Roberto Marcato (born 18 July 1968 in

Castelfranco Veneto Castelfranco Veneto ( vec, Casteło) is a town and ''comune'' of Veneto, northern Italy, in the province of Treviso, by rail from the town of Treviso. It is approximately inland from Venice. History The town originates from a castle built here ...

) is a Venetist politician from

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 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. A member of

Liga Veneta Liga Veneta ( vec, Łiga Vèneta; en, Venetian League; abbr. LV), whose complete name is ( en, Venetian League for Salvini Premier), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto. The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and su ...

–

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 ...

since 1992, Marcato was soon involved in municipal politics in his hometown,

Piombino Dese Piombino Dese is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about northwest of Venice and about north of Padua. Piombino Dese borders the following municipalities: Camposampiero, Istrana, Loreggia, ...

. In the 2004 provincial election he was elected for the first time to the Provincial Council 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 ...

and served, successively, as provincial minister of the Environment and vice president. In 2012 Marcato, an ardent Venetist, supporter of

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 ...

, close ally 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 ...

and loyal to former Lega Nord leader

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 ...

, was also elected provincial secretary of Liga Veneta, making Padua the only province of Veneto where the old guard held, but soon started to clash with the party's new national secretary,

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 ...

. In this respect, Marcato was twice suspended by Tosi from his role and came very close to being ejected from the party altogether. In 2014 Marcato was instrumental in Bitonci's successful bid to become mayor of

and, after the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

, he was elected president of the municipal council. In the 2015 regional election, which came after Tosi had been sidelined from the federal party, Marcato was elected to the

Regional Council of Veneto The Regional Council of Veneto (''Consiglio Regionale del Veneto'') is the regional parliament of Veneto. The Council, which has its seat at Palazzo Ferro Fini, located along the Grand Canal in Venice. was first elected in 1970, when ordinary ...

and, after the election, was appointed regional minister of Economic Development and Energy in Zaia's second government, thus resigning from Padua's municipal council. Re-elected in the 2020 regional election, Marcato was appointed regional minister of Economic Development, Energy and Special Status for Venice in Zaia's third government. During this time, he fell out with Bitonci and, in the run-up of the party's 2023 regional congress, he led the challenge of traditional wing, before retiring from the race.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcato, Roberto 1968 births Living people Venetist politicians Lega Nord politicians Members of the Regional Council of Veneto People from Castelfranco Veneto 21st-century Italian politicians it:Roberto Marcato