Matteo Salvini convenes an extraordinary Lega congress in October, challenges the "northernists" and tries to break free from the stranglehold they have kept him in for months. The secretary's surprise move comes in the final minutes of his speech at Pontida. He hadn't shared it with anyone, according to his closest allies and even the dissidents. He speaks for half an hour, welcomed by five minutes of applause, waving flags and banners calling for his return to the Interior Ministry. Forced to defend himself against criticism and plummeting approval ratings, he catches everyone off guard. And he freezes the rebels: "I'm going back to the congress to ask whether I have the confidence of my family, and I'll ask for a show of hands," he makes clear. In doing so, he injects new energy into the most venomous rally the sacred meadow can remember. It is also a sign that the pressure from the regional governors hit its mark in demanding a turning point. In an immediate reaction, Massimiliano Romeo, who leads the Lombard Lega and is one of the dissenting voices calling for a federal Lega divided between north, centre and south, offers a diplomatic response: "It's an opportunity for discussion."
But he insists and presses further: calling the congress is a "symptom that there is a need to relaunch the party and regain the trust of voters." The other rebels — Lombardy governor Attilio Fontana, Friuli's Massimiliano Fedriga and Maurizio Fugatti of Trentino — arrive together but leave in silence. Word filters out that they now need to reflect. Salvini's move needs to be digested and counter-moves must be identified. Among the dissidents, a specific demand for a congress had never emerged. And not by chance, one of them reveals off the record. If the process were to move toward an elective congress, the leader knows he can count on a large reserve of "his" delegates, meaning any alternative candidate would have a difficult time. In the meantime, the timing has changed.
After months of meetings with regional bodies, heated executive sessions and closed-door talks, Salvini is now moving fast. And he is setting the pace. Tomorrow at 3 p.m. he will convene the federal council, where it will be decided what kind of congress it will be — elective or programmatic. That is, whether there will be room for some tweaks to the party statute, as in the last congress of 2025 (perhaps managing to push through proposals for a three-headed Lega), or simply a confirmation of the secretary. The tension-filled gathering begins in the morning with the dissidents pledging a truce, though dissent is not absent. It makes itself heard through chants of "Matteo Matteo" shouted by Salvini's supporters while Romeo is speaking, while at the same time the northernists shout "Romeo Romeo." For a few seconds, insults fly between the two factions in a derby the sacred meadow has never seen before, according to old-timers. By morning, however, the atmosphere was festive. The meadow is smaller than in the past, with more extensive food stalls selling Bergamo-style casoncelli pasta at 7 euros, gazebos with pro-Matteo T-shirts or anti-immigration slogans.
The old-style banner reading "Secession and no bridge to the South" is flying. But tempers flare first with Romeo and then with Attilio Fontana. The Lombard governor's speech is the harshest: "They criticise me for things I shouldn't have said, but they needed to be said, to defend Lombardy." He continues: "When I hear centralist speeches I don't stay quiet, I was born a federalist and I want federalism." Not everyone is pleased and a few whistles fly. More moderate is the former Venetian Doge, Luca Zaia, when he recalls: "We stand for autonomy, the League exists for autonomy and federalism," and he wins applause by warning: "We are neither right nor left." Shortly after, Giancarlo Giorgetti tries to ease tensions: "The enemies are not inside the League but outside and they are invisible," while Roberto Calderoli takes aim at those who "applaud Bossi here while yesterday there were only four of us to remember him." The Senatur is "the leader" who still brings everyone together.
But the tribute with historic photos and the plaque bearing his name beside the meadow are not enough to restore peace. Salvini tries from the stage, reiterating: "We win united and the League is and will be more united than ever," because "I don't want divisions but solidarity." He flatters the activists by saying that "the League is its people, not individual persons," while pressing allies on only two points: on the "Safe Streets" operation (so that soldiers on the streets become 10,000 "immediately") and on the upcoming Budget, promising to fight on pensions and the flat tax. But it is at the end that he shakes things up with the congress move. No longer mincing words: "The first voice out of line," he warns, "will not wrong me, but will damage the voice of activists across Italy, because that way we are only doing a favour to the left."
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