Liga Veneta

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The Liga Veneta is a regionalist and autonomist party, founded in 1979 in Veneto, Italy, combining Venetism and fiscal federalism. It was the first movement of its kind, predating Umberto Bossi’s Lombard League by five years.

The current leader of Liga Veneta is Gian Paolo Gobbo.

Contents 1 History 1.1 The first years 1.2 Participation in the foundation of the Lega Nord 1.3 Internal splits and electoral successes 1.4 2002 provincial elections 1.5 2005 regional election 1.6 2006 national election 2 Leadership 3 Leading members of Liga Veneta in the Lega Nord

[edit] History

[edit] The first years

In 1983 elections the party gained a MP (Achille Tramarin, first secretary of the party from 1979 to 1984) and a Senator (Graziano Girardi). The party’s charismatic leader, Franco Rocchetta, and his wife Marilena Marin (secretary of the party from 1984 to 1995 and later MEP for the Lega Nord from 1994 to 1999) managed to forge an alliance with Umberto Bossi for the 1989 European elections.

[edit] Participation in the foundation of the Lega Nord

In 1991 the party joined with the Lombard League and many other regionalist parties from all the northern regions to form the Lega Nord. Umberto Bossi was elected federal secretary and Franco Rocchetta federal president.

Thanks to the federal structure of the Lega Nord, every regional party has much independence and its leaders are called national secretaries. Indeed, for Umberto Bossi, Padania is a country formed of various nations: Veneto, Lombardy, Piedmont, etc.

[edit] Internal splits and electoral successes

In 1995 Franco Rocchetta, in disagreement with Umberto Bossi, left the party and he was replaced by Stefano Stefani, another member of the Liga Veneta, as federal president of the League. In the same year Marilena Marin was replaced by Fabrizio Comencini as national secretary of Liga Veneta. The national president was Gian Paolo Gobbo.

In 1996 Umberto Bossi led the Lega Nord to his strongest showing in national elections: 10.1%. Fabrizio Comencini’s Liga Veneta was the strongest national section of the League: 29.7% in Veneto.

In 1998, after Fabrizio Comencini had left the party to form his brand-new Liga Veneta Repubblica (then Veneti d’Europa), Gian Paolo Gobbo took over as national secretary, along-with a new national president, Gianpaolo Dozzo.

In 2000 the party begun to recover from the schism of 1998 and in the regional elections it took 12.0% of the votes (the combined score of Veneti d’Europa and of Fronte Marco Polo was 3.7%), entering for the second time in the regional government (the first was in 1994−95, with Gian Paolo Gobbo vice-president).

[edit] 2002 provincial elections

In 2002, after a poor showing in 2001 national elections, the party won for the second consecutive time the provincial elections of Vicenza and Treviso. The last was the most-leghista province of Italy and the young Luca Zaia was re-elected as provincial president with more of the 40% in the first round and with 70% circa of the votes in the second round, although he refused the support of the Lega Nord’s national allies, Forza Italia and the National Alliance.

In the same year another leghista from Veneto was elected as federal secretary of the Lega Nord, former Senator Luciano Gasperini, while Gian Paolo Gobbo was re-elected national secretary of Liga Veneta and Manuela Dal Lago, former Italian Liberal Party’s provincial secretary and now president of the Province of Vicenza for the Lega Nord, was elected national president.

[edit] 2005 regional election

In 2005 regional election the Liga Veneta-Lega Nord, with its 14.7%, was decisive for the third re-election of Giancarlo Galan as president of the Veneto Region. With the help of two concurrent regionalist parties (North-East Project and Liga Fronte Veneto, 5.4% and 1.2% respectively), Veneto was even in that election the most independentist region in Italy.

After the 2005 regional election, the Liga Veneta-Lega Nord re-entered in the regional government, led by Luca Zaia, new vice-president of the Region and Agriculture regional minister, and Flavio Tosi, Health regional minister.

[edit] 2006 national election

In the 2006 national elections, the party scored 11.1% and elected 5 deputies (Federico Bricolo, Gianpaolo Dozzo, Guido Dussin, Alberto Filippi and Paola Goisis) and 3 senators (Paolo Franco, Stefano Stefani and Piergiorgio Stiffoni). It was the worst result in term of elected members in the Italian Parliament from 1987, due to the razor-edge victory of the centre-left, that gave it the majority premium in the Chamber of Deputies and to the presence of the rival North-East Project (2.7%) and of the Liga Fronte Veneto (0.7%). Also Forza Italia, led by the autonomist president of the Region Giancarlo Galan had a strong showing in the Veneto region, scoring 24.5%.

In May Leonardo Muraro was elected President of the Province of Treviso, historical stronghold of the League in Veneto, and the Liga Veneta scored 29.2% (sum of party list, 15.6%, and Luca Zaia’s personal list, 13.6%), despite the good result of the rival North-East Project (11.6%).

[edit] Leadership

• National Secretary: Achille Tramarin (1979−84), Marilena Marin (1984−95), Fabrizio Comencini (1995−98), Gian Paolo Gobbo (1998−...)
• National President: Franco Rocchetta (1979−94), Gian Paolo Gobbo (1994−98), Gianpaolo Dozzo (1998−2001), Manuela Dal Lago (2001−...)

[edit] Leading members of Liga Veneta in the Lega Nord

Members of the Liga Veneta successively held office as federal president of the Lega Nord in the years 1991−2005:

• Franco Rocchetta (1991−95)
• Stefano Stefani (1995−2002)
• Luciano Gasperini (2002−05)

Luciano Gasperini was president of the Lega Nord’s parliamentary group at the Italian Senate from 1999 to 2000 and the party’s candidate for the post of President of the Republic.