Lega per Salvini
Originally Lega Nord (“Northern League”), now Lega per Salvini (“League for Salvini”), was founded on December 4, 1989 by the merger of several regional autonomist movements from northern Italy, with the main political aim of making Italy a federal state.
After a first experience with the national government that lasted a few months in 1994, in the 2000s the Lega joined the center-right coalition which gained political leadership in the elections.
At the government, Lega contributed to the approval of a restrictive reform of the law regarding immigration and asylum and, in the years in which it expressed the Minister of the Interior, obtained a drastic reduction in illegal immigration thanks to a careful policy of bilateral agreements with the countries of origin of the immigrants, and with rejections at the border.
At the political elections of 2018, the party achieved its best result in its history (17.34% at the Chamber, 17.63% at the Senate) and the leadership within the center-right coalition, assuming for the first time a national dimension with significant results throughout the south-central part of the country. On 1 June 2018, due to the impossibility of forming a center-right parliamentary majority, Lega stipulated a government contract with the 5 Star Movement, and gave life to the first government led by Giuseppe Conte, in which the federal party secretary, Matteo Salvini, held the role of Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister.
On May 26, 2019, in the European elections, the Lega stood as the first party in Italy, with 34% of the votes, and in August it revoked its support to Conte’s government, due to the refusal by the 5 Star Movement to share the Lega’s political-economic recipes. Lega participates in the government of nine Italian regions, it expresses the Presidents of some of the most important (Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Sardinia) and it is part of more than a thousand municipal administrations throughout the Italian peninsula.
On the European front, Lega has always been strongly critical of the process of establishing the Economic and Monetary Union since its first act, the Maastricht Treaty. The only Italian party that has never accepted the diktats and austerity recipes promoted and imposed by Brussels anywhere in the European Parliament, Lega continues its battle within the political group Identity and Democracy.
Matteo ADINOLFI
Lega - Italy
Matteo Adinolfi was born in Latina on December 24, 1963. Graduated in Economics and Business from "La Sapienza" University of Rome, Professor of Legal-Economic disciplines and Chartered Accountant regularly enrolled in the accountants' register, in his professional life he also held the role of Auditor and Consultant at the Court of Latina.
He began his political experience as a municipal councilor for the Municipality of Latina, from 1997 to 2007. After joining “Noi con Salvini”, he was re-elected to the city council in 2016. Candidate for the European elections of 26 May 2019, he was elected with over 32 thousand preferences to the European Parliament.
Alessandra BASSO
Lega - Italy
Alessandra Basso was elected for the European Parliament with more than 25.000 preferences, first among Lega candidates in Emilia-Romagna.
Before her election, she worked as a lawyer in Bologna, city where she moved from Treviso for university studies. She has always been committed to defending consumers, as a consultant to a consumer association, and is co-author of a text about consumer rights.
She officially joined the League in 2016, running for city council and as local party treasurer. She is currently part of the IMCO commission and substitute in the DEVE commission.
Anna BONFRISCO
Lega - Italy
Anna Cinzia Bonfrisco was elected for the European Parliament with 39.404 preferences at the 2019 elections in the Central Italy college.
Before being elected at the European Parliament, she had been a member of the italian Senate from 2006 until 2019.
Paolo BORCHIA
Lega - Italy
Paolo Borchia was elected to the European Parliament in 2019, after obtaining 37,400 preferences from the electoral constituency of the Italian North-East. A Political Science graduate from the University of Padua, he was involved for several years in business administration until he began his professional path in Brussels in early 2010. After serving for a legislative term as a parliamentary assistant, he later took up duties as a political advisor for the ENF group and was assigned to follow the works of the Parliament's committee on Industry and Research, which he now coordinates for the ID group in his capacity as a MEP. As of June 2018, he is also the Federal Coordinator of the League's foreign departments, which he represents within the League's Federal Council. In February 2020, he was the only Italian politician to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington D.C., where he presented the political strategy of the Lega through a series of high-level meetings, with particular attention to the promotion of structural change within EU governance and the national implementation of the flat-tax scheme.
Marco CAMPOMENOSI
Lega - Italy
Marco Campomenosi was born in 1975, in Genova, where he obtained a Bachelor’s in Law.
In 2004, after a first working experience as a legislative advisor at the Presidency of the Regional Council of the Region of Liguria, he moved to Brussels to work at the European Parliament as an Accredited Parliamentary Assistant to the former MEP Matteo Salvini.
In 2009, after a brief period in in the private sector in Italy, he returned as a staff member of the Lega Delegation to the European Parliament in Brussels; within which he has taken up various important duties during the last two parliamentary terms.
In 2019, he was elected as Member of the European Parliament with 17.768 votes, also assuming the role of Head of the Lega Delegation within the newly formed Identity and Democracy Group.
Massimo CASANOVA
Lega - Italy
Massimo Casanova was elected in 2019 with the “Lega Salvini Premier” party in Italy in the southern jurisdiction (Abruzzo, Basilicata, Campania, Calabria, Molise, and Puglia). He is member of the Transport and tourism committee, member of the fishery committee and member of the Tourism task force.
He is an entrepreneur in Italy where he owns the famous “Papeete beach”, a bathhouse in Emilia Romagna region, his brand is very popular all over the world. He is married and father of three children. He loves nature, hunting and fishing.
In 2007, he dedicates himself to agriculture in Puglia, on a strip of land between Lesina Lake and the Adriatic see. In this territory, he gives life to different agricultural enterprises, always respecting the territory and nature.
He also distinguished himself for his social commitment: one of the latest honour was the “Virgo Fidelis” prize in 2018.
Susanna CECCARDI
Lega - Italy
Susanna Ceccardi was born in Pisa on the 19th of March 1987. She began her political career as a student while she was attending Law School in the University of her home town.
In 2011, she was elected in the Town Council of Cascina as a representative of the Lega Nord party. Cascina is a town with a population of 45,000, a few miles from Pisa.
In June 2016, she was electrd mayor of Cascina. While on a local level this was an amazing success, as she was the first woman and the first conservative ever to be elected mayor in the town since 1945, this was also a milestone election for Tuscany. The region, in fact, has been traditionally a bastion of the Communist Party and its heirs in the past 70 years.
In addition to her experience as mayor, over the years Susanna Ceccardi has held important management positions within the Lega Nord. She worked in the staff of Matteo Salvini, then Ministry of the Interior, until the summer of 2019, when the political coalition came to an abrupt end and the party became the Opposition.
In the spring of 2019 she ran for a seat in the European Parliament in the the central Italian district and she was elected with 48,241 personal preference votes.
Angelo CIOCCA
Lega - Italy
Angelo Ciocca embodies the role of Member of the European Parliament as of 2016. During his entire mandate he firmly assured the protection of Made in Italy, defending Italian entrepreneurs and their productions as well as the Italian products of the agricultural world. His striking statements against the Eurocrat has distinguished him.
In the last European elections he has been granted him a re-elected by 90.000 votes.
Rosanna CONTE
Lega - Italy
Rosanna Conte was elected to the European Parliament in 2019 with 19,441 votes in the North-East constituency, namely in the regions of Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia Romagna and Trentino Alto Adige.
She was the only candidate in the province of Venice, a city she proudly represents in the European institutions. She has been an active member of the Lega Party for years and she is also a city councilor in Caorle, a splendid tourist town in the Venetian province, where she was elected with the highest number of votes during the 2016 administrative elections.
In Caorle, where she lives, she carries on the family business as hotel manager as well. Tenacious, combative and determined, Rosanna Conte is a lawyer with two law firms specialised in banking, corporate and civil law.
Gianantonio DA RE
Lega - Italy
Gianantonio Da Re was elected to the European Parliament in the 2019 EP elections with 43.387 votes being the only representatives from the province of Treviso. Da Re is member of the Committee of Culture and Education and substitute in the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety.
Before his tenure in the European Parliament, Da Re was Mayor of Vittorio Veneto (TV) from 2009 to 2014, previously Regional Councilor of Veneto (2005-2009) and Municipal Councilor in the city of Vittorio Veneto and Cappella Maggiore.
From 2004 to 2009, Da Re was the group leader of the Northern League in the Municipality of Vittorio Veneto.
Moreover, Da Re held the position of Provincial Secretary of the Northern League from 1998 to 2012 and Veneto National Secretary of Northern League from 2016 to 2019.
Gianna GANCIA
Lega - Italy
Member of the League since 1991, throughout her long political career, Gianna Gancia has served as President of the Northern League Piedmont, Municipal Councilor, Administrative Councilor, Vice President of young entrepreneurs of the Granda Province, and in 2009 President of the Province of Cuneo.
Following her experience as Regional Councilor and President of the council group of the League in the Piedmont Region, she decided to run in the 2019 European Elections as candidate for the North-West Italy constituency. She is elected with 19,194 preferences, ranking first in the Piedmont region among the League candidates right after Matteo Salvini.
She is currently coordinator for the ID Group in the Committee on Petitions, full member of the Committee on Development and of the Delegation for relations with the countries of the South Caucasus.
She is also substitute member in the Committees on Economic and Monetary Affairs, on Industry, Research and Energy, and in the delegation for relations with the United States.
Paola GHIDONI
Lega - Italy
Paola Ghidoni was born in Montecchio Maggiore (VI) on the 8th of July 1963. She lives in Padua with her husband and has one daughter.
A chartered accountant, she practices at a studio she owns in the Euganean capital. Candidate for the European elections in 2019 in the Northeastern constituency turns out to be the first of the non-elected with more than 17,000 nominal preferences.
In November 2022, following the resignation of Mara Bizzotto, who was elected to the Senate of the Italian Republic, she succeeds her in the European Parliament. She is a member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs.
A sommelier and passionate supporter of Italian food and wine excellence, she has been in the Lega for as long as she can remember and has held numerous positions within the party at the local level, lending her professional expertise.
Valentino GRANT
Lega - Italy
Valentino Grant, in 2019, without having any previous political roles, was elected to the European Parliament, for the Southern Italy constituency, with about 40,000 votes.
Despite coming from the civil society, he had already had the opportunity to fill technical roles within la Lega. He began his career as a manager for leading multinationals, to then move on to the banking sector where, for more than a decade, he held senior positions, including President of BCC and member of the BoD of trade associations.
Expert connoisseur of the Italian production system, he is a member of the board of the first Italian body, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.
Danilo Oscar LANCINI
Lega - Italy
Historical member of Lega since 1990, Danilo Oscar Lancini held the role of Mayor of Adro (Brescia) for two consecutive terms.
In April 2018, he became a Member of the European Parliament taking over from Matteo Salvini in the committees "International Trade (INTA)" and "Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI)".
Reconfirmed in 2019 with over 22,000 preferences, he was Shadow Rapporteur for the ID Group in the negotiations on the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.
Elena LIZZI
Lega - Italy
Previously Deputy Mayor of the municipality of Buja and assessor of the Province of Udine, Elena Lizzi was elected in the 2019 European Parliament election in the Northeast district (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto and Trentino Alto Adige).
She developed various skills in her time working in the boards of directors of the University of Udine, of an industrial consortium and of a cultural foundation, continuing to fulfil its administrative work.
She is a full member of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL), as well as a substitute member in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) and in the Agriculture Committee (AGRI).
She is part of the Delegation for relations with the Mashreq countries (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) and of the Delegation for relations with Switzerland, Norway and Iceland and to the joint parliamentary commission of the European Economic Area.
Alessandro PANZA
Lega - Italy
Alessandro Panza, born in Domodossola and "milanese" by adoption, was elected to the European Parliament for the first time in 2019 with the Lega, collecting 18,173 preferences. Graduated in political science, married and father of two children, he began his career in the Lega in 2009, working as accredited assistant to MEP Matteo Salvini at the European Parliament (VII Legislature), and then in 2017 he was appointed Federal Head of Organization for the "Lega per Salvini Premier". This role allows him to have constant contact with the electoral base.
Aldo PATRICIELLO
Lega - Italy
Aldo Patriciello (born in 1957) is an Italian politician from Molise, elected in the Southern constituency (Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia). He has been a member of the European Parliament since May 8, 2006.
As a Member of the European Parliament, he has previously served as Vice President of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. In this legislature, as a member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, he currently holds the position of Vice President of the Cancer Intergroup.
Antonio Maria RINALDI
Lega - Italy
Antonio Maria RINALDI was elected to the European Parliament for the first time in May 2019 with 48508 preferences in the Central Italy constituency, second only to Matteo Salvini. Graduated in Economics at the LUISS University of Rome in 1979, he has worked in various credit institutions such as the Banco di Roma, American Service Bank and Fideuram, an official of the CONSOB Stock Exchange Service holding managerial positions, in particular, he was general manager of SOFID , ENI financial group leader.
After his managerial career he began his academic career, being a university professor from 2011 to 2019 in Political Economy, Economic Policy and Corporate Finance at the Link Campus University of Rome, the University of Molise di Campobasso and the University of Studies "Gabriele d'Annunzio "of Pescara.
Maria Veronica ROSSI
Lega - Italy
Maria Veronica Rossi was born in Ferentino (FR) on 22 September 1988. She is currently pursuing a degree in prison sciences. In 2015 he began his political activity by joining the youth movement of the League and is at the forefront for the enhancement of the territory according to the principles of federalism. In 2016 she became Provincial Coordinator of the Lega Giovani movement. Candidate in the European elections in 2019 in the Center constituency, she is the first among the unelected with more than 23,000 preferences.
Silvia SARDONE
Lega - Italy
Silvia Sardone was elected to the European Parliament in the 2019 elections with about 45000 votes in the Lega lists. She is mother of 2 children and she is a labor law worker. She has been working since she was 18, she has a law degree and holds a PhD in employment relations and a Masters in Business Administration.
At 20 years old she was elected to a local council in Milan and then she was always elected, with thousands of preferences, to the City Council of Milan first and then to the Regional Council of Lombardy.
She is currently coordinator for Identity & Democracy group in the ENVI committee.
Annalisa TARDINO
Lega - Italy
Annalisa Tardino was elected as Member of the European Parliament in 2019 in the Italian Insular constituency (Sicily and Sardinia) in the League's list, as the most voted candidate after Matteo Salvini, with 32,884 preferences.
She is the Group’s coordinator in the Commission on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and substitute member in the Fisheries Committee, the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the Budget Committee.
She lives in Palermo but is originally from Licata, where she is the Chair of the League’s city section, and where she began her political career in 2018 with a remarkable personal success at the local elections.
After graduating in Law from the University of Palermo, she earned her PhD in Domestic and Supranational Law from the same University. She is a civil lawyer, dealing mainly with employment law matters, social rights, as well as bioethics and management in health services, having also obtained a Master’s degree in Law and Health Services Management from the Roma Tre University.
Isabella TOVAGLIERI
Lega - Italy
Isabella Tovaglieri was elected as member of the European Parliament in 2019 with 32372 preferences, the only one elected in her province, Varese, and the fourth one of the Lega party in Italian North-West district.
In the EP, Ms. Tovaglieri is member of ITRE, FEMM and IMCO committees.
From 2016 until 2019 she was vice-mayor of her City, Busto Arsizio, while before she was in charge of city planning, as public and private building assessor.
She began her political career as a municipal councillor from 2011 until 2015; at the same time she was vice-president of “Culture, education, sport, free time and youth” committee in her homecity in the province of Varese.
Marco ZANNI
Lega - Italy
Marco Zanni was elected Member of the European Parliament with the League in 2019 in the Italian North-West constituency.
Since June 2019 he has been Chair of the Identity and Democracy group.
Mr Zanni is in his second term as MEP, having already held the position in Brussels from 2014 to 2019.
Before embarking on a political career, he worked in the banking and financial sector, dealing with structured finance, corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions for large Italian and European groups.