Lega Nord

This article is about the Italian political party founded in 1989. For its successor, see Lega (political party).
Northern League
Lega Nord
LeaderMatteo Salvini (last leader)
Federal PresidentUmberto Bossi
Federal SecretaryIgor Iezzi (commissioner)
Founded
  • 4 December 1989 (alliance)
  • 8 January 1991 (party)
Merger of
HeadquartersVia Bellerio, 41 20161 Milan
Newspaperla Padania (1997–2014)
Youth wingYoung Padanians Movement
Membership (2013)122,000[1]
IdeologyFederalism[2]
Regionalism[3]
Conservatism[4]
Populism[5]
Euroscepticism[6]
Historical:
Padanian nationalism[7][8][9][10]
Separatism[11]
Autonomism[12]
Liberalism[13]
Libertarianism[14]
Political positionRight-wing[15] to far-right[16]
National affiliationCentre-right coalition
(1994 and 2000–present)
Lega (since 2020)
European affiliation
European Parliament group
  • Rainbow (1989–1994)
  • ELDR (1994–1997)
  • TGI (1999–2001)
  • I/D (2004–2007)
  • UEN (2007–2009)
  • EFD (2009–2014)
  • ENF (2015–2019)
  • ID (2019–2024)
  • PfE (2024-present)
Associate partyLega per Salvini Premier
Colours  Green
Website
www.leganord.org Edit this at Wikidata

Lega Nord (LN; English: Northern League), whose complete name is Lega Nord per l'Indipendenza della Padania (English: Northern League for the Independence of Padania), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as Lega (lit. 'League'), without changing its official name. The party was nonetheless frequently referred to only as "Lega" even before the rebranding, and informally as the Carroccio (lit. 'big chariot'). The party's latest elected leader was Matteo Salvini.[20]

In 1989, the LN was established as a federation of six regional parties from northern and north-central Italy (Liga Veneta, Lega Lombarda, Piemont Autonomista, Uniun Ligure, Lega Emiliano-Romagnola and Alleanza Toscana), which became the party's founding "national" sections in 1991. The party's founder and long-time federal secretary was Umberto Bossi, now federal president. The LN has advocated the transformation of Italy from a unitary to a federal state, fiscal federalism, regionalism and greater regional autonomy, especially for northern regions. At times, the party has advocated the secession of northern Italy, which the party has referred to as "Padania", and, thus, Padanian nationalism. The party has always opposed illegal immigration and often adopted Eurosceptic stances.

Since 31 January 2020, through a mandate given by the federal council, the party has been managed by commissioner Igor Iezzi. The LN was thus eclipsed by the Lega per Salvini Premier (LSP), until that moment active as the central and southern Italian branch of the party established by Salvini himself in the 2010s, and since 2020 throughout entire Italy.[21] Following the emergence of LSP, the original LN is practically inactive and its former "national" sections (Lega Lombarda, Liga Veneta, etc.) have become "regional" sections of the LSP.

  1. ^ G. Passarelli – D. Tuorto, Lega & Padania. Storie e luoghi delle camicie verdi, il Mulino [fr; it].
  2. ^
    • Spektorowski, Alberto (March 2003). "Ethonregionalism: The Intellectual New Right and the Lega Nord" (PDF). The Global Review of Ethnopolitics. 2 (3–4): 55–70. doi:10.1080/14718800308405144. S2CID 144243976. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
    • Huysseune, Michel (2006). Modernity and Secession: The Social Sciences and the Political Discourse of the Lega Nord in Italy. Berghahn Books. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-84545-061-8.
    • Betz, Hans-Georg (1998). Against Rome: The Lega Nord. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-312-21338-1. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. ^
  4. ^
  5. ^ Lega has been characterized as populist or right-wing populist by many sources:
  6. ^ Verney, Susannah (March 2011). "Euroscepticism in Southern Europe: A Diachronic Perspective". South European Society and Politics. 16 (1): 1–29. doi:10.1080/13608746.2010.570124.
  7. ^ Huysseune, Michel (2003). "Deconstructing and Reconstructing Loyalty: The Case of Italy". In Andrew Linklater; Michael Waller (eds.). Political Loyalty and the Nation-State. Routledge. p. 175. ISBN 978-1-134-20143-3.
  8. ^ Giordano, Benito (2000). "Italian regionalism or 'Padanian' nationalism — the political project of the Lega Nord in Italian politics". Political Geography. 19 (4): 445–471. doi:10.1016/S0962-6298(99)00088-8.
  9. ^ Zaslove, Andrej (8 December 2023). The Re-invention of the European Radical Right. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 9780773538511. JSTOR j.ctt80mgd.
  10. ^ Giordano, Benito (8 December 2023). "The Contrasting Geographies of 'Padania': The Case of the Lega Nord in Northern Italy". Area. 33 (1): 27–37. doi:10.1111/1475-4762.00005. JSTOR 20004121.
  11. ^ Bull, A.; Gilbert, M. (2001). The Lega Nord and the Politics of Secession in Italy (illustrated ed.). Springer. ISBN 978-1-4039-1998-4. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  12. ^ Sorens, Jason (2012). "Appendix I". Secessionism: Identity, Interest, and Strategy. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. pp. 180–181. ISBN 978-0-7735-3896-2.
  13. ^
  14. ^
    • Greene, Megan (2003). "A Case Study of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) and the Lega Nord (LN)". The Dollfuss/Schuschnigg Era in Austria. Transaction Publishers. p. 199.
  15. ^ Lega has been described as a right-wing party by these sources:
  16. ^ Lega has been described as a far-right party by these sources:
  17. ^ "Lega Nord formerly switches to new Le Pen/Wilders Alliance". 29 May 2014. Archived from the original on 18 October 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  18. ^ "Eaf: Il Manifesto di Marine Le Pen". polisblog.it (in Italian). 5 March 2014. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  19. ^ "National delegations". MENL. Archived from the original on 3 July 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  20. ^ "Padania addio, la Lega adesso è il partito personale di Salvini" [Goodbye Padania, the League is now Salvini's personal party]. la Repubblica (in Italian). 21 May 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  21. ^ "Addio Lega nord: Salvini chiude con il passato e lancia nuova sfida". ilGiornale.it. 31 January 2020.