A nationalist among the autonomists. Sunday September 17, at the foot of the Bergamo Alps, Marine Le Pen immersed herself in folklore for a few hours leghista, with his friend and ally Matteo Salvini, the boss of the far-right transalpine party the League. After their joint meeting, in 2019, in Milan, the leader of the National Rally (RN) was the guest of honor of the “raduno di Pontida”, a first for the leader of a foreign party. To see it as a simple meeting would be to miss the point. Peplum music, giant regional flags by the dozens, football stadium announcer, 50,000 people on bad days, like this year. An event like the RN no longer does and which Umberto Bossi, the founder of the Italian movement, wanted to be inspired by World Youth Day. Since 1990, buses have been flocking from the bastions of the Northern League to this wasteland near Bergamo.
Pontida, holy land of the northern autonomists: here would have been concluded, in the 12the century, the pact of the Bergamo League, uniting the cities determined to fight against the Holy Roman Empire. A few old Padans wearing green shirts didn’t miss a single one – Padania is the region, roughly corresponding to the Po Valley, fantasized by the regionalists of the North. Two enemies are best shared: communism and Southern Italy, which would benefit far too much from money transfers facilitated by a Roman central power described as incapable. All morning, speeches follow one another to denounce “assistantship”immigration “uncontrolled”drugs or bureaucracy, but above all to demand a federal Italy, giving power to regional executives.
The honor given to Marine Le Pen offended some hard-headed leaders in the League, particularly in Veneto, its other stronghold. Furious at the invitation of a figure who was too extremist in their eyes – they who participate, however, in a coalition led by the post-fascist party of Giorgia Meloni –, some sulked, despite the intimidation of Matteo Salvini, and skipped the meeting. you from Pontida. Between two selfies with activists, the president of Veneto, Luca Zaia, demonstrates to the World with moderate enthusiasm: “Our doors are open to everyone, it’s especially the activists’ party… You know, we received a good reception [l’ancien leader du Parti démocrate] Massimo D’Alema, who was on the opposite end of the political spectrum. We are autonomists. The rest doesn’t interest me. »
A political incongruity
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