MILANO (ITALPRESS) – Minister, Senator, Member, MEP, but above all the founder of the North League, Secretary and President of Life. It is the “Senatùr” Umberto Bossi, who died today at the age of 84.
Born on 19 September 1941 in Cassano Magnago in the province of Varese, his political commitment began in the early seventies in the communist group of the manifesto, in the Party of Proletarian Unit for Communism, in ARCI; but after a few years he approaches the cause and the autonomous and federalist ideas as a result of the encounter with Bruno Salvatori, very close to the Union Valdôtaine.
In 1979 he met Roberto Maroni with whom he began a long political partnership and in the early 1980s he founded the Autonomist League Lombarda, which would later become the Lombard League; he was elected national secretary until 1993 before giving life to the Northern League project. In the 1987 political elections Bossi was elected for the first time Senator, hence the name of Senatùr with whom he is still known today. In 1989 he founded the Northern League where he definitively brought together the Lombard League, the Liga Veneta, the Autonomist Piemònt, the Ligurian Union, the Emiliano-Romagnola League and the Tuscan Alliance, becoming secretary for about 20 years.
This is how the historic party of Via Bellerio with the leader Alberto da Giussano as a symbol, the Va’ pensiero by Giuseppe Verdi as an anthem, the Sun of the Alps as the flag of the Padania, “Rome Ladrona” a mantra. In those years Bossi began to talk about the independence project of the Padania by organizing numerous demonstrations and founded some media such as RadioPadania and TelePadania.
In 1994 a brief partnership with Forza Italia, the newborn Silvio Berlusconi party, but the relations between the two continue between up and down until the early 2000s with the constitution of the coalition called Casa delle Liberties which wins the political elections, in 2001 Bossi became Minister for Institutional Reforms and Devolution.
In 2004 Bossi was struck by a brain stroke and its conditions immediately appear worrying, after a long decency and a long convalescence, he interrupted political activity for a period; a disease that irreparably compromises his health.
In 2008 he was appointed Minister for Institutional Reforms in the Berlusconi IV government. On April 5, 2012, following the scandal due to a alleged distraction of party funds for his family, Bossi announced by surprise the resignation of Secretary of the North League, a post he had assumed in 1989; to succeed him in the role of federal secretary was the triumvirate composed by Roberto Maroni, Roberto Calderoli and Manuela Dal Lago.
He moves away from the scene for about a year until he returns to the new primaries of the North League in 2013, but is defeated by the nascent star of Carroccio Matteo Salvini. The “Capitano” Salvini, in full disagreement with the Senatùr, immediately decides for the nationalist turn with the aim of finding support also in the Mezzogiorno, founded the League for Salvini premier and commissaria the organs of the North League.
In the European elections of 2024 by surprise Bossi lets know that he has voted Marco Reguzzoni, a former politician now candidate for independent with Forza Italia, asking his followers to do the same. In the long life of the founder of the League, several judicial proceedings took place, from the Enimont process where he was accused of violating the law on public financing to the parties, up to the condemnation of vilipendence to the Italian flag. As a result of a vilipendium trial at the Head of the State of the then President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, he was sentenced in 2018 by the Cassation at 1 year and 15 days of imprisonment for vilipendium to the President of the Republic for insults addressed to Giorgio Napolitano.
But it was the 2012 inquiry to strongly undermine its political activity. Bossi, in fact, is enrolled in the register of investigations by the prosecutor of Milan with the accusation of fraud against the state because of the scandal of electoral refunds. He was sentenced to 1 year and 10 months for having misunderstood the state about 49 million euros. In August 2019, the fraud crime for Bossi and Belsito was prescribed; the Cassation confirmed the confiscation of 49 million euros to the League, while personal confiscations fell.
LE REAZIONI DEL MONDO DELLA POLITICA
“The entire community of the League is deeply shaken and grieved for the disappearance of the founder Umberto Bossi and is fondly and emotionally attached to his family.
All scheduled appointments for tomorrow are canceled,” reads in a note.
After the disappearance of Umberto Bossi, the deputypremier and leader of the League Matteo Salvini has cancelled all the scheduled appointments for tomorrow and will return to Milan with the first flight. It makes Carroccio known.
“Umberto Bossi, with his political passion, marked an important stage in Italian history and gave a fundamental contribution to the formation of the first district. At this time of great pain, I am close to the family and its political community.” He writes on social media the president of the Council Giorgia Meloni.
“With the disappearance of Umberto Bossi I lose a friend, a piece of our political history. Not long ago I heard him and promised him I’d go see him. I didn’t do it in time and it’s a rock for me. It is not up to me to recall the incidence that Bossi, founder of the League, determined in Italian politics. However, he was judged, he was a giant for his ability to interpret the mood of the north and the useful choices to his political side. I have personally witnessed the many occasions of understanding between him and Berlusconi that were decisive, from 2000 onwards, to convince him to make the League an important axis of the center-right. To his family and to the whole League I address the most felt condolences, my personal and the Senate of the Republic.” So on Facebook the president of the Senate, Ignazio La Russo.
“There was news that we would never want to hear. On the day of the Father’s Day, the League’s father failed, for me a political father. Umberto Bossi’s disappearance fills me with deep and lacerant pain. It was a decisive figure for me: the reason for my approach in politics. Since very young he has fascinated me with his ideas and commitment, leaving an indelible mark in the history of our country. We’ll miss him a lot. His teachings remain, the memories of our meetings, conversations, his fellows: moments I bring in my heart and they will never abandon me. To his family I address a sincere embrace and my most felt closeness at this difficult moment.” So the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Lorenzo Fontana.
“I express deep sympathy for the disappearance of Umberto Bossi, founder of the League and leading protagonist of Italian political history in recent decades. Bossi has represented, with determination and vision, the instances of large communities in Northern Italy, helping to mark a significant political season for our country. Beyond political differences, it must be recognized its commitment and its role in strengthening democratic and institutional debate. At this time of pain, I address a sincere thought to his family and to all those who have been close to him.” So Letizia Moratti, president of the Italian Consultation and MEP of the European People’s Party.
“Umberto. Chief. This news gives me a great pain and fills me with sadness. He left us a man who devoted his whole life to politics, who changed the history of Italy, who was able to anticipate the times and give voice to millions of people who felt far from politics. The voice of the North.” Thus in a note the president of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana. “It has brought true, true values: territory, community, identity. Values that do not die with him, because they remain alive in those who believed — and continues to believe — in what he built and always believed. Thanks, Umberto. For all you have given to this land. A couple of years ago, when I decided to honour the Rosa Camuna, the highest honor of the Lombardy Region, someone criticized me, asked me if I was really convinced. Words that have in no way hurled my determination to reward and above all thank those who, like you, have always loved and kept high the values and history of our Lombardy. A strong hug to the whole family of the dear and great Umberto. Lombardy will never forget you.”.
“Umberto Bossi was first of all a great friend of mine. A true friend, of many moments together, not for years but for decades, for a life: days and evenings interminable together, in the headquarters of Via Bellerio, around for meetings and demonstrations in the long and wide all over Northern Italy and then obviously in Rome, in Parliament and the Government. We grew up together, we aged together, we faced joys and diseases together.” Senator Roberto Calderoli, Minister for Regional Affairs and Autonomies. “It is precisely on the day of the feast of the father I lose ‘papapa’ Umberto, because for me he was really a second father, from a human point of view and then from a political point of view – he adds. And as a minister, today, I want to bring to the bottom its most important political legacy: autonomy for the territories”.
“I greet with affection and nostalgia Umberto Bossi, an indomite wrestler, a rough and uncomfortable man, but also deeply good. He has marked the history of Italian politics: he deserves respect not only of his friends but also of his opponents”. He says it in a note Pier Ferdinando Casini.
“Umberto Bossi marked the history of this country, he collected a community around ideals, principles, goals that were born and will continue to live thanks to him. For us of the League it is not easy to say goodbye to him, for this today with our heart we want to tell him only thanks”. Gian Marco Centinaio, Vice President of the Senate and Senator of the League, said this.
“I apprehend with great pain of Umberto Bossi’s disappearance. Authentic and brave man, he was innovator and bearer of new instances. He contributed to the start of important seasons. Obviously there have been choices that we have shared, others that have been the basis of comparison, at times complex, but always rich in content and projects of change. Open to the protagonism of the territories. Bossi will remain a historical protagonist of Italian politics. To the family, to all the people of the League closeness and solidarity at this moment of common sadness”. The group leader of Forza Italia in Senato, Maurizio Gasparri.
“I greet one of the most important protagonists, in good and evil, of Italian politics in the last thirty years. Both for those who loved him, and for those who warned him, Bossi was a piece of Republican history. I knew him personally late, already sick but I appreciated, even as an opponent, the hardening and human and political passion. May he rest in peace.” Thus on X the leader of Italia Viva, Matteo Renzi.
-Photo IPA Agency-
(ITALPRESS).
