Umberto Bossi | |
|---|---|
 Bossi in 2022 | |
| President of theNorthern League | |
| Assumed office 5 April 2012[1] | |
| Preceded by | Angelo Alessandri |
| Federal Secretary of Northern League | |
| In office 4 December 1989 – 5 April 2012 | |
| Preceded by | Position created |
| Succeeded by | Roberto Maroni |
| Minister for Federal Reforms | |
| In office 8 May 2008 – 16 November 2011 | |
| Prime Minister | Silvio Berlusconi |
| Preceded by | Vannino Chiti |
| Minister for Institutional Reforms and Devolution | |
| In office 11 June 2001 – 19 July 2004 | |
| Prime Minister | Silvio Berlusconi |
| Preceded by | Antonio Maccanico |
| Succeeded by | Roberto Calderoli |
| Member of theChamber of Deputies | |
| Assumed office 13 October 2022 | |
| Constituency | Lombardy |
| In office 29 April 2008 – 22 March 2018 | |
| Constituency | Lombardy |
| In office 23 April 1992 – 19 July 2004 | |
| Constituency | Milan |
| Member of theSenate of the Republic | |
| In office 23 March 2018 – 13 October 2022 | |
| Constituency | Varese |
| In office 2 July 1987 – 22 April 1992 | |
| Constituency | Lombardy |
| Member of theEuropean Parliament | |
| In office 20 July 2004 – 28 April 2008 | |
| Constituency | North-West Italy |
| In office 19 July 1994 – 10 June 2001 | |
| Constituency | North-West Italy |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1941-09-19)19 September 1941 (age 84) |
| Political party | Lega Lombarda (1982–present) Lega Nord (1989–present) |
| Other political affiliations | PCI (1975–1976)[2] |
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) |
| Spouse | Manuela Marrone |
| Children | 4, includingRenzo Bossi |
Umberto Bossi (born 19 September 1941) is an Italian politician and former leader ofLega Nord (Northern League), a party seekingautonomy orindependence forNorthern Italy orPadania. He is married to theSicilian Manuela Marrone,[3] and has four sons, of whom one was from his first wife.
Bossi was born in 1941 inCassano Magnago, in theprovince of Varese,Lombardy. He graduated from scientifichigh school (liceo scientifico) and later began studyingmedicine at theUniversity of Pavia, though he did not get a degree. In 1975, he was a member of theItalian Communist Party for a brief period.[4] In February 1979, he met Bruno Salvadori, leader of theValdostan Union.
After the death of Salvadori in a car accident during the summer of 1980, Bossi began focusing more onLombardy. After two years, the autonomistLombard League was born. In that period, Bossi met his second wife, Manuela Marrone.
The Lega Lombarda would later seek alliances with similar movements inVeneto andPiedmont, forming theNorthern League, of which he was the federal secretary until 5 April 2012. He became the undisputed and unchallenged leader of the party, a position that he maintained until 2012, even after a serious stroke. He is currently the League's federal president, an honorary title devoid of real power, and is trying to regain the leadership of the movement he founded.
When the scandals ofTangentopoli were unveiled from 1992 on, Bossi rode the wave, presenting himself as the new man in politics, and set out to sweep awaycorruption and incompetence. Bossi himself received an eight-month suspended prison sentence, along with Northern League's treasurer at the time of the events, Alessandro Patelli, for receiving a 200-million-lirebribe in a trial that also convicted many of the politicians he routinely attacked, such asBettino Craxi,Arnaldo Forlani and others.[5] Bossi's sentence was upheld on appeal.[6]
In 1998, Bossi received a one-year suspended prison sentence for 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."[7]
While being Reform 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."[8][9][10]
Bossi was critical of theEuropean Union, and once described it as a "nest of communist bankers".[11]
Bossi began his institutional career in 1987 as the onlysenator of theNorthern League, of which he was the leader. He was then given thenicknameSenatur (pron. [sena'tu:r]),senator inLombard, which stuck even when he was later elected as anMP in theItalian Chamber of Deputies.
He was instrumental in the unexpected victory ofSilvio Berlusconi's coalition in 1994, but he broke the alliance after just a few months, with thefirst Berlusconi cabinet collapsing beforeChristmas 1994.
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 astroke on 11 March 2004, which seriously impaired his speech, he quit on 19 July 2004 to take up a seat as amember of the European Parliament, where he registered an attendance of 9 per cent of the plenary sessions in his last mandate.[12] Bossi later slowly returned to active politics.
On 11 January 2005, Bossi appeared on the political scene at the last house of the Lombard federalist politicianCarlo Cattaneo at Lugano after 306 days from the accident. During that day, he met the Minister of EconomyGiulio 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 theLega dei Ticinesi, a Swiss localist Movement led by the Luganese entrepreneurGiuliano Bignasca. During his speech, Bossi spoke against the "Europe of Masons".
During the national elections of 2006, he signed a political agreement with theMovement for Autonomy, led by the Sicilian politicianRaffaele Lombardo.
On 17 September 2006, he returned to Venice for the tenth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of Padania. He declared that the Parliament of the North must be opened again.
On 2 February 2007, inVicenza, he officially opened the first monthly meeting of the Parliament of the North.[citation needed]Umberto Bossi and Lega Nord have now abandoned the idea of independence for Padania, proposed in 1996.
In September 2007, Bossi accepted an invitation by FatherFlorian Abrahamowicz to his celebration of aTridentine Mass and said there were affinities between the Lega Nord and the followers of ArchbishopMarcel Lefebvre.[13] Father Abrahamowicz is seen as the unofficial chaplain of the party.[14]
On 8 May 2008, he became Minister for Institutional Reforms again, inSilvio Berlusconi's fourth cabinet. He held the position until 16 November 2011.
On 5 April 2012, when news broke of an alleged appropriation of party funds for the private affairs of his family, Umberto Bossi resigned as federal secretary of Northern League.[15] Italian prosecutors have alleged that Bossi used the money earmarked for his party on his house renovations and on favours for his family.[16] Following the resignation, the Lega Nord instantly gave him the honorary position of party President.[11] Leadership of the Northern League was initially entrusted to a so-called "triumvirate" composed byRoberto Maroni,Roberto Calderoli andManuela Dal Lago. On 7 December 2013,Matteo Salvini took over as official leader of the party.[17]
With a decision of August 2019, theSupreme Court of Cassation decreed, as reported by Reuters, that "the case against former League leader Umberto Bossi and his former party treasurer had expired due to the statute of limitations, but the confiscation of the funds remained in place."[18] The ruling was published on 5 November 2019 after a Court of Appeals ruling of 26 November 2018 and initial ruling of 24 July 2017, related to the party's financial statements of 2009 and 2010.[19]
| Election | House | Constituency | Party | Votes | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Chamber of Deputies | Como–Sondrio–Varese | LpT | 157 |  NNot elected | |
| 1985 | Regional Council of Lombardy | Varese | LL | 943 | NNot elected | |
| 1987 | Senate of the Republic | Lombardy | LL | 15,802 |  YElected | |
| 1989 | European Parliament | North-West Italy | LL | 68,519 | YElected | |
| 1992 | Chamber of Deputies | Milan | LL | 239,798 | YElected | |
| 1994 | Chamber of Deputies | Milan | LN | 46,570 | YElected | |
| 1994 | European Parliament | North-West Italy | LN | 387,546 | YElected | |
| 1996 | Chamber of Deputies | Milan | LN | 10,179 | NNot elected | |
| –[a] | YElected | |||||
| 1999 | European Parliament | North-West Italy | LN | 134,318 | YElected | |
| 2001 | Chamber of Deputies | Milan | LN | 40,372 | YElected | |
| 2004 | European Parliament | North-West Italy | LN | 182,823 | YElected | |
| 2008 | Chamber of Deputies | Lombardy | LN | –[a] | YElected | |
| 2009 | European Parliament | North-West Italy | LN | 171,052 | YElected | |
| 2013 | Chamber of Deputies | Lombardy | LN | –[a] | YElected | |
| 2018 | Senate of the Republic | Varese | LN | –[a] | YElected | |
| 2022 | Chamber of Deputies | Varese | LN | –[a] | YElected | |
| 1994 general election (C):Lombardy —Milan 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Coalition | Votes | % | |
| Umberto Bossi | Pole of Freedoms | 46,570 | 48.7 | |
| Franco Bassanini | Alliance of Progressives | 24,305 | 25.4 | |
| Gianni Rivera | Pact for Italy | 11,321 | 11.8 | |
| Ignazio La Russa | National Alliance | 8,561 | 9.0 | |
| Others | 4,829 | 5.0 | ||
| Total | 95,586 | 100.0 | ||
| 1996 general election (C):Lombardy —Milan 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Coalition | Votes | % | |
| Silvio Berlusconi | Pole for Freedoms | 46,098 | 51.5 | |
| Michele Salvati | The Olive Tree | 32,464 | 36.3 | |
| Umberto Bossi | Lega Nord | 10,179 | 11.4 | |
| Others | 766 | 0.9 | ||
| Total | 89,507 | 100.0 | ||
| 2001 general election (C):Lombardy —Milan 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Coalition | Votes | % | |
| Umberto Bossi | House of Freedoms | 40,372 | 53.1 | |
| Alberto Martinelli | The Olive Tree | 31,454 | 41.3 | |
| Others | 4,266 | 5.6 | ||
| Total | 76,092 | 100.0 | ||
Annulla senza rinvio agli effetti penali la sentenza impugnata nei confronti di Bossi Umberto e Belsito Francesco in ordine ai reati loro ascritti ai capi b) e c) perché estinti per prescrizione, nonché in ordine alla disposta confisca per equivalente, che elimina, ferma restando la statuizione della stessa sentenza sulla confisca diretta. Rigetta i ricorsi di Bossi Umberto e Belsito Francesco agli effetti civili in relazione ai reati di cui ai capi b) e c).
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Italian Minister for Institutional Reforms and Devolution 2001–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Italian Minister for Federal Reforms 2008–2011 | Succeeded by Title abolished |
| Italian Senate | ||
| Preceded by Title jointly held | Senator Legislature: X 1987–1992 | Succeeded by Title jointly held |
| Preceded by Title jointly held | Senator Legislature: XVIII 2018- | Succeeded by Title jointly held |
| Italian Chamber of Deputies | ||
| Preceded by Title jointly held | Deputy Legislatures: XI, XII, XIII, XIV 1992–2004 | Succeeded by Title jointly held |
| Deputy Legislatures: XVI, XVII 2008–2018 | ||
| European Parliament | ||
| Preceded by Title jointly held | MEP 1994–2001 | Succeeded by Title jointly held |
| MEP 2004–2008 | ||
| Party political offices | ||
| New political party | Federal Secretary of Northern League 1989–2012 | Succeeded by |
Umberto Bossi | |||||||
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| Other | |
