From Lega Nord to Lega, next stop Lega Sud

Salvini has transformed the Lega Nord into the Lega to bring his appeal to the country. He now seems far more concentrated on winning the South to the detriment of the North.

The economy – like anyone used to living off the state, Salvini seems to have forgotten how important the economy actually is to getting things done. I don’t think you blow out the spread and cause a recession if you really care about the North of Italy. This is what he has done within the first 9 months of coming to power. You only benefit from making everyone poorer if you want to be able to make them stressed and unhappy and in need of someone who offers a simple solution and a third party to blame. The traditional Lega Nord base has been completely betrayed by the economic policies of the Lega government which are serving only to make it poorer.

Salvini, instead of caring about the economy, has taken the Ministero dell’Interno to concentrate on immigration/illegal immigration to the detriment of everything else. It makes him personally look strong, pity it does nothing for the North. Because, in the North, there is a need for immigrants, even illegal ones, because otherwise there will not be anyone to pick up the rubbish or do all the menial jobs. Try and find an Italian portinaio in Milan. The same also seems true of the South where I am not seeing a rush of unemployed Italians lining up to get a job picking tomatoes, a job which appears to be largely done by illegal African immigrants.

Then we have the redditto di cittadinanza which is essentially giving more money to the South. If the Pd had proposed this, the Lega Nord would have been rampaging about giving money to lazy Southerners. As it is, they seem to be onboard. And going back to the economy part above, I feel this scheme could have been designed so much effectively to actually create jobs if the Lega actually cared about this. The South ha great potential for solar power and the floods last November show it needs an overhaul of much of its infrastructure. Why not subsidise residential solar via Enel which would not only lower power bills but also create skills which can be deployed after the subsidies end.

The battle cry of the Lega Nord used to be ‘Roma Ladrona’. Once upon a time…