Liga Veneta
Encyclopedia
Liga Veneta is a regionalist
political party based in Veneto
, combining Venetism and fiscal federalism
. Liga Veneta is by far the largest party in Veneto (35.2% in the last regional election
) and the party of Luca Zaia
, President of Veneto since March 2010.
It was the first party of its kind in Northern Italy
, predating Umberto Bossi
’s Lega Lombarda
by four years, and was a founding member of Lega Nord, a federation of regionalist parties of Northern Italy (the so-called Padania
), in 1991. Since then Liga Veneta is a "national" section of the federal party, thus retaining some autonomy.
The party's leadership is composed by Gian Paolo Gobbo (national secretary) and Flavio Tosi
(national president).
, a Venetian philologist
who spoke of a "Venetian league" since 1968. The party constitution, designed on the constitutions of the Valdotanian Union
and the Radical Party, was officially signed by 14 founding members on 16 January 1980 in Padua
. Shortly after some hardliners, led by Luigi Faccia and Flavio Contin left the party they perceived too moderate. In 1987 they launched the Most Serene Venetian Government, that will organize the "attack" of the St Mark's Campanile
during the night between 8 and 9 May 1997 (see Venetian nationalism#Controversies).
In the 1983 general election
the party gained 4.3% in Veneto, having Achille Tramarin
, first secretary of the party from 1980 to 1983, elected to the Chamber of Deputies
and Graziano Girardi
to the Senate
. In the Pedemontana, the area of the Padanian-Venetian Plain
at the feet of the Venetian Prealps, the LV became the second-largest party after Christian Democracy
(DC), the dominant force in Venetian politics
at the time. DC would have been the most damaged party from the rise of the LV as both parties concurred for the support of the middle-class. The DC regional leader Toni Bisaglia even proposed to form a regional party on the model of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, but his sudden death and opposition from Rome stopped the plan.
Soon after the election, a power struggle for the leadership of the party took place and the winner was Franco Rocchetta
, disappointed for his missed election, who had been behind the scenes up to that moment. Tramarin was replaced as national secretary by Marilena Marin
, future wife of Rocchetta.
In the 1985 regional election
the party scored 3.7% and two regional councillors: Ettore Beggiato
and Franco Rocchetta. Liga Veneta Serenissima
of Tramarin, expelled from the party by Marin, won only 0.2% of the votes and since then the Rocchetta-Marin couple had the party in their hands. That of Tramarin was not the last split in that period, in fact the LV suffered the competition of many regionalist parties, notably the Union of the Venetian People
(UPV), formed by Beggiato along with Tramarin and Girardi, after that he too was expelled by Marin, and Veneto Autonomous Region Movement
(MVRA).
After the exit of Beggiato, who was the leading figure of the party in the Province of Vicenza
and the second split that occurred in the Province of Padua
, the only counterweight to Rocchetta–Marin within the LV was represented by the Treviso
wing, which then started to gain influence, under the leadership of key figures such as Gian Paolo Gobbo and Mauro Michielon. In the next elections LV and the UPV had similar showings.
, secretary of the party, managed to forge an alliance with Umberto Bossi
for the subsequent European Parliament election
, Alleanza Nord
(North Alliance). In 1989–1990 it took part in the process of federating the Northern regionalist parties, ahead of the regional elections. In the 1990 regional election
the LV and the UPV scored 5.9% and 1.9%, respectively. In 1991 local elections the UPV passed LV. Some attempts to merge the two parties into one failed, but from that point, thanks to the alliance with Bossi, Liga Veneta's rise seemed unstoppable.
In February 1991 the LV joined Lega Lombarda
and other several regionalist parties from every Northern region
to form Lega Nord and since then it has been the regional section of the party in Veneto
. Umberto Bossi
was elected federal secretary and Franco Rocchetta
federal president. Thanks to the federal structure of Lega Nord and to its ideology (for Umberto Bossi, Padania
is a country formed of different nations: Veneto
, Lombardy
, Piedmont
, etc.), the LV retained much of its independence.
In the 1992 general election
Lega Nord scored 8.7% throughout Italy and the LV won 17.8% of the votes in Veneto, returning into the Italian Parliament after five years. The UPV and the MVRA both won 1.5% of the votes, while another regionalist party formed by former Socialist
Mayor of Venice
Mario Rigo, Lega Autonomia Veneta
(LAV) touched 4.7%. The Venetist movement, divided as ever, together gained the support of about quarter of Venetian voters.
the LV won 21.6% of the vote in Veneto (the LAV took 3.2%) and three of its members joined Berlusconi I Cabinet
: Franco Rocchetta
was Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mariella Mazzetto of Education and Giovanni Meo Zilio (a former Socialist
partisan
during Italian resistance
), of University and Research. Between 1994 and 1995 the LV was also part of the regional government
for the first time, with Gian Paolo Gobbo as Vice President.
In July 1994 Marilena Marin
was replaced by Fabrizio Comencini
as national secretary of the party, while Gian Paolo Gobbo was elected national president. Shortly after, in September, Franco Rocchetta
and Marilena Marin left the party in disagreement with Umberto Bossi
and new new Venetian leadership. Rocchetta was replaced by Stefano Stefani
, leading member of the LV, as federal president of Lega Nord in February 1995. The exit of Rocchetta and Marin made possible the comeback of Ettore Beggiato
into the party. Thanks to this the LV did not suffer a major setback in the 1995 regional election
: 17.4% and 9 regional councillors elected.
In 1996 general election Umberto Bossi led Lega Nord to its strongest showing ever in a general election: with 10.1% of the votes, Lega Nord, present only in Northern Italy
, became the fourth largest party of the country. Fabrizio Comencini's Liga Veneta was the strongest national section of the League: it gained 29.3% of the vote in Veneto, 19 deputies and 9 senators, mostly elected in single-seat constituencies, in which the party, favoured by split-ticket voting
, gained a total 32.8% of the vote.
In the 1994 municipal elections the party won the mayorship of Treviso
with Giancarlo Gentilini
, while in the 1994 provincial elections it gained control of three provinces: Padua
with Renzo Sacco, Verona
with Antonio Borghesi
and Treviso
with Giovanni Mazzonetto. In 1997 the party gained control also of the Province of Vicenza
with Manuela Dal Lago
, while Luca Zaia
was elected President of the Province of Treviso, replacing Mazzonetto, in 1998. Also in 1998 Gentilini was re-elected Mayor of Treviso.
In 1998 Fabrizio Comencini left the party over disagreements with Bossi and formed a brand-new Venetist party named Liga Veneta Repubblica (then Veneti d'Europa). Eight regional councillors out of nine followed Comencini into the new party, while Gobbo took over as national secretary of the LV, along with a new national president, Giuseppe Ceccato
(who left the party in 1999). In the 1999 provincial elections the party lost the Provinces of Padua and Verona.
(the combined score of Veneti d'Europa and of Fronte Marco Polo
, another split, was 3.7%), joining for the second time the regional government.
In the 2001 general election
the LV had its worst result since 1987 in term of share of votes: only 10.2% throughout Veneto, with 9 deputies and 4 senators elected, all in single-seat constituencies, thanks to the alliance with Forza Italia
within the House of Freedoms
coalition. After the election, Gianpaolo Dozzo
and Stefano Stefani
joined Berlusconi II Cabinet
as Under-Secretaries, of Agriculture and Industry respectively.
In the 2002 provincial elections the party won for the second time in a row in Vicenza
and Treviso
. The Province of Treviso confirmed itself as the most-leghista province of Italy and young Luca Zaia
was re-elected Provincial President with more of the 40% in the first round and with almost 70% of the votes in the second round, although he refused the support of Lega Nord's allies in Rome
and Venice
, Forza Italia and the National Alliance
. Also in 2002 former Venetian Senator Luciano Gasperini
was elected federal president of Lega Nord. In a party congress in Vicenza
, Gian Paolo Gobbo was re-elected national secretary and Manuela Dal Lago
, former Italian Liberal Party’s provincial secretary and then president of the Province of Vicenza, was elected national president. In 2003 Gobbo was elected Mayor of Treviso.
In the 2005 regional election
the LV, with its 14.7%, was decisive for the third re-election of Giancarlo Galan
as President of Veneto. Counting the support of concurrent regionalist parties (North-East Project
and Liga Fronte Veneto
, 5.4% and 1.2% respectively), after the election, Veneto was again the most independentist region in Italy. The LV joined the Galan III Government
, with Luca Zaia
Vice President of the Region and Minister of Agriculture and Flavio Tosi
Minister of Health.
In the 2006 general election
however, the party scored 11.1% and got elected 5 deputies (Federico Bricolo
, Gianpaolo Dozzo
, Guido Dussin, Alberto Filippi and Paola Goisis) and 3 senators (Paolo Franco, Stefano Stefani
and Piergiorgio Stiffoni). It was the worst result in terms of elected members in the Italian Parliament
since 1987, due to the razor-edge victory of the centre-left, which won the majority-premium in the Chamber of Deputies
and to the presence of the rival North-East Project
(2.7%) and of Liga Fronte Veneto
(0.7%). Also Forza Italia
, led by the autonomist president of the Region Giancarlo Galan
had a strong showing in Veneto, scoring 24.5%.
In a provincial election Leonardo Muraro
was elected President of the Province, historic stronghold of the League in Veneto, and the LV scored 29.2% (combined result of party list, 15.6%, and Luca Zaia
's personal list, 13.6%), despite the good result of the rival North-East Project (11.6%).
was elected Mayor of Verona
by a landslide (60.8% against the 33.9% of incumbent Paolo Zanotto), while Attilio Schneck
succeeded to Manuela Dal Lago
as President of the Province of Vicenza
. In the provincial election Schneck (60.0%) was largely ahead of his opponents: the centre-left candidate Pietro Collareda got only the 17.2%, while Giorgio Carollo
, former leader of Forza Italia
in Veneto supported, among others, by his Veneto for the European People's Party
and Liga Fronte Veneto
, took the 9.9%. Both Tosi, who is the second leghista to be mayor of a big city after Marco Formentini
in Milan
between 1993 and 1997, and Schneck were supported by the House of Freedoms
coalition, but the LV had an excellent result in both races: in Vicenza, where it won 19.0% of the votes (despite the presence on the ballot of several rival regionalist parties), and especially in Verona, where it ranked first among the parties with the 28.4% (combined score of party list, 12.0%, and Tosi's ersonal list, 16.4%). In June 2007, Tosi was replaced as regional Minister of Health by Francesca Martini
.
In the 2008 general election
the LV won a surprising 27.1% in Veneto, its best result since the 1996 election, getting 16 deputies elected, including Stefano Stefani
, Manuela Dal Lago
, Francesca Martini
and Gianpaolo Dozzo
, and 7 senators, including Federico Bricolo
and Paolo Franco. Meanwhile Gian Paolo Gobbo was re-elected Mayor of Treviso
with 50.4% of the vote, two times the score of his principal opponent. The combined result of the LV and Giancarlo Gentilini
's personal list was 35.4%. Subsequently Luca Zaia
became Minister of Agriculture
and Francesca Martini Under-Secretary of Health in Berlusconi IV Cabinet
. Federico Bricolo became floor leader of Lega Nord in the Italian Senate
. Zaia and Martini were subsequently replaced in the regional government by Franco Manzato
and Sandro Sandri
, respectively.
In July 2008 the party held its national congress in Padua
. Gian Paolo Gobbo was re-elected for the fourth time national secretary, while Flavio Tosi
replaced Manuela Dal Lago
as national president. Tosi appeared to be also the standard-bearer of the party in view of the 2010 regional election, along with Zaia.
In the 2009 European Parliament election
the LV confirmed its strength, by gaining 28.4% and three MEPs: Lorenzo Fontana
, a rising star from Verona, Giancarlo Scottà
and Mara Bizzotto
. The party also won two more provinces, Venice
, until then a stronghold of the left, with Francesca Zaccariotto, and Belluno
with Gianpaolo Bottacin
.
(PdL) determined that the coalition candidate in the 2010 regional election
would be a leghista. Subsequently the National Council of Liga Veneta nominated Zaia for President. Tosi, who, as party president, presided the Council, tried to be himself the candidate, and others proposed Franco Manzato
instead. However, as a strong majority led by Gobbo backed Zaia, Zaia was unanimously chosen by the Council and Tosi soon endorsed him.
In the election Luca Zaia was elected President of Veneto by a landslide, with 60.2% of the vote against 29.1% of his foremost opponent, Giuseppe Bortolussi
of the Democratic Party
. The election was a triumph for the LV, which was by far the largest party in the region with 35.2% of the vote, up from 14.7% of five years before, and got 20 seats in the Regional Council, up from 11. Zaia was also the most voted President of Veneto since direct election was introduced in 1995. After the election, Zaia appointed a cabinet
including six party members: Roberto Ciambetti
(Budget and Finances), Luca Coletto
(Health), Maurizio Conte
(Environment), Marino Finozzi
(Tourism), Franco Manzato
(Agriculture) and Daniele Stival
(Venetian Identity).
In the 2011 provincial election of Treviso Leonardo Muraro
was easily re-elected President. The LV won 40.8% of the vote (combined result of party list, 29.6%, and Muraro's personal list, 11.4%), which was a 11.6% gain since the previous provincial election in 2006, but also a 7.7% loss from the 2010 regional election.
and others in the late 1970s. During its first official meeting in Recoaro on 9 December 1979, Achille Tramarin
, who was then elected secretary of the new party, gave a speech titled Venetian Autonomy and Europe: "Today for Venetians the moment has come, after 113 years of Italian unitary colonization, to take their natural and human resources back, to fight against the wild exploitation that brought poverty, emigration, pollution and uprooting from their culture". European integration
was seen as an opportunity to give Veneto its autonomy back.
Rocchetta, who left the party in 1994 after a power struggle and has since become a bitter critic of his former colleagues in the name of pure Venetism, conceived the LV as a libertarian
, secular
and Europeanist
party. The promotion the re-discovery the Republic of Venice
's heritage, traditions, culture, and especially Venetian language
, and opposition to the displacement of Mafia
inmates in Veneto were key goals of the party since its foundation.
The LV is aimed to unite all Venetians who support autonomy for Veneto and federal reform. For this reason it tends to be a multi-ideological catch-all party, following what Umberto Bossi
stated in 1982 to his early followers of Lega Lombarda
: "It does not matter how old are you, what your job is and what your political tendency: what matters is that you and we are all Lombard. [...] It is as Lombards that, indeed, that we have a fundamental common goal in that face of which our division in parties should fall behind". However, if the bulk of the original Lega Lombarda
(including Umberto Bossi, Roberto Maroni
and Marco Formentini
) came from the left (Bossi and Maroni were previously active in the Italian Communist Party
, Proletarian Democracy
and the Greens
) and conceived their party as a centre-left (and, to some extent, social-democratic) political force, since its foundation Liga Veneta was characterized more as liberal and centrist party and has always proposed a more libertarian political line.
This difference reflected also its position in Venetian politics: while, in the early 1990s, the League stole votes especially from the Communists and the Italian Socialist Party
, in Veneto the LV basically replaced Christian Democracy
as dominant political force. In fact, even if most of the early members of the party came from the centre-right (Christian Democracy and the Italian Liberal Party
), there were also people coming from the left such as Giovanni Meo Zilio, Actionist and Socialist
partisan in the Italian resistance movement
, was one of the founding fathers of the party.
. Its key words are "innovation" and "modernity". The challenges that Veneto should face in the next decades, says the party, are to enhance "internationalization
" in the era of globalization
, to overcome the traditional Venetian policentrism and interpret Veneto as a united and cohesive region: a "European region in Italian land". The program stresses also concepts such as "Europe of the regions", "Europe of citizens", "global Veneto", "openeness toward the world", "green economy
", "urban planning" in respect of the environment, "repect for diversity
" and "integration" of immigrants, along with the more traditional "think globally, act locally
". Along these, the core issues of the party, especially promotion of Venetian language and culture, are also included in the program. According to the paper, such a strong Veneto as that imagined by the party will be a protagonist of federal reform in Italy and Europe. The LV is opposed to nuclear power
plants in Veneto, citing the high population density and the fact that the region is already energetically self-sufficient.
are the leaders of the wing from Treviso
, which has its roots in the original Liga Veneta and is more Venetist in character, while the Verona
wing, whose standard-bearers are Flavio Tosi
and Federico Bricolo
, is more conservative and has strong links with Lega Lombarda. While Lighisti from Venice
are usually closer to Gobbo and Zaia, those from Vicenza
and Padua
are set somewhere in the middle between Treviso and Vicenza. A faction worth of mention is embodied by pure Venetists who stress issues such as Venetian identity and Venetian language: they notably include Roberto Ciambetti
, Daniele Stival
, Giovanni Furlanetto and Nicola Finco.
Many in the party were outraged when Tosi, as Mayor of Verona
, announced that he was going to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification
in 2011 and declared that Italian unity was a good thing. Gobbo promptly disavowed Tosi and confirmed that the party was opposed to any celebration. Tosi was criticized also by other party bigwigs, such as Francesca Martini
, while Furlanetto even proposed the expulsion of Tosi from the party. Gobbo was re-elected secretary in 2007 due to an agreement with Tosi, who was Gobbo's strongest rival for the leadership. The duel may be renewed in the summer of 2011, when the next party congress will be held.
Regarding ideology, it is difficult to say who is more conservative or liberal between Tosi and Zaia, who often exchange their position within the party. Of course, Tosi is a more traditional conservative-liberal, while Zaia, while being a centrist, resembles a green-populist position on environmental issues, nuclear power
, GMOs
, etc. In occasion of the 2011 referendum, Zaia declared his support for three referenda aimed at blocking the return to nuclear energy and the privatization of water services. Needless to say, Tosi declared himself a "keen nuclearist" and a supporter of the free market instead.
by 20 regional councillors. It controls also four Provinces
(Treviso
, Vicenza
, Venice
and Belluno
), and the Mayorships of Verona
, Treviso
, San Donà di Piave
, Castelfranco Veneto
, Montebelluna
, Vittorio Veneto
and Mogliano Veneto
.
The party is represented in Berlusconi IV Cabinet
by Francesca Martini
, Under-Secretary of Health.
Members of Liga Veneta successively held office as federal president of Lega Nord from 1991 to 2005:
Members of Liga Veneta were also floor leader of Lega Nord in the Italian Senate
:
Gasperini was also the party's candidate for President of the Republic
in 1999.
the party did well in most of the region, but it did best in the Province of Treviso
, where Luca Zaia
comes from and where it gained an astonishing 48.5%. Treviso was followed by Vicenza
(38.1%), Province of Verona
(36.1%), Belluno
(32.8%), Padua
(31.4%), Venice
(26.1%) and Rovigo
(22.7%). Its urban strongholds were in the cities of Treviso
(35.4%), Bassano del Grappa
(31.2%) and Verona
(30.4%).
The electoral results of Liga Veneta in Veneto
since 1990 are shown in the table below.
Regionalism (politics)
Regionalism is a term used in international relations. Regionalism also constitutes one of the three constituents of the international commercial system...
political party based in Veneto
Veneto
Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
, combining Venetism and fiscal federalism
Fiscal federalism
As a subfield of public economics, fiscal federalism is concerned with "understanding which functions and instruments are best centralized and which are best placed in the sphere of decentralized levels of government"...
. Liga Veneta is by far the largest party in Veneto (35.2% in the last regional election
Venetian regional election, 2010
The Venetian regional election of 2010 took place on 28–29 March 2010, as part of Italy's big round of regional elections.Luca Zaia, rising star of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, was elected President by a landslide. With the support of 60.2% of Venetians, he was the most voted President of Veneto since...
) and the party of Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia is an Italian Venetist politician, member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.Since March 2010 Zaia is President of Veneto...
, President of Veneto since March 2010.
It was the first party of its kind in Northern Italy
Northern Italy
Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...
, predating Umberto Bossi
Umberto Bossi
Umberto Bossi is an Italian politician, leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy. He is married to Manuela Marrone and has four sons ....
’s Lega Lombarda
Lega Lombarda
Lega Lombarda is a regionalist political party active in Lombardy. Led by Giancarlo Giorgetti, the party is the second largest in the region....
by four years, and was a founding member of Lega Nord, a federation of regionalist parties of Northern Italy (the so-called Padania
Padania
Padania is an alternative name for the Po Valley in Italy. The term was sparingly used until the early 1990s, when Lega Nord, a political party in Italy, proposed Padania as a possible denomination for an autonomous Northern Italy...
), in 1991. Since then Liga Veneta is a "national" section of the federal party, thus retaining some autonomy.
The party's leadership is composed by Gian Paolo Gobbo (national secretary) and Flavio Tosi
Flavio Tosi
Flavio Tosi is an Italian Venetist politician. He is member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.-Career:Having joined Liga Veneta in 1991, he was elected to the Municipal Council of Verona in 1994 at the age of 25. From 1997 to 2003 he was also provincial secretary of Liga Veneta for the Province of Verona...
(national president).
Early years (1978–1989)
Liga Veneta was promoted in 1978 by Franco RocchettaFranco Rocchetta
Franco Rocchetta is a Venetist politician.Rocchetta was born in Venice. He was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980, and its national president and practical leader...
, a Venetian philologist
Venetian language
Venetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken as a native language by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy, where of five million inhabitants almost all can understand it. It is sometimes spoken and often well understood outside Veneto, in Trentino, Friuli, Venezia...
who spoke of a "Venetian league" since 1968. The party constitution, designed on the constitutions of the Valdotanian Union
Valdotanian Union
The Valdotanian Union is a regionalist-centrist Italian political party active in Aosta Valley. Its leaders are Ego Perron, party president, and Augusto Rollandin, President of the Region....
and the Radical Party, was officially signed by 14 founding members on 16 January 1980 in Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
. Shortly after some hardliners, led by Luigi Faccia and Flavio Contin left the party they perceived too moderate. In 1987 they launched the Most Serene Venetian Government, that will organize the "attack" of the St Mark's Campanile
St Mark's Campanile
St Mark's Campanile is the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy, located in the Piazza San Marco. It is one of the most recognizable symbols of the city....
during the night between 8 and 9 May 1997 (see Venetian nationalism#Controversies).
In the 1983 general election
Italian general election, 1983
The Italian election of 1983 was held on June 26. The ninth Parliament of republican Italy was selected.The Pentaparty formula, the governative alliance between five centrist parties, caused unexpected problems to the Christian Democracy. The alliance was fixed and universal, extended both to the...
the party gained 4.3% in Veneto, having Achille Tramarin
Achille Tramarin
Achille Tramarin is an Italian Venetist politician.In 1978–1980 he took part to the foundation of Liga Veneta and in 1980 he was elected first national secretary of the party...
, first secretary of the party from 1980 to 1983, elected to the Chamber of Deputies
Italian Chamber of Deputies
The Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
and Graziano Girardi
Graziano Girardi
Graziano Girardi is an Italian Venetist politician.An early member of Liga Veneta, he was elected senator in 1983, the fist in party's history. After having briefly joined the Union of the Venetian People, he returned into Liga Veneta and, in 1991, he joined the Lega Nord of which he is currently...
to the Senate
Italian Senate
The Senate of the Republic is the upper house of the Italian Parliament. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as Senato del Regno , itself a continuation of the Senato Subalpino of Sardinia-Piedmont established on 8 May 1848...
. In the Pedemontana, the area of the Padanian-Venetian Plain
Po Valley
The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain is a major geographical feature of Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of 46,000 km² including its Venetic extension not actually related to the Po River basin; it runs from the Western Alps to the...
at the feet of the Venetian Prealps, the LV became the second-largest party after Christian Democracy
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
(DC), the dominant force in Venetian politics
Politics of Veneto
The Politics of Veneto, Italy takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democracy, whereby the President is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Regional Government. Legislative power is vested in both the government...
at the time. DC would have been the most damaged party from the rise of the LV as both parties concurred for the support of the middle-class. The DC regional leader Toni Bisaglia even proposed to form a regional party on the model of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, but his sudden death and opposition from Rome stopped the plan.
Soon after the election, a power struggle for the leadership of the party took place and the winner was Franco Rocchetta
Franco Rocchetta
Franco Rocchetta is a Venetist politician.Rocchetta was born in Venice. He was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980, and its national president and practical leader...
, disappointed for his missed election, who had been behind the scenes up to that moment. Tramarin was replaced as national secretary by Marilena Marin
Marilena Marin
Marilena Marin is an Italian Venetist politician.A native of Conegliano, she was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980 and, after a party purge in 1984, she was elected national secretary of the party replacing Achille Tramarin...
, future wife of Rocchetta.
In the 1985 regional election
Venetian regional election, 1985
The Venetian regional election of 1985 took place on 12 May 1985.Christian Democracy was by far the largest party, but for the first time since 1970 it was not able to secure an outright majority...
the party scored 3.7% and two regional councillors: Ettore Beggiato
Ettore Beggiato
Ettore Beggiato is a Venetist historian and politician.As member of several Venetist political parties , he was member of the Regional Council of Veneto from 1985 to 2000...
and Franco Rocchetta. Liga Veneta Serenissima
Liga Veneta Serenissima
Liga Veneta Serenissima was a Venetist political party active in Veneto.LFS was founded in 1984 by splinters from Liga Veneta led by Achille Tramarin. Tramarin was first elected national secretary of Liga Veneta in 1980 and in the 1983 regional election he was elected to the Italian Chamber of...
of Tramarin, expelled from the party by Marin, won only 0.2% of the votes and since then the Rocchetta-Marin couple had the party in their hands. That of Tramarin was not the last split in that period, in fact the LV suffered the competition of many regionalist parties, notably the Union of the Venetian People
Union of the Venetian People
The Union of the Venetian People was a Venetist political party active in Veneto.-History:The party was founded in 1987 by splinters from Liga Veneta led by Ettore Beggiato and Gianni Butturini. In the 1990 regional election UPV won 1.9% of the vote and Beggiato was re-elected to the Regional...
(UPV), formed by Beggiato along with Tramarin and Girardi, after that he too was expelled by Marin, and Veneto Autonomous Region Movement
Veneto Autonomous Region Movement
The Veneto Autonomous Region Movement was a Venetist political party active in Veneto.MVRA was founded in 1987 by splinters from Liga Veneta led by Geppino and Umberto Vecchiato...
(MVRA).
After the exit of Beggiato, who was the leading figure of the party in the Province of Vicenza
Province of Vicenza
The Province of Vicenza is a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza.The province has an area of 2,723 km², and a total population of 840,000 . There are 121 comuni in the province...
and the second split that occurred in the Province of Padua
Province of Padua
The Province of Padua is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Padua.-History and territory:...
, the only counterweight to Rocchetta–Marin within the LV was represented by the Treviso
Province of Treviso
The Province of Treviso is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Treviso.The province has an area of 2,477 km², and a total population of 886.886 . There are 95 municipalities in the province .-Municipalities:-External links:*...
wing, which then started to gain influence, under the leadership of key figures such as Gian Paolo Gobbo and Mauro Michielon. In the next elections LV and the UPV had similar showings.
Foundation of Lega Nord (1989–1994)
In 1989 the party's charismatic leader, Franco Rocchetta, and his wife Marilena MarinMarilena Marin
Marilena Marin is an Italian Venetist politician.A native of Conegliano, she was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980 and, after a party purge in 1984, she was elected national secretary of the party replacing Achille Tramarin...
, secretary of the party, managed to forge an alliance with Umberto Bossi
Umberto Bossi
Umberto Bossi is an Italian politician, leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy. He is married to Manuela Marrone and has four sons ....
for the subsequent European Parliament election
European Parliament election, 1989
The 1989 European Parliamentary Election was a European election held across the 12 European Community member states in June 1989. It was third European election but the first time that Spain and Portugal voted at the same time as the other members...
, Alleanza Nord
Lega Lombarda – Alleanza Nord
Lega Lombarda – Alleanza Nord was an electoral alliance for the 1989 European Parliament election in Italy.It was composed by six regionalist parties representative of six Northern regions:*Lega Lombarda*Liga Veneta...
(North Alliance). In 1989–1990 it took part in the process of federating the Northern regionalist parties, ahead of the regional elections. In the 1990 regional election
Venetian regional election, 1990
The Venetian regional election of 1990 took place on 6 May 1990.Christian Democracy was by far the largest party, but it was four seats short of an outright majority in the Regional Council...
the LV and the UPV scored 5.9% and 1.9%, respectively. In 1991 local elections the UPV passed LV. Some attempts to merge the two parties into one failed, but from that point, thanks to the alliance with Bossi, Liga Veneta's rise seemed unstoppable.
In February 1991 the LV joined Lega Lombarda
Lega Lombarda
Lega Lombarda is a regionalist political party active in Lombardy. Led by Giancarlo Giorgetti, the party is the second largest in the region....
and other several regionalist parties from every Northern region
Northern Italy
Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...
to form Lega Nord and since then it has been the regional section of the party in Veneto
Veneto
Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
. Umberto Bossi
Umberto Bossi
Umberto Bossi is an Italian politician, leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy. He is married to Manuela Marrone and has four sons ....
was elected federal secretary and Franco Rocchetta
Franco Rocchetta
Franco Rocchetta is a Venetist politician.Rocchetta was born in Venice. He was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980, and its national president and practical leader...
federal president. Thanks to the federal structure of Lega Nord and to its ideology (for Umberto Bossi, Padania
Padania
Padania is an alternative name for the Po Valley in Italy. The term was sparingly used until the early 1990s, when Lega Nord, a political party in Italy, proposed Padania as a possible denomination for an autonomous Northern Italy...
is a country formed of different nations: Veneto
Veneto
Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
, Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
, Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
, etc.), the LV retained much of its independence.
In the 1992 general election
Italian general election, 1992
The Italian general elections of 1992 were held on the 5 April 1992.The 1992 elections were the first without the traditionally second most important political force in Italy, the Italian Communist Party , which had been disbanded in 1991...
Lega Nord scored 8.7% throughout Italy and the LV won 17.8% of the votes in Veneto, returning into the Italian Parliament after five years. The UPV and the MVRA both won 1.5% of the votes, while another regionalist party formed by former Socialist
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
Mayor of Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
Mario Rigo, Lega Autonomia Veneta
Lega Autonomia Veneta
The Lega Autonomia Veneta was a centre-left regionalist political party in Veneto.The party was composed mainly of dissidents from Liga Veneta, but nevertheless its long-standing leaders were Mario Rigo, a former Mayor of Venice and MEP for the Italian Socialist Party, and Oscar De Bona,...
(LAV) touched 4.7%. The Venetist movement, divided as ever, together gained the support of about quarter of Venetian voters.
Heyday and internal splits (1994–1998)
In the 1994 general electionItalian general election, 1994
An early national general election was held in Italy on March 27, 1994 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right alliance won handily the election for the Chamber and only narrowly lost that for the Senate....
the LV won 21.6% of the vote in Veneto (the LAV took 3.2%) and three of its members joined Berlusconi I Cabinet
Berlusconi I Cabinet
The Berlusconi I Cabinet was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 10 May 1994 to January 17, 1995.It was composed of 26 ministers and 38 under-secretaries, for a total of 64 members.Composition of the government:...
: Franco Rocchetta
Franco Rocchetta
Franco Rocchetta is a Venetist politician.Rocchetta was born in Venice. He was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980, and its national president and practical leader...
was Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mariella Mazzetto of Education and Giovanni Meo Zilio (a former Socialist
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
partisan
Partisan (military)
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
during Italian resistance
Italian resistance movement
The Italian resistance is the umbrella term for the various partisan forces formed by pro-Allied Italians during World War II...
), of University and Research. Between 1994 and 1995 the LV was also part of the regional government
Government of Veneto
The Regional Government of Veneto is the executive of the Veneto region of Italy.It is presided by the President of the Region , who is elected for a five-year term, and is composed by the President and the Ministers , who are currently 12, including a Vice President.-Current composition:The current...
for the first time, with Gian Paolo Gobbo as Vice President.
In July 1994 Marilena Marin
Marilena Marin
Marilena Marin is an Italian Venetist politician.A native of Conegliano, she was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980 and, after a party purge in 1984, she was elected national secretary of the party replacing Achille Tramarin...
was replaced by Fabrizio Comencini
Fabrizio Comencini
Fabrizio Comencini is a Venetist politician.Comencini started his political career in the Italian Social Movement , for which he was elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in 1985 and 1990. In the early 1990s, during his second term as regional councillor, he switched to Liga Veneta–Lega Nord...
as national secretary of the party, while Gian Paolo Gobbo was elected national president. Shortly after, in September, Franco Rocchetta
Franco Rocchetta
Franco Rocchetta is a Venetist politician.Rocchetta was born in Venice. He was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980, and its national president and practical leader...
and Marilena Marin left the party in disagreement with Umberto Bossi
Umberto Bossi
Umberto Bossi is an Italian politician, leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy. He is married to Manuela Marrone and has four sons ....
and new new Venetian leadership. Rocchetta was replaced by Stefano Stefani
Stefano Stefani
Stefano Stefani is a Venetist politician and leading member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.Stefani is a veteran member of the party, having joined Liga Veneta in the 1980s, well before its merger into Lega Nord. A strong proponent of the unity of the "Padanian peoples", from 1995 through 2002 he was...
, leading member of the LV, as federal president of Lega Nord in February 1995. The exit of Rocchetta and Marin made possible the comeback of Ettore Beggiato
Ettore Beggiato
Ettore Beggiato is a Venetist historian and politician.As member of several Venetist political parties , he was member of the Regional Council of Veneto from 1985 to 2000...
into the party. Thanks to this the LV did not suffer a major setback in the 1995 regional election
Venetian regional election, 1995
The Venetian regional election of 1995 took place on 23 April 1995.For the first time the President of the Region was directly elected by the people, although the election was not yet binding and the President-elect could have been replaced during the term....
: 17.4% and 9 regional councillors elected.
In 1996 general election Umberto Bossi led Lega Nord to its strongest showing ever in a general election: with 10.1% of the votes, Lega Nord, present only in Northern Italy
Northern Italy
Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...
, became the fourth largest party of the country. Fabrizio Comencini's Liga Veneta was the strongest national section of the League: it gained 29.3% of the vote in Veneto, 19 deputies and 9 senators, mostly elected in single-seat constituencies, in which the party, favoured by split-ticket voting
Split-ticket voting
In American politics, a split-ticket refers to a ballot on which the voter has chosen candidates from different political parties when multiple offices are being decided by a single election...
, gained a total 32.8% of the vote.
In the 1994 municipal elections the party won the mayorship of Treviso
Treviso
Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...
with Giancarlo Gentilini
Giancarlo Gentilini
Giancarlo Gentilini is the current Deputy Mayor, and former Mayor, of the city of Treviso, Italy.-Career:Gentilini has worked as director at the legal bureau of the Cassamarca until his retirement....
, while in the 1994 provincial elections it gained control of three provinces: Padua
Province of Padua
The Province of Padua is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Padua.-History and territory:...
with Renzo Sacco, Verona
Province of Verona
The Province of Verona is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Verona.-Overview:The province has an area of 3,109 km², and a total population of 912,981...
with Antonio Borghesi
Antonio Borghesi
Antonio Borghesi is an Italian politician from Veneto.Borghesi, a university professor of economics, entered politics in 1995, when he was elected President of the Province of Verona supported by a coalition comprising Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, the Italian People's Party, Patto Segni and the...
and Treviso
Province of Treviso
The Province of Treviso is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Treviso.The province has an area of 2,477 km², and a total population of 886.886 . There are 95 municipalities in the province .-Municipalities:-External links:*...
with Giovanni Mazzonetto. In 1997 the party gained control also of the Province of Vicenza
Province of Vicenza
The Province of Vicenza is a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza.The province has an area of 2,723 km², and a total population of 840,000 . There are 121 comuni in the province...
with Manuela Dal Lago
Manuela Dal Lago
Manuela Dal Lago is an Italian Venetist politician. She is member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.In the late 1970s she started her political career in the Italian Liberal Party, reaching the position of youth leader of the party in Veneto...
, while Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia is an Italian Venetist politician, member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.Since March 2010 Zaia is President of Veneto...
was elected President of the Province of Treviso, replacing Mazzonetto, in 1998. Also in 1998 Gentilini was re-elected Mayor of Treviso.
In 1998 Fabrizio Comencini left the party over disagreements with Bossi and formed a brand-new Venetist party named Liga Veneta Repubblica (then Veneti d'Europa). Eight regional councillors out of nine followed Comencini into the new party, while Gobbo took over as national secretary of the LV, along with a new national president, Giuseppe Ceccato
Giuseppe Ceccato
Giuseppe Ceccato is a Venetist politician.He joined Liga Veneta in the 1980s, long before the foundation of Lega Nord in 1991. He was twice elected to the Italian Senate in 1994 and 1996. After the split of Liga Veneta Repubblica in 1998, he was elected national president of Liga Veneta. However...
(who left the party in 1999). In the 1999 provincial elections the party lost the Provinces of Padua and Verona.
Decline and resurgence (1998–2006)
By 2000 the party started to recover from the schism of 1998 and took 12.0% of the votes in the 2000 regional electionVenetian regional election, 2000
The Venetian regional election of 2000 took place on 16 April 2000.Giancarlo Galan was re-elected for the third time President of the Region by a landslide over the centre-left candidate Massimo Cacciari ....
(the combined score of Veneti d'Europa and of Fronte Marco Polo
Fronte Marco Polo
Fronte Marco Polo was a Venetist political party active in Veneto, named after Marco Polo.Fabio Padovan, leader of the European Federalist Free Entrepreneurs and former deputy of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, and Giorgio Vido, another former deputy of LV–LN, formed FMP in 1999 in view of the 2000...
, another split, was 3.7%), joining for the second time the regional government.
In the 2001 general election
Italian general election, 2001 (Veneto)
The Italian general election of 2001 took place on 13 May 2001. The election was won in Veneto by the centre-right House of Freedoms coalition, which won also nationally, by a landslide...
the LV had its worst result since 1987 in term of share of votes: only 10.2% throughout Veneto, with 9 deputies and 4 senators elected, all in single-seat constituencies, thanks to the alliance with Forza Italia
Forza Italia
Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
within the House of Freedoms
House of Freedoms
The House of Freedoms , was a major Italian centre-right political and electoral alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi. It was initially composed of several political parties:*Forza Italia *National Alliance...
coalition. After the election, Gianpaolo Dozzo
Gianpaolo Dozzo
Gianapaolo Dozzo is a Venetist politician and leading member of the Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.He joined Liga Veneta in 1984, twenty years before the foundation of Lega Nord, and was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1994 and then re-elected in 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2008...
and Stefano Stefani
Stefano Stefani
Stefano Stefani is a Venetist politician and leading member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.Stefani is a veteran member of the party, having joined Liga Veneta in the 1980s, well before its merger into Lega Nord. A strong proponent of the unity of the "Padanian peoples", from 1995 through 2002 he was...
joined Berlusconi II Cabinet
Berlusconi II Cabinet
The Berlusconi II Cabinet was the 57th cabinet of the Italian Republic, and the first cabinet of the XIV Legislature. It took office following the 2001 elections, and held office from 11 June 2001 until 23 April 2005, a total of 1,412 days, or 3 years, 10 months and 12 days...
as Under-Secretaries, of Agriculture and Industry respectively.
In the 2002 provincial elections the party won for the second time in a row in Vicenza
Province of Vicenza
The Province of Vicenza is a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza.The province has an area of 2,723 km², and a total population of 840,000 . There are 121 comuni in the province...
and Treviso
Province of Treviso
The Province of Treviso is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Treviso.The province has an area of 2,477 km², and a total population of 886.886 . There are 95 municipalities in the province .-Municipalities:-External links:*...
. The Province of Treviso confirmed itself as the most-leghista province of Italy and young Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia is an Italian Venetist politician, member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.Since March 2010 Zaia is President of Veneto...
was re-elected Provincial President with more of the 40% in the first round and with almost 70% of the votes in the second round, although he refused the support of Lega Nord's allies in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Forza Italia and the National Alliance
National Alliance (Italy)
National Alliance was a conservative political party in Italy.Gianfranco Fini was the leader of the party since its foundation in 1995, however he stepped down in 2008 after being elected to the nominally non-partisan post of President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and was succeeded by...
. Also in 2002 former Venetian Senator Luciano Gasperini
Luciano Gasperini
Luciano Gasperini is an Italian venetist politician.A senator for Liga Veneta–Lega Nord from Veneto in 1996–2001, he was chairman of the party's group from 1999 to 2000 and in 1999 he was the party's candidate for the post of President of the Italian Republic. In 1999 and 2004 he was candidate for...
was elected federal president of Lega Nord. In a party congress in Vicenza
Vicenza
Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...
, Gian Paolo Gobbo was re-elected national secretary and Manuela Dal Lago
Manuela Dal Lago
Manuela Dal Lago is an Italian Venetist politician. She is member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.In the late 1970s she started her political career in the Italian Liberal Party, reaching the position of youth leader of the party in Veneto...
, former Italian Liberal Party’s provincial secretary and then president of the Province of Vicenza, was elected national president. In 2003 Gobbo was elected Mayor of Treviso.
In the 2005 regional election
Venetian regional election, 2005
The Venetian regional election of 2005 took place on 3-4 April 2005.Giancarlo Galan was re-elected for the third time in a row President of the Region, but the support for him was diminished by the presence of a third candidate, Giorgio Panto, who picked votes both from the centre-right and the...
the LV, with its 14.7%, was decisive for the third re-election of Giancarlo Galan
Giancarlo Galan
Giancarlo Galan is an Italian politician.After having been a Liberal activist in the Seventies and the Eighties, he was not active in politics until he joined Forza Italia since its foundation in 1994. In the same year he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies.In 1995 he ran successfully...
as President of Veneto. Counting the support of concurrent regionalist parties (North-East Project
North-East Project
North-East Project is a Venetist, fiscal federalist and libertarian Italian political party based in Veneto, demanding larger autonomy, if not complete independence for the region.-History:...
and Liga Fronte Veneto
Liga Fronte Veneto
Liga Veneta Repubblica is a Venetist political party. The party maintains a mildly independentist position and campaingns the self-government of Veneto....
, 5.4% and 1.2% respectively), after the election, Veneto was again the most independentist region in Italy. The LV joined the Galan III Government
Galan III Government
The Galan III Government was the government of Veneto from 19 May 2005 to 19 April 2010....
, with Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia is an Italian Venetist politician, member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.Since March 2010 Zaia is President of Veneto...
Vice President of the Region and Minister of Agriculture and Flavio Tosi
Flavio Tosi
Flavio Tosi is an Italian Venetist politician. He is member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.-Career:Having joined Liga Veneta in 1991, he was elected to the Municipal Council of Verona in 1994 at the age of 25. From 1997 to 2003 he was also provincial secretary of Liga Veneta for the Province of Verona...
Minister of Health.
In the 2006 general election
Italian general election, 2006 (Veneto)
The Italian general election of 2006 took place on 10–11 April 2006. The election was won in Veneto by the centre-right House of Freedoms coalition by a landslide in an election narrowly won by the centre-left The Union at the national level....
however, the party scored 11.1% and got elected 5 deputies (Federico Bricolo
Federico Bricolo
Federico Bricolo is an Italian politician. He is a Venetist, member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.He has been member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2001 to 2008, when he was elected to the Senate, where he chairs the parliamentary group of Lega Nord...
, Gianpaolo Dozzo
Gianpaolo Dozzo
Gianapaolo Dozzo is a Venetist politician and leading member of the Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.He joined Liga Veneta in 1984, twenty years before the foundation of Lega Nord, and was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1994 and then re-elected in 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2008...
, Guido Dussin, Alberto Filippi and Paola Goisis) and 3 senators (Paolo Franco, Stefano Stefani
Stefano Stefani
Stefano Stefani is a Venetist politician and leading member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.Stefani is a veteran member of the party, having joined Liga Veneta in the 1980s, well before its merger into Lega Nord. A strong proponent of the unity of the "Padanian peoples", from 1995 through 2002 he was...
and Piergiorgio Stiffoni). It was the worst result in terms of elected members in the Italian Parliament
Parliament of Italy
The Parliament of Italy is the national parliament of Italy. It is a bicameral legislature with 945 elected members . The Chamber of Deputies, with 630 members is the lower house. The Senate of the Republic is the upper house and has 315 members .Since 2005, a party list electoral law is being...
since 1987, due to the razor-edge victory of the centre-left, which won the majority-premium in the Chamber of Deputies
Italian Chamber of Deputies
The Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
and to the presence of the rival North-East Project
North-East Project
North-East Project is a Venetist, fiscal federalist and libertarian Italian political party based in Veneto, demanding larger autonomy, if not complete independence for the region.-History:...
(2.7%) and of Liga Fronte Veneto
Liga Fronte Veneto
Liga Veneta Repubblica is a Venetist political party. The party maintains a mildly independentist position and campaingns the self-government of Veneto....
(0.7%). Also Forza Italia
Forza Italia
Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
, led by the autonomist president of the Region Giancarlo Galan
Giancarlo Galan
Giancarlo Galan is an Italian politician.After having been a Liberal activist in the Seventies and the Eighties, he was not active in politics until he joined Forza Italia since its foundation in 1994. In the same year he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies.In 1995 he ran successfully...
had a strong showing in Veneto, scoring 24.5%.
In a provincial election Leonardo Muraro
Leonardo Muraro
Leonardo Muraro is an Italian Venetist politician. He is a leading member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.A long-time member of Liga Veneta, Muraro was appointed Vice President of the Province of Treviso by President Luca Zaia, who led a monocolor government, in 2002...
was elected President of the Province, historic stronghold of the League in Veneto, and the LV scored 29.2% (combined result of party list, 15.6%, and Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia is an Italian Venetist politician, member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.Since March 2010 Zaia is President of Veneto...
's personal list, 13.6%), despite the good result of the rival North-East Project (11.6%).
Road to the leadership of Veneto (2006–2010)
In the 2007 municipal Flavio TosiFlavio Tosi
Flavio Tosi is an Italian Venetist politician. He is member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.-Career:Having joined Liga Veneta in 1991, he was elected to the Municipal Council of Verona in 1994 at the age of 25. From 1997 to 2003 he was also provincial secretary of Liga Veneta for the Province of Verona...
was elected Mayor of Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
by a landslide (60.8% against the 33.9% of incumbent Paolo Zanotto), while Attilio Schneck
Attilio Schneck
Attilio Schneck is an Italian Venetist politician. He is member of the Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.He joined Liga Veneta in the early 1990s and was Mayor of Thiene from 1997 to 2007, when he was elected President of the Province of Vicenza by a landslide: in the election he obtained 60.0% of the vote...
succeeded to Manuela Dal Lago
Manuela Dal Lago
Manuela Dal Lago is an Italian Venetist politician. She is member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.In the late 1970s she started her political career in the Italian Liberal Party, reaching the position of youth leader of the party in Veneto...
as President of the Province of Vicenza
Province of Vicenza
The Province of Vicenza is a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza.The province has an area of 2,723 km², and a total population of 840,000 . There are 121 comuni in the province...
. In the provincial election Schneck (60.0%) was largely ahead of his opponents: the centre-left candidate Pietro Collareda got only the 17.2%, while Giorgio Carollo
Giorgio Carollo
Giorgio Carollo is an Italian politician.He is a Member of the European Parliament for North-East, elected with the Forza Italia, part of the European People's Party and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Fisheries and its Committee on Legal Affairs...
, former leader of Forza Italia
Forza Italia
Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
in Veneto supported, among others, by his Veneto for the European People's Party
Veneto for the European People's Party
Veneto for the European People's Party is a regional christian-democratic party based in Veneto.-History:...
and Liga Fronte Veneto
Liga Fronte Veneto
Liga Veneta Repubblica is a Venetist political party. The party maintains a mildly independentist position and campaingns the self-government of Veneto....
, took the 9.9%. Both Tosi, who is the second leghista to be mayor of a big city after Marco Formentini
Marco Formentini
Marco Formentini is an Italian politician from the Northern League, then for the Democrats and finally for Democracy is Freedom - Daisy. When he was young he was member of the Italian Socialist Party....
in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
between 1993 and 1997, and Schneck were supported by the House of Freedoms
House of Freedoms
The House of Freedoms , was a major Italian centre-right political and electoral alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi. It was initially composed of several political parties:*Forza Italia *National Alliance...
coalition, but the LV had an excellent result in both races: in Vicenza, where it won 19.0% of the votes (despite the presence on the ballot of several rival regionalist parties), and especially in Verona, where it ranked first among the parties with the 28.4% (combined score of party list, 12.0%, and Tosi's ersonal list, 16.4%). In June 2007, Tosi was replaced as regional Minister of Health by Francesca Martini
Francesca Martini
Francesca Martini is a Venetist politician. She is a member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.She was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2001, but she failed re-election five years later...
.
In the 2008 general election
Italian general election, 2008 (Veneto)
The Italian general election of 2008 took place on 13–14 April 2008. The election was won in Veneto by the centre-right coalition between The People of Freedom and Lega Nord, as it happened at the national level...
the LV won a surprising 27.1% in Veneto, its best result since the 1996 election, getting 16 deputies elected, including Stefano Stefani
Stefano Stefani
Stefano Stefani is a Venetist politician and leading member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.Stefani is a veteran member of the party, having joined Liga Veneta in the 1980s, well before its merger into Lega Nord. A strong proponent of the unity of the "Padanian peoples", from 1995 through 2002 he was...
, Manuela Dal Lago
Manuela Dal Lago
Manuela Dal Lago is an Italian Venetist politician. She is member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.In the late 1970s she started her political career in the Italian Liberal Party, reaching the position of youth leader of the party in Veneto...
, Francesca Martini
Francesca Martini
Francesca Martini is a Venetist politician. She is a member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.She was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2001, but she failed re-election five years later...
and Gianpaolo Dozzo
Gianpaolo Dozzo
Gianapaolo Dozzo is a Venetist politician and leading member of the Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.He joined Liga Veneta in 1984, twenty years before the foundation of Lega Nord, and was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1994 and then re-elected in 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2008...
, and 7 senators, including Federico Bricolo
Federico Bricolo
Federico Bricolo is an Italian politician. He is a Venetist, member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.He has been member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2001 to 2008, when he was elected to the Senate, where he chairs the parliamentary group of Lega Nord...
and Paolo Franco. Meanwhile Gian Paolo Gobbo was re-elected Mayor of Treviso
Treviso
Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...
with 50.4% of the vote, two times the score of his principal opponent. The combined result of the LV and Giancarlo Gentilini
Giancarlo Gentilini
Giancarlo Gentilini is the current Deputy Mayor, and former Mayor, of the city of Treviso, Italy.-Career:Gentilini has worked as director at the legal bureau of the Cassamarca until his retirement....
's personal list was 35.4%. Subsequently Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia is an Italian Venetist politician, member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.Since March 2010 Zaia is President of Veneto...
became Minister of Agriculture
Italian Minister of Agriculture
The Italian Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies is the head of the Republic of Italy's Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies. The ministry had been abolished by legislative referendum in 1993, during a period of great upheaval and financial sacrifices, but it was...
and Francesca Martini Under-Secretary of Health in Berlusconi IV Cabinet
Berlusconi IV Cabinet
Berlusconi IV Cabinet has been the cabinet of the government of Italy from 8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011.As of July 2011, it was composed of 24 ministers, 4 deputy ministers and 39 under-secretaries, for a total of 67 members.-Sources:*...
. Federico Bricolo became floor leader of Lega Nord in the Italian Senate
Italian Senate
The Senate of the Republic is the upper house of the Italian Parliament. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as Senato del Regno , itself a continuation of the Senato Subalpino of Sardinia-Piedmont established on 8 May 1848...
. Zaia and Martini were subsequently replaced in the regional government by Franco Manzato
Franco Manzato
Franco Manzato is a Venetist politician. He is a member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.After a degree in philosophy, Manzato begun to work as consultant for small and medium-size enterprises and joined Liga Veneta in 1984, seven years before the foundation of Lega Nord. In the 2000 regional election he...
and Sandro Sandri
Sandro Sandri
Sandro Sandri is a Venetist politician. He is a member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.ESte gajo é o maior.After a degree in engineering, Sandri worked as consultant specialized in trademarks and patents. In 1997 he joined Liga Veneta...
, respectively.
In July 2008 the party held its national congress in Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
. Gian Paolo Gobbo was re-elected for the fourth time national secretary, while Flavio Tosi
Flavio Tosi
Flavio Tosi is an Italian Venetist politician. He is member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.-Career:Having joined Liga Veneta in 1991, he was elected to the Municipal Council of Verona in 1994 at the age of 25. From 1997 to 2003 he was also provincial secretary of Liga Veneta for the Province of Verona...
replaced Manuela Dal Lago
Manuela Dal Lago
Manuela Dal Lago is an Italian Venetist politician. She is member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.In the late 1970s she started her political career in the Italian Liberal Party, reaching the position of youth leader of the party in Veneto...
as national president. Tosi appeared to be also the standard-bearer of the party in view of the 2010 regional election, along with Zaia.
In the 2009 European Parliament election
European Parliament election, 2009 (Veneto)
The European Parliament election of 2009 took place on 6–7 June 2009.The People of Freedom and Lega Nord were tied at the top in Veneto, while the Democratic Party was a distant third.-Results:Source:...
the LV confirmed its strength, by gaining 28.4% and three MEPs: Lorenzo Fontana
Lorenzo Fontana
Lorenzo Fontana is an Italian politician from Veneto.A member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord and close ally of Flavio Tosi, Fontana has been deputy leader of the Movimento Giovani Padani, the youth section of Lega Nord, from 2002. After having been district and municipal councillor in Verona, he was...
, a rising star from Verona, Giancarlo Scottà
Giancarlo Scottà
Giancarlo Scottà is an Italian politician from Veneto.A member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord, Scottà was Mayor of Vittorio Veneto from 1999 to 2009. In 2009 he was elected to the European Parliament.-References:...
and Mara Bizzotto
Mara Bizzotto
Mara Bizzotto is an Italian Venetist politician.A member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord since 1993, Bizzotto is the most prominent leader of the party in the area around Bassano. She was a member of the Regional Council of Veneto from 2000 to 2005 and then, again, from 2006 to 2009, when she was elected...
. The party also won two more provinces, Venice
Province of Venice
The Province of Venice is a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital is the city of Venice.It has an area of 2,467 km², and a total population of 829,418 . There are 44 comuni in the province . As of 2005, the main comuni by population are:-External links:* * : photos of...
, until then a stronghold of the left, with Francesca Zaccariotto, and Belluno
Province of Belluno
TheThe Province of Belluno is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Belluno.It has an area of 3,678 km², and a total population of 214,026 .-Geography:...
with Gianpaolo Bottacin
Gianpaolo Bottacin
Gianpaolo Bottacin is an Italian Venetist politician.Bottacin was born in Feltre. A member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord since 1993, he was elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in 2005. Between 2008 and 2009 he was floor leader of the party. In 2009 he was elected President of the Province of...
.
Luca Zaia President of Veneto (2010–present)
In December 2009 The People of FreedomThe People of Freedom
The People of Freedom is a centre-right political party in Italy. With the Democratic Party, it is one of the two major parties of the current Italian party system....
(PdL) determined that the coalition candidate in the 2010 regional election
Venetian regional election, 2010
The Venetian regional election of 2010 took place on 28–29 March 2010, as part of Italy's big round of regional elections.Luca Zaia, rising star of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, was elected President by a landslide. With the support of 60.2% of Venetians, he was the most voted President of Veneto since...
would be a leghista. Subsequently the National Council of Liga Veneta nominated Zaia for President. Tosi, who, as party president, presided the Council, tried to be himself the candidate, and others proposed Franco Manzato
Franco Manzato
Franco Manzato is a Venetist politician. He is a member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.After a degree in philosophy, Manzato begun to work as consultant for small and medium-size enterprises and joined Liga Veneta in 1984, seven years before the foundation of Lega Nord. In the 2000 regional election he...
instead. However, as a strong majority led by Gobbo backed Zaia, Zaia was unanimously chosen by the Council and Tosi soon endorsed him.
In the election Luca Zaia was elected President of Veneto by a landslide, with 60.2% of the vote against 29.1% of his foremost opponent, Giuseppe Bortolussi
Giuseppe Bortolussi
Giuseppe Bortolussi is an Italian politician from Veneto.In 1980 Bortolussi became director of the Mestre section of Confartigianato, the largest Italian organization representing artisans and small entrepreneurs. He later became president of the section...
of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (Italy)
The Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in Italy, that is the second-largest in the country. The party is led by Pier Luigi Bersani, who was elected in the 2009 leadership election....
. The election was a triumph for the LV, which was by far the largest party in the region with 35.2% of the vote, up from 14.7% of five years before, and got 20 seats in the Regional Council, up from 11. Zaia was also the most voted President of Veneto since direct election was introduced in 1995. After the election, Zaia appointed a cabinet
Zaia I Government
The Zaia I Government has been the government of Veneto since 19 April 2010....
including six party members: Roberto Ciambetti
Roberto Ciambetti
Roberto Ciambetti is an Italian Venetist politician.A member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, he was secretary of the party from 2003 to 2007 for the Province of Vicenza. Having elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in 2005, he became floor leader of the party in 2008...
(Budget and Finances), Luca Coletto
Luca Coletto
Luca Coletto is an Italian Venetist politician.A member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord and close ally of Flavio Tosi, Coletto is regional minister of Health of Veneto in Zaia I Government .-References:...
(Health), Maurizio Conte
Maurizio Conte
Maurizio Conte is an Italian Venetist politician.A member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, he was first elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in 2000. From 2001 to 2010 Conte was also secretary of the party for the Province of Padua...
(Environment), Marino Finozzi
Marino Finozzi
Marino Finozzi is a Venetist politician.He joined Liga Veneta in 1986, well before the party was integrated into Lega Nord. Hewas first elected in the Regional Council of Veneto in the 2000 regional election...
(Tourism), Franco Manzato
Franco Manzato
Franco Manzato is a Venetist politician. He is a member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.After a degree in philosophy, Manzato begun to work as consultant for small and medium-size enterprises and joined Liga Veneta in 1984, seven years before the foundation of Lega Nord. In the 2000 regional election he...
(Agriculture) and Daniele Stival
Daniele Stival
Daniele Stival is an Italian Venetist politician.A member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, he was first elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in 2000. Since 2001 Stival has been also secretary of the party for eastern Veneto...
(Venetian Identity).
In the 2011 provincial election of Treviso Leonardo Muraro
Leonardo Muraro
Leonardo Muraro is an Italian Venetist politician. He is a leading member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.A long-time member of Liga Veneta, Muraro was appointed Vice President of the Province of Treviso by President Luca Zaia, who led a monocolor government, in 2002...
was easily re-elected President. The LV won 40.8% of the vote (combined result of party list, 29.6%, and Muraro's personal list, 11.4%), which was a 11.6% gain since the previous provincial election in 2006, but also a 7.7% loss from the 2010 regional election.
Ideology
Liga Veneta was conceived by Franco RocchettaFranco Rocchetta
Franco Rocchetta is a Venetist politician.Rocchetta was born in Venice. He was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980, and its national president and practical leader...
and others in the late 1970s. During its first official meeting in Recoaro on 9 December 1979, Achille Tramarin
Achille Tramarin
Achille Tramarin is an Italian Venetist politician.In 1978–1980 he took part to the foundation of Liga Veneta and in 1980 he was elected first national secretary of the party...
, who was then elected secretary of the new party, gave a speech titled Venetian Autonomy and Europe: "Today for Venetians the moment has come, after 113 years of Italian unitary colonization, to take their natural and human resources back, to fight against the wild exploitation that brought poverty, emigration, pollution and uprooting from their culture". European integration
European integration
European integration is the process of industrial, political, legal, economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe...
was seen as an opportunity to give Veneto its autonomy back.
Rocchetta, who left the party in 1994 after a power struggle and has since become a bitter critic of his former colleagues in the name of pure Venetism, conceived the LV as a libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
, secular
Secularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
and Europeanist
Europeanism
Although this term is occasionally used to describe support for European integration , it is more commonly used in relation to the idea that Europeans have common norms and values that transcend national or state identity, that have been promoted most actively...
party. The promotion the re-discovery the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
's heritage, traditions, culture, and especially Venetian language
Venetian language
Venetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken as a native language by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy, where of five million inhabitants almost all can understand it. It is sometimes spoken and often well understood outside Veneto, in Trentino, Friuli, Venezia...
, and opposition to the displacement of Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
inmates in Veneto were key goals of the party since its foundation.
The LV is aimed to unite all Venetians who support autonomy for Veneto and federal reform. For this reason it tends to be a multi-ideological catch-all party, following what Umberto Bossi
Umberto Bossi
Umberto Bossi is an Italian politician, leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy. He is married to Manuela Marrone and has four sons ....
stated in 1982 to his early followers of Lega Lombarda
Lega Lombarda
Lega Lombarda is a regionalist political party active in Lombardy. Led by Giancarlo Giorgetti, the party is the second largest in the region....
: "It does not matter how old are you, what your job is and what your political tendency: what matters is that you and we are all Lombard. [...] It is as Lombards that, indeed, that we have a fundamental common goal in that face of which our division in parties should fall behind". However, if the bulk of the original Lega Lombarda
Lega Lombarda
Lega Lombarda is a regionalist political party active in Lombardy. Led by Giancarlo Giorgetti, the party is the second largest in the region....
(including Umberto Bossi, Roberto Maroni
Roberto Maroni
Roberto Maroni is an Italian politician from Varese. He is a member of the Northern League political movement. Since 1992 he is a Member of the Chamber of Duputies of the Italian Republic, always elected in Lombardy's districts and costituencies...
and Marco Formentini
Marco Formentini
Marco Formentini is an Italian politician from the Northern League, then for the Democrats and finally for Democracy is Freedom - Daisy. When he was young he was member of the Italian Socialist Party....
) came from the left (Bossi and Maroni were previously active in the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
, Proletarian Democracy
Proletarian Democracy
Proletarian Democracy was a political party in Italy.-1970s:DP was founded in 1975 as a joint electoral front of the Proletarian Unity Party , Workers Vanguard and the Workers Movement for Socialism...
and the Greens
Green Lists
The Green Lists was an green Italian political party.It was founded in 1986 and merged in 1991 with the Rainbow Greens to form the Federation of the Greens....
) and conceived their party as a centre-left (and, to some extent, social-democratic) political force, since its foundation Liga Veneta was characterized more as liberal and centrist party and has always proposed a more libertarian political line.
This difference reflected also its position in Venetian politics: while, in the early 1990s, the League stole votes especially from the Communists and the Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
, in Veneto the LV basically replaced Christian Democracy
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
as dominant political force. In fact, even if most of the early members of the party came from the centre-right (Christian Democracy and the Italian Liberal Party
Italian Liberal Party
The Italian Liberal Party was a liberal political party in Italy.-Origins:The origins of liberalism in Italy came from the so-called "Historical Right", a parliamentary group formed by Camillo Benso di Cavour in the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia following the 1848 revolution...
), there were also people coming from the left such as Giovanni Meo Zilio, Actionist and Socialist
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
partisan in the Italian resistance movement
Italian resistance movement
The Italian resistance is the umbrella term for the various partisan forces formed by pro-Allied Italians during World War II...
, was one of the founding fathers of the party.
Platform
The last political platform of the party was released on 20 December 2009 in the run-up to the 2010 regional electionVenetian regional election, 2010
The Venetian regional election of 2010 took place on 28–29 March 2010, as part of Italy's big round of regional elections.Luca Zaia, rising star of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, was elected President by a landslide. With the support of 60.2% of Venetians, he was the most voted President of Veneto since...
. Its key words are "innovation" and "modernity". The challenges that Veneto should face in the next decades, says the party, are to enhance "internationalization
Internationalization
In economics, internationalization has been viewed as a process of increasing involvement of enterprises in international markets, although there is no agreed definition of internationalization or international entrepreneurship...
" in the era of globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, to overcome the traditional Venetian policentrism and interpret Veneto as a united and cohesive region: a "European region in Italian land". The program stresses also concepts such as "Europe of the regions", "Europe of citizens", "global Veneto", "openeness toward the world", "green economy
Green economy
A green economy is one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities - United Nations Environment Programme...
", "urban planning" in respect of the environment, "repect for diversity
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
" and "integration" of immigrants, along with the more traditional "think globally, act locally
Think Globally, Act Locally
The phrase "Think globally, act locally" or "Think global, act local" has been used in various contexts, including town planning, environment, and business.-Definition:...
". Along these, the core issues of the party, especially promotion of Venetian language and culture, are also included in the program. According to the paper, such a strong Veneto as that imagined by the party will be a protagonist of federal reform in Italy and Europe. The LV is opposed to nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
plants in Veneto, citing the high population density and the fact that the region is already energetically self-sufficient.
Factions
Within the party there are no formal factions, yet there are some unofficial groupings. Gian Paolo Gobbo and Luca ZaiaLuca Zaia
Luca Zaia is an Italian Venetist politician, member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.Since March 2010 Zaia is President of Veneto...
are the leaders of the wing from Treviso
Province of Treviso
The Province of Treviso is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Treviso.The province has an area of 2,477 km², and a total population of 886.886 . There are 95 municipalities in the province .-Municipalities:-External links:*...
, which has its roots in the original Liga Veneta and is more Venetist in character, while the Verona
Province of Verona
The Province of Verona is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Verona.-Overview:The province has an area of 3,109 km², and a total population of 912,981...
wing, whose standard-bearers are Flavio Tosi
Flavio Tosi
Flavio Tosi is an Italian Venetist politician. He is member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.-Career:Having joined Liga Veneta in 1991, he was elected to the Municipal Council of Verona in 1994 at the age of 25. From 1997 to 2003 he was also provincial secretary of Liga Veneta for the Province of Verona...
and Federico Bricolo
Federico Bricolo
Federico Bricolo is an Italian politician. He is a Venetist, member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.He has been member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2001 to 2008, when he was elected to the Senate, where he chairs the parliamentary group of Lega Nord...
, is more conservative and has strong links with Lega Lombarda. While Lighisti from Venice
Province of Venice
The Province of Venice is a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital is the city of Venice.It has an area of 2,467 km², and a total population of 829,418 . There are 44 comuni in the province . As of 2005, the main comuni by population are:-External links:* * : photos of...
are usually closer to Gobbo and Zaia, those from Vicenza
Province of Vicenza
The Province of Vicenza is a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza.The province has an area of 2,723 km², and a total population of 840,000 . There are 121 comuni in the province...
and Padua
Province of Padua
The Province of Padua is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Padua.-History and territory:...
are set somewhere in the middle between Treviso and Vicenza. A faction worth of mention is embodied by pure Venetists who stress issues such as Venetian identity and Venetian language: they notably include Roberto Ciambetti
Roberto Ciambetti
Roberto Ciambetti is an Italian Venetist politician.A member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, he was secretary of the party from 2003 to 2007 for the Province of Vicenza. Having elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in 2005, he became floor leader of the party in 2008...
, Daniele Stival
Daniele Stival
Daniele Stival is an Italian Venetist politician.A member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, he was first elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in 2000. Since 2001 Stival has been also secretary of the party for eastern Veneto...
, Giovanni Furlanetto and Nicola Finco.
Many in the party were outraged when Tosi, as Mayor of Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
, announced that he was going to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification
Italian unification
Italian unification was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century...
in 2011 and declared that Italian unity was a good thing. Gobbo promptly disavowed Tosi and confirmed that the party was opposed to any celebration. Tosi was criticized also by other party bigwigs, such as Francesca Martini
Francesca Martini
Francesca Martini is a Venetist politician. She is a member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.She was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2001, but she failed re-election five years later...
, while Furlanetto even proposed the expulsion of Tosi from the party. Gobbo was re-elected secretary in 2007 due to an agreement with Tosi, who was Gobbo's strongest rival for the leadership. The duel may be renewed in the summer of 2011, when the next party congress will be held.
Regarding ideology, it is difficult to say who is more conservative or liberal between Tosi and Zaia, who often exchange their position within the party. Of course, Tosi is a more traditional conservative-liberal, while Zaia, while being a centrist, resembles a green-populist position on environmental issues, nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
, GMOs
Genetically modified organism
A genetically modified organism or genetically engineered organism is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one...
, etc. In occasion of the 2011 referendum, Zaia declared his support for three referenda aimed at blocking the return to nuclear energy and the privatization of water services. Needless to say, Tosi declared himself a "keen nuclearist" and a supporter of the free market instead.
Members
The party is represented in the Italian Parliament by 16 deputies and 7 senators, in the Regional Council of VenetoRegional Council of Veneto
The Regional Council of Veneto is the regional parliament of Veneto.It was first elected in 1970, when the ordinary Regions were instituted, on the basis of the Constitution of Italy of 1948.-Composition:...
by 20 regional councillors. It controls also four Provinces
Provinces of Italy
In Italy, a province is an administrative division of intermediate level between a municipality and a region .-Overview:...
(Treviso
Province of Treviso
The Province of Treviso is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Treviso.The province has an area of 2,477 km², and a total population of 886.886 . There are 95 municipalities in the province .-Municipalities:-External links:*...
, Vicenza
Province of Vicenza
The Province of Vicenza is a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza.The province has an area of 2,723 km², and a total population of 840,000 . There are 121 comuni in the province...
, Venice
Province of Venice
The Province of Venice is a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital is the city of Venice.It has an area of 2,467 km², and a total population of 829,418 . There are 44 comuni in the province . As of 2005, the main comuni by population are:-External links:* * : photos of...
and Belluno
Province of Belluno
TheThe Province of Belluno is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Belluno.It has an area of 3,678 km², and a total population of 214,026 .-Geography:...
), and the Mayorships of Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
, Treviso
Treviso
Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...
, San Donà di Piave
San Donà di Piave
San Donà di Piave or, simply, San Donà, is the largest town in Eastern Veneto and comune of province of Venice, Veneto, in the North East region of Italy.- Geography :...
, Castelfranco Veneto
Castelfranco Veneto
Castelfranco Veneto is a town and comune of Veneto, northern Italy, in the province of Treviso, 30 km by rail from the town of Treviso. It is approximately 40 km inland from Venice.-History:...
, Montebelluna
Montebelluna
Montebelluna is a town and comune in Veneto, Italy, approximately 67 kilometers northwest of Venice. It has an estimated population of 30,817.Fila has research and development facilities in Montebelluna. Northwave was started by Gianni Piva in Montebelluna...
, Vittorio Veneto
Vittorio Veneto
Vittorio Veneto is a city and comune situated in the Province of Treviso, in the region of Veneto, Italy, in the northeast of the Italian peninsula, between the Piave and the Livenza rivers.-Geography:...
and Mogliano Veneto
Mogliano Veneto
Mogliano Veneto is a town and comune in the province of Treviso, Veneto, northern Italy, located halfway between Mestre and Treviso.-Culture:...
.
The party is represented in Berlusconi IV Cabinet
Berlusconi IV Cabinet
Berlusconi IV Cabinet has been the cabinet of the government of Italy from 8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011.As of July 2011, it was composed of 24 ministers, 4 deputy ministers and 39 under-secretaries, for a total of 67 members.-Sources:*...
by Francesca Martini
Francesca Martini
Francesca Martini is a Venetist politician. She is a member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.She was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2001, but she failed re-election five years later...
, Under-Secretary of Health.
Members of Liga Veneta successively held office as federal president of Lega Nord from 1991 to 2005:
- Franco RocchettaFranco RocchettaFranco Rocchetta is a Venetist politician.Rocchetta was born in Venice. He was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980, and its national president and practical leader...
(1991−1994) - Stefano StefaniStefano StefaniStefano Stefani is a Venetist politician and leading member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.Stefani is a veteran member of the party, having joined Liga Veneta in the 1980s, well before its merger into Lega Nord. A strong proponent of the unity of the "Padanian peoples", from 1995 through 2002 he was...
(1995−2002) - Luciano GasperiniLuciano GasperiniLuciano Gasperini is an Italian venetist politician.A senator for Liga Veneta–Lega Nord from Veneto in 1996–2001, he was chairman of the party's group from 1999 to 2000 and in 1999 he was the party's candidate for the post of President of the Italian Republic. In 1999 and 2004 he was candidate for...
(2002−2005)
Members of Liga Veneta were also floor leader of Lega Nord in the Italian Senate
Italian Senate
The Senate of the Republic is the upper house of the Italian Parliament. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as Senato del Regno , itself a continuation of the Senato Subalpino of Sardinia-Piedmont established on 8 May 1848...
:
- Luciano GasperiniLuciano GasperiniLuciano Gasperini is an Italian venetist politician.A senator for Liga Veneta–Lega Nord from Veneto in 1996–2001, he was chairman of the party's group from 1999 to 2000 and in 1999 he was the party's candidate for the post of President of the Italian Republic. In 1999 and 2004 he was candidate for...
(1998−1999) - Federico BricoloFederico BricoloFederico Bricolo is an Italian politician. He is a Venetist, member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.He has been member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2001 to 2008, when he was elected to the Senate, where he chairs the parliamentary group of Lega Nord...
(2008−present)
Gasperini was also the party's candidate for President of the Republic
President of the Italian Republic
The President of the Italian Republic is the head of state of Italy and, as such, is intended to represent national unity and guarantee that Italian politics comply with the Constitution. The president's term of office lasts for seven years....
in 1999.
Popular support
The party has its stongholds in the provinces of the Pedemontana (40–50% of the vote), which is to say the area at the feet of the Venetian Prealps, and in mountain areas (especially in Lessinia where it gains 45–55%). In the 2010 regional electionVenetian regional election, 2010
The Venetian regional election of 2010 took place on 28–29 March 2010, as part of Italy's big round of regional elections.Luca Zaia, rising star of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, was elected President by a landslide. With the support of 60.2% of Venetians, he was the most voted President of Veneto since...
the party did well in most of the region, but it did best in the Province of Treviso
Province of Treviso
The Province of Treviso is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Treviso.The province has an area of 2,477 km², and a total population of 886.886 . There are 95 municipalities in the province .-Municipalities:-External links:*...
, where Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia is an Italian Venetist politician, member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.Since March 2010 Zaia is President of Veneto...
comes from and where it gained an astonishing 48.5%. Treviso was followed by Vicenza
Province of Vicenza
The Province of Vicenza is a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza.The province has an area of 2,723 km², and a total population of 840,000 . There are 121 comuni in the province...
(38.1%), Province of Verona
Province of Verona
The Province of Verona is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Verona.-Overview:The province has an area of 3,109 km², and a total population of 912,981...
(36.1%), Belluno
Province of Belluno
TheThe Province of Belluno is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Belluno.It has an area of 3,678 km², and a total population of 214,026 .-Geography:...
(32.8%), Padua
Province of Padua
The Province of Padua is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Padua.-History and territory:...
(31.4%), Venice
Province of Venice
The Province of Venice is a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital is the city of Venice.It has an area of 2,467 km², and a total population of 829,418 . There are 44 comuni in the province . As of 2005, the main comuni by population are:-External links:* * : photos of...
(26.1%) and Rovigo
Province of Rovigo
The Province of Rovigo is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Rovigo.It borders on the north with the provinces of Verona, Padua and Venice, on the south with the province of Ferrara, on the west with the province of Mantua, and on the eastwith the Adriatic Sea.-...
(22.7%). Its urban strongholds were in the cities of Treviso
Treviso
Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...
(35.4%), Bassano del Grappa
Bassano del Grappa
Bassano del Grappa is a city and comune in the province of Vicenza, region Veneto, in northern Italy. It bounds the communes of Cassola, Marostica, Solagna, Pove del Grappa, Romano d'Ezzelino, Campolongo sul Brenta, Conco, Rosà, Cartigliano and Nove...
(31.2%) and Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
(30.4%).
The electoral results of Liga Veneta in Veneto
Veneto
Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
since 1990 are shown in the table below.
| 1990 regional | 1992 general | 1994 general | 1995 regional | 1996 general | 1999 European | 2000 regional | 2001 general | 2004 European | 2005 regional | 2006 general | 2008 general | 2009 European | 2010 regional |
| 7.8 | 17.8 | 21.6 | 16.7 | 29.3 | 10.7 | 12.0 | 10.2 | 14.1 | 14.7 | 11.1 | 27.1 | 28.4 | 35.2 |
Leadership
- National Secretary: Achille TramarinAchille TramarinAchille Tramarin is an Italian Venetist politician.In 1978–1980 he took part to the foundation of Liga Veneta and in 1980 he was elected first national secretary of the party...
(1980−1983), Marilena MarinMarilena MarinMarilena Marin is an Italian Venetist politician.A native of Conegliano, she was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980 and, after a party purge in 1984, she was elected national secretary of the party replacing Achille Tramarin...
(1983−1984), Franco RocchettaFranco RocchettaFranco Rocchetta is a Venetist politician.Rocchetta was born in Venice. He was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980, and its national president and practical leader...
(1984−1985), Marilena MarinMarilena MarinMarilena Marin is an Italian Venetist politician.A native of Conegliano, she was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980 and, after a party purge in 1984, she was elected national secretary of the party replacing Achille Tramarin...
(1985−1994), Fabrizio ComenciniFabrizio ComenciniFabrizio Comencini is a Venetist politician.Comencini started his political career in the Italian Social Movement , for which he was elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in 1985 and 1990. In the early 1990s, during his second term as regional councillor, he switched to Liga Veneta–Lega Nord...
(1994−1998), Gian Paolo Gobbo (1998−present) - National President: Franco RocchettaFranco RocchettaFranco Rocchetta is a Venetist politician.Rocchetta was born in Venice. He was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980, and its national president and practical leader...
(1991−1994), Gian Paolo Gobbo (1994−1998), Giuseppe CeccatoGiuseppe CeccatoGiuseppe Ceccato is a Venetist politician.He joined Liga Veneta in the 1980s, long before the foundation of Lega Nord in 1991. He was twice elected to the Italian Senate in 1994 and 1996. After the split of Liga Veneta Repubblica in 1998, he was elected national president of Liga Veneta. However...
(1998–1999), Manuela Dal LagoManuela Dal LagoManuela Dal Lago is an Italian Venetist politician. She is member of Liga Veneta-Lega Nord.In the late 1970s she started her political career in the Italian Liberal Party, reaching the position of youth leader of the party in Veneto...
(2001−2008), Flavio TosiFlavio TosiFlavio Tosi is an Italian Venetist politician. He is member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.-Career:Having joined Liga Veneta in 1991, he was elected to the Municipal Council of Verona in 1994 at the age of 25. From 1997 to 2003 he was also provincial secretary of Liga Veneta for the Province of Verona...
(2008−present)
- Party Leader in the Regional CouncilRegional Council of VenetoThe Regional Council of Veneto is the regional parliament of Veneto.It was first elected in 1970, when the ordinary Regions were instituted, on the basis of the Constitution of Italy of 1948.-Composition:...
: Franco RocchettaFranco RocchettaFranco Rocchetta is a Venetist politician.Rocchetta was born in Venice. He was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980, and its national president and practical leader...
(1985–1994), Gian Paolo Gobbo (1994–2000), Flavio TosiFlavio TosiFlavio Tosi is an Italian Venetist politician. He is member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.-Career:Having joined Liga Veneta in 1991, he was elected to the Municipal Council of Verona in 1994 at the age of 25. From 1997 to 2003 he was also provincial secretary of Liga Veneta for the Province of Verona...
(2000–2002), Franco ManzatoFranco ManzatoFranco Manzato is a Venetist politician. He is a member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.After a degree in philosophy, Manzato begun to work as consultant for small and medium-size enterprises and joined Liga Veneta in 1984, seven years before the foundation of Lega Nord. In the 2000 regional election he...
(2002–2008), Gianpaolo BottacinGianpaolo BottacinGianpaolo Bottacin is an Italian Venetist politician.Bottacin was born in Feltre. A member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord since 1993, he was elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in 2005. Between 2008 and 2009 he was floor leader of the party. In 2009 he was elected President of the Province of...
(2008–2009), Roberto CiambettiRoberto CiambettiRoberto Ciambetti is an Italian Venetist politician.A member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, he was secretary of the party from 2003 to 2007 for the Province of Vicenza. Having elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in 2005, he became floor leader of the party in 2008...
(2009–2010), Federico CanerFederico CanerFederico Caner is an Italian Venetist politician.A member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord since 1993, he was first elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in 2000 and then re-elected in 2005 and 2010 . Since 2010 he has been floor leader of the party in the Council.-References:...
(2010–present)
Sources
- Francesco Jori, Dalla Łiga alla Lega. Storia, movimenti, protagonisti, Marsilio, Venice 2009
- Ezio Toffano, Short History of the Venetian Autonomism, Raixe VeneteRaixe VeneteRaixe Venete is a Venetist cultural association.Every year it organizes the Festa dei Veneti in Cittadella, where Venetists of every political colour, Venetist associations, actors, musicians and rock bands, and many simple citizens gather and whose website is translated in several languages...
- Veneto Region – Legislatures
- Regional Council of Veneto – Elections
- Cattaneo Institute – Archive of Election Data
- Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections