Umberto Bossi
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| Onorevole Umberto Bossi |
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Italian Minister of Federal Reforms
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office May 8, 2008 |
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| Prime Minister | Silvio Berlusconi |
| Preceded by | Vannino Chiti |
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Italian Minister for Institutional Reforms and Devolution
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| In office June 11, 2001 – July 19, 2004 |
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| Prime Minister | Silvio Berlusconi |
| Preceded by | Antonio Maccanico |
| Succeeded by | Vannino Chiti |
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| Born | 19 September 1941 Cassano Magnago, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Political party | Lega Nord |
| Spouse | Manuela Marrone |
Umberto Bossi (born September 19, 1941) is an Italian politician, leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy. He is married to Sicilian Manuela Marrone[1] and has four sons (one of which was from his first wife).
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[edit] Birth and education
Umberto Bossi was born in 1941 in Cassano Magnago, in the province of Varese (Lombardy). He graduated scientific high school (liceo scientifico) and later began studying medicine at the University of Pavia -- for which he did not acquire a degree. While at the University of Pavia, in February 1979, he met Bruno Salvadori, leader of the Valdotanian Union.
[edit] Politics
- See also: Ideology of the Northern League
Before becoming a politician, Bossi was a sympathiser of the Italian Communist Party in his early years. After the death of Salvadori in a car accident during the summer of 1980, Bossi began focusing more on Lombardy. After two years, the Lombard autonomist league was born. In that period Bossi met his second wife, Manuela Marrone.
The Lega Lombarda would later seek alliances with similar movements in Veneto and Piedmont, forming the Northern League, of which he is still the federal secretary. He became the undisputed and unchallenged leader of the party, a position that he has maintained to this day, even after a serious stroke.
When the scandals of Tangentopoli were unveiled from 1992 on, Bossi rode the wave, presenting himself as the new man in politics, set out to sweep away corruption and incompetence. Bossi himself, however, received an eight months suspended prison sentence, along with Lega Nord's treasurer at the time of the events Alessandro Patelli, for receiving a 200-million lire bribe in a trial that sentenced also many of the politicians he routinely attacked, as Bettino Craxi, Arnaldo Forlani and others.[2] Bossi's sentence was upheld in appeals.[3]
In 1998, Bossi received a one-year suspended prison sentence for the incitement of violence after he uttered the following sentence at a Lega Nord meeting: "We must hunt down these rascals (neo-fascists), and if they take votes from us, then let's comb the area house by house, because we kicked the fascists out of here once before after the war."[4]
While the Reforms minister in 2003 Bossi ordered the Navy to fire live rounds on boats holding illegal immigrants, stating "After the second or third warning, bang... we fire the cannon". [1]
Bossi named his two last sons with unusual, politically-charged names, Roberto Libertà (libertà means freedom, and it is a feminine noun in Italian) and Eridano Sirio (Eridano would be the name of an ancient god of the Po river).
[edit] Institutional experience
Bossi began his institutional career in 1987 as the only senator of the Lega Nord, of which he was the leader. He was then given the nickname senatur (pron. [sena'tu:r]), senator in Lombard, which stuck even when he was later elected as a MP in the Italian Chamber of Deputies.
He was instrumental in the unexpected victory of Silvio Berlusconi's coalition in 1994, but he broke the alliance after just a few months, with the first Berlusconi cabinet collapsing before Christmas 1994.
Bossi later attacked repeatedly Berlusconi with direct verbal violence, using much of his rhetorics. Terms he used included: Berlus-kaiser, Berluscazz ("Berluscock"), Berlusconi mafioso. He also threatened mining the antennas that spread the signals of Berlusconi's televisions, a threat that a few extremist followers took seriously, carrying out some minor sabotage actions; these never compromised Berlusconi's TV stations, however, and constituted mostly a curiosity in the news.
After a subsidiary of the Berlusconi empire granted a loan to relieve the waning finances of Lega Nord, Bossi agreed to return to an alliance with Berlusconi, which ultimately led to the (this time, easily predicted) 2001 electoral victory.
He then served in Silvio Berlusconi's second cabinet as Reforms Minister. However, after suffering a serious stroke on March 11, 2004, which seriously impaired his speech, he quit on July 19, 2004 to take up a seat as a member of the European Parliament. Bossi later slowly returned to active politics.
[edit] The return to political activity
On 11th January 2005 Bossi appeared on the political scene at the last house of the Lombard federalist politician Carlo Cattaneo at Lugano after 306 days from the accident. During that day, he met the Minister of Economy Giulio Tremonti (Forza Italia) with whom he constituted the political agreement called "The Alliance of the North" (Asse del Nord). He also met a representative of Lega dei Ticinesi, a Swiss localist Movement led by the Luganese enterpreneur Giuliano Bignasca. During his speech Bossi spoke against the "Europe of Masons".
During the national elections of 2006 he signed a political agreement with "Movimento per l'Autonomia" of the Sicilian politician Raffaele Lombardo.
On 17th September 2006 he returned in Venice for the 10th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of Padania. He declarated that the Parliament of the North must be opened again.
On 2nd February 2007, in Vicenza, he officially opened the first monthly meeting of the Parliament of the North.[citation needed] In the 2000 year, Umberto Bossi and Lega Nord have abbandoned the idea of the indipedentism of Padania, proposed in 1996.
[edit] 4th Berlusconi cabinet
On May 8, 2008, he became Minister for Institutional Reforms again, in Silvio Berlusconi's fourth cabinet.
[edit] References
- ^ MotherJones.com
- ^ "Bossi Joins Craxi in Corruption Conviction", The Guardian, 1995-10-28, p. 10.
- ^ "Italian Court Upholds Corruption Convictions", Agence France-Presse, 1997-06-07.
- ^ "Italian Separatist Leader Convicted of Inciting Violence", Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 1998-02-22.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Antonio Maccanico |
Italian Minister of Institutional Reforms and Devolution 2001 – 2004 |
Succeeded by Roberto Calderoli |
| Preceded by Vannino Chiti |
Italian Minister of Federal Reforms 2008 – present |
Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| New title | Federal Secretary of Northern League 1991 – present |
Incumbent |
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[edit] External links
- Official biography from the Web site of Lega Nord. (Italian)
- The League, Bossi and what comes after, biography of Bossi and storyline of the League by the conservative magazine Ideazione. (Italian)
- Padanian poker's last hand, biography by the left-wing newspaper L'Unità. (Italian)
