a crime. On 12 June 2019, the ''Sea Watch 3'' ship picked up 53 migrants in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast. ''Sea Watch 3'' rejected an offer to dock at

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

, which is considered unsafe by humanitarian organizations, and headed toward Lampedusa. According to a report by the ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...

'' and NGOs this was the nearest safe harbor per

maritime law Admiralty law or maritime law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between priva ...

. On 14 June, Italy closed its ports to migrant rescue ships. Salvini refused to allow the ship to dock until other European nations had agreed to take the migrants. Ten of the migrants, including children, pregnant women, and those who were ill, were allowed to disembark. On 29 June, without authorization, ship's captain Carola Rackete decided to dock. The motivation for this was that according to her the passengers were exhausted. Rackete was arrested by the Italian authorities after docking. Matteo Salvini accused Rackete of trying to sink an Italian patrol boat that was attempting to intercept her, calling the incident an act of war and demanding the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

government intervention. However, on 2 July, Rackete was released from house arrest after a court ruling that she had broken no laws and acted to protect passengers' safety. In August 2019, Salvini announced a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Conte, after growing tensions within the majority. Many political analysts saw the no confidence motion as a move by Salvini to force a call for snap elections where he could become the next Prime Minister of Italy. On 20 August, following the parliamentary debate in which Conte harshly accused Salvini of being a political opportunist who "had triggered the political crisis only to serve his personal interest", the Prime Minister resigned his post to President Mattarella. Salvini's alleged gambit failed, as Conte successfully negotiated the formation of a new cabinet with centre-left

Leader of the opposition (2019–2021)

After the formation of the

Conte II Cabinet The second Conte government was the 66th government of the Italian Republic and the second government led by Giuseppe Conte. The government was sworn in on 5 September 2019 to 13 February 2021. The government was supported by the anti-establish ...

, Salvini often criticized the new government for its views on immigration. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, he criticized Conte's plans to use the

European Stability Mechanism The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is an intergovernmental organization located in Luxembourg City, which operates under public international law for all eurozone member states having ratified a special ESM intergovernmental treaty. It was ...

to boost the economy.

Draghi government (2021–2022)

In February 2021, Salvini supported the League joining the

national unity government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...

of former

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#Intern ...

president

Mario Draghi Mario Draghi (; born 3 September 1947) is an Italian economist, academic, banker and civil servant who served as prime minister of Italy from February 2021 to October 2022. Prior to his appointment as prime minister, he served as President of ...

, together with the

, the

and other minor centre and centre-left parties. This came despite Draghi's vocally pro-Europe stance. The right-wing party

led by

, a partner of Salvini's League in the centre-right coalition, did not give its support to the Draghi government, making it the major opposition party. On 22 October 2021, Salvini was recorded during a closed-door meeting saying that Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party "should remain the opposition without breaking our balls". He also admitted defeat in the

2021 Italian local elections The 2021 Italian local elections were held on 3 and 4 October. Originally scheduled as usual between 15 April and 15 June with run-offs two weeks later, the Government of Italy announced on 4 March that they were postponed to after the summer due ...

, saying that "when you lose disgracefully, lagging by 30 points in some big cities, there is little to celebrate. The centre-right's split in two or three pieces certainly doesn't help." Salvini later claimed to have laughed about the recording in a WhatsApp exchange with Meloni.

Meloni government (2022–present)

On 22 October 2022,

, the leader of

party, was sworn in as Italy's first female prime minister. Lega leader Matteo Salvini became deputy prime minister in her government. The new government, Italy's most right-wing since World War II, included also centre-right party of ex-prime minister

Legal issues

In February 2020, the Senate formally authorized a trial against Salvini over the ''Gregoretti'' Italian coastguard ship case, in which – as Interior Minister at the time – he was accused of kidnapping the rescued migrants by forbidding the ship from docking the port of

Augusta, Sicily Augusta (, archaically ''Agosta''; scn, Austa ; Greek and la, Megara Hyblaea, Medieval: ''Augusta'') is a town and in the province of Syracuse, located on the eastern coast of Sicily (southern Italy). The city is one of the main harbours in I ...

. A judge in

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

dismissed the case in May 2021, saying that no crime had been committed, the incident was not a kidnapping, and that Salvini's six-day block to allow for other EU countries to resettle the migrants was permissible by international law. On 30 July 2020, the Senate authorized (by 149 votes against 141) a second trial against Salvini over the Open Arms case, where he also stands accused of kidnapping migrants after disposing the stop of the NGO's rescue ship off the coast of Sicily in August 2019. Salvini defended the claims, and said his actions only went as far as protecting Italy. "Defending Italy is not a crime. I am proud of it, I would do it again, and I will do it again," Salvini was quoted as saying. In May 2021, a preliminary investigations judge dismissed a charge of instigation against Salvini. He had been accused of urging violence against Carola Rackete for calling her a criminal. The investigation found that he was not responsible for her receiving death threats from others. Also in May 2021, Salvini sued media magnate

Carlo De Benedetti Carlo De Benedetti (born 14 November 1934) ''"Sfide perse e vinte: Repubblica-Mondadori"'', ''Gazzetta di Mantova'', 10 March 1998, webpage is an Italian industrialist, engineer, and publisher. He is both an Italian and naturalized Swiss citiz ...

for defamation in

Cuneo Cuneo (; pms, Coni ; oc, Coni/Couni ; french: Coni ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in ...

, Piedmont. De Benedetti, who is Jewish, had called Salvini an antisemite. In October 2021, Salvini's second trial on migrant kidnapping charges began in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, Sicily. The American actor

Richard Gere Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Heaven'' (1978). He came to prominence with ...

was called upon as a witness by Open Arms, since he had gone on board of their rescue boat in an act of solidarity with the crew and passengers.

Political views

Domestic policy

Salvini has been described as hard Eurosceptic, holding a starkly critical view of the

(EU), especially of the

, which he once described as a "crime against humanity". Though in October 2012, he said he supported euro for Northern Italy, whilst Southern Italy should not use it: "I in Milan want it, because here we are in Europe. The South, on the other hand, is like Greece and needs another currency. The euro cannot afford it." Salvini is also opposed to illegal immigration into Italy and the EU and the EU's management of asylum seekers. In September 2018, he said: "I'm paid by citizens to help our young people start having children again the way they did a few years ago, and not to uproot the best of the African youth to replace Europeans who are not having children anymore". His political views have been described as on the far-right, espousing policies such as, among others, collecting census data on and expelling members of the Roma community living illegally in Italy. On economic issues, he supports a

tax cut A tax cut represents a decrease in the amount of money taken from taxpayers to go towards government revenue. Tax cuts decrease the revenue of the government and increase the disposable income of taxpayers. Tax cuts usually refer to reductions in ...

s, fiscal federalism,

protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

, and, to some extent,

agrarianism Agrarianism is a political and social philosophy that has promoted subsistence agriculture, smallholdings, and egalitarianism, with agrarian political parties normally supporting the rights and sustainability of small farmers and poor peasants ...

. On social issues, Salvini opposes

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

s and

adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

as well as

anti-discrimination law Anti-discrimination law or non-discrimination law refers to legislation designed to prevent discrimination against particular groups of people; these groups are often referred to as protected groups or protected classes. Anti-discrimination laws ...

s, while he supports the legalisation of

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

s. He supports looser gun laws and has pushed that issue as interior minister. Salvini has criticized

mandatory vaccination A vaccination policy is a health policy adopted in order to prevent the spread of infectious disease. These policies are generally put into place by State or local governments, but may also be set by private facilities, such as workplaces or s ...

laws. In 2016, a retweet posted from Salvini's Twitter account called for the shooting of "communist judges". Salvini disowned the retweet, claiming it was posted by a staffer by mistake.

Foreign policy

In foreign policy he opposed Turkey's accession to the European Union, criticized

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

for its treatment of women, opposed the international embargo against Russia of 2014, and supported an economic opening to North Korea. Salvini accused France of "stealing wealth" from former African colonies and generating mass migration to Europe. He also said that "In

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

France has no interest in stabilising the situation because it has oil interests opposite to those of Italy." In the wake of the MV ''Enrica Lexie'' case, Salvini called for the expulsion of the Indian Ambassador to Italy and a military operation to extract the two detained Italian marines accused by India of the shooting. Although he advocated for Italy purchasing Indian

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

vaccines in March 2021, the following month he expressed support for closer ties with Pakistan and vowed to raise India's human rights record in

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

within EU forums. Salvini supported the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar prior to taking office on the grounds that Qatar funded terrorism. Upon becoming Deputy Prime Minister, he also praised Saudi Arabia as "an element of stability and reliability both in bilateral relations and as an actor in the more general Middle Eastern chessboard", and pledged to expand security, economic, commercial and cultural ties with the Kingdom. However, he later reversed his stance, praising Qatar for its "balance" as opposed to Saudi Arabian "extremism" and encouraged Qatari investment in Italy, while opposing Saudi investment proposals in Italy and condemning the decision to host the

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

final in Saudi Arabia as "disgusting". Salvini has called for stronger Italian ties with Morocco, describing it as "the most stable country in the entire Mediterranean", and criticising an EU resolution that accused Morocco of using migration as political pressure towards Spain. Salvini has been critical of Iranian policy towards Israel, and expressed scepticism towards the

Iran nuclear deal The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA; fa, برنامه جامع اقدام مشترک , barnāmeye jāme'e eqdāme moshtarak (, ''BARJAM'')), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement on the nuclear program ...

. However, he prefers dialogue over new sanctions. He considers

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

a terrorist organisation, contradicting the official stance of the Italian government. He supported recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and in January 2020, he stated his support for moving Italy's embassy in Israel to the city. On 12 December 2018, the Prime Minister of Israel,

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

, hailed him as a "great friend of Israel". Salvini also endorsed the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

candidate in the 2016 U.S. presidential election,

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

, whom he met in April 2016 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Multiple news agencies have compared him and his views to those of Trump. In September 2018, Salvini pledged his support for

The Movement The Movement may refer to: Politics * The Movement (Iceland), a political party in Iceland * The Movement (Israel), a political party in Israel, led by Tzipi Livni * Civil rights movement, the African-American political movement * The Movemen ...

, a European populist group founded by Trump's former chief strategist,

Steve Bannon Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist in the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump during t ...

. Salvini condemned the

and said he wanted to help

Ukrainian refugees Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

and support the countries that accepted them. In the past, however, he praised Russian president

, and took a picture of himself wearing a T-shirt with Putin's face in Moscow. In response to the criticism, he said he preferred Putin to the Italian President

. He was confronted for his past support of Putin by

Wojciech Bakun Wojciech Antoni Bakun (born 29 January 1981 in Przemyśl) is a Polish politician, member of the Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the ...

, the mayor of a Polish town

Przemyśl Przemyśl (; yi, פשעמישל, Pshemishl; uk, Перемишль, Peremyshl; german: Premissel) is a city in southeastern Poland with 58,721 inhabitants, as of December 2021. In 1999, it became part of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship; it was pr ...

, while visiting its refugee center during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In September 2018, Salvini endorsed conservative nationalist candidate

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and retired military officer who has been the 38th president of Brazil since 1 January 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party, which he turn ...

in the Brazilian presidential election that year. In May 2021, he spoke at the congress of the Portuguese nationalist party Chega, saying that he wanted to unite Europe's populists, conservatives and identitarians against socialists and communists.

Personal life

In 2001 Matteo Salvini married Fabrizia Ieluzzi, a journalist who worked for a private radio station, by whom he had one child Federico in 2003. After his divorce he had a daughter, Mirta, by his

domestic partner A domestic partnership is a legal relationship, usually between couples, who live together and share a common domestic life, but are not married (to each other or to anyone else). People in domestic partnerships receive benefits that guarantee r ...

Giulia Martinelli in 2012. He later became engaged to

Elisa Isoardi Elisa Isoardi (born 27 December 1982) is an Italian television host. Isoardi currently hosts the daytime game show ''La prova del cuoco'' on Rai Uno. She was born in Cuneo and grew up in Caraglio, in the Province of Cuneo. Career Isoardi firs ...

, a popular TV host. After a relationship of nearly three years, Isoardi announced their split in November 2018 via an Instagram post. As of March 2019, Salvini is engaged to Francesca Verdini, daughter of the politician

Denis Verdini Denis Verdini (born 8 May 1951) is an Italian politician, banker, and convicted felon. Biography Born in Fivizzano, he graduated in Political Sciences and later became president of the local cooperative bank Credito Cooperativo Fiorentino. A l ...

. Salvini is nicknamed "The Captain" (''Il Capitano'') by his supporters. Matteo Salvini is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. Salvini is an avid supporter of the football club

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

Electoral history

Notes

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Salvini, Matteo 1973 births 21st-century Italian politicians Conte I Cabinet Deputies of Legislature XVI of Italy Deputy Prime Ministers of Italy Conservatism in Italy Critics of Islamism Far-right politics in Italy Italian anti-communists Italian Ministers of the Interior Italian Roman Catholics Lega Nord MEPs Living people MEPs for Italy 2004–2009 MEPs for Italy 2009–2014 MEPs for Italy 2014–2019 Anti-Islam sentiment in Italy Politicians from Milan Senators of Legislature XVIII of Italy Anti-Masonry Italian political party founders Meloni Cabinet