Matteo Salvini puts the League in the running for the presidency of the Region. And although everyone in the centre-right sees the move as a tactical move to keep the leadership of Lombardy, the minister’s words have the effect of revealing the maneuvers underway behind the scenes in the centre-right also in Sicily.
Salvini said yesterday that «if Fratelli d’Italia has a worthy candidate in Lombardy I will be happy to accept their proposal. Just as we in Sicily will have some suggestions to give.” The round of nominations began immediately, with Senator Valeria Sudano, wife of the Sicilian Northern League leader Luca Sammartino, among the favourites.
But the more astute yesterday read the minister’s words differently. And at the origin of everything there is a pact, signed before the vote in Veneto, which assigned Lombardy to the Brothers of Italy despite the fact that it is currently led by a Northern League member (Fontana, in his second term).
In this interpretation Salvini would have told the Melonians that if they insist on wanting to “snatch” Lombardy then he will hinder their project of having a Southern Region. And this would be the news: having lost Campania, FdI would focus on Sicily to succeed Schifani. Hypothesis denied yesterday by Luca Sbardella, FdI commissioner in Sicily. Which, however, also postponed, and for a long time, the choice of the centre-right in Sicily: «The candidacy for the Region will be decided in Rome in due course. In the meantime, it’s better to focus on the vote on the Budget.” Sbardella, however, sent a warning to sailors, always within the framework of national balances: «If we look at the leadership of the Regions, we are behind Forza Italia and Lega. It would be legitimate to ask for a rebalancing.”
And while the undersecretary Claudio Durigon also relaunched “the League’s dream of having a president of the Southern Region”, Forza Italia tried to block Schifani’s encore. Maurizio Gasparri did it from Rome: «Suggestions from allies are welcome. As far as Sicily is concerned, we know that any suggestion will be useful starting from the assumption that Forza Italia leads and will continue to lead the Region.”
All the details on the paper and digital edition of Gazzetta del Sud – Messina on newsstands tomorrow
