The Lega Nord (Northern League) is a right-wing party with very strong and controversial views on issues such as immigration and Europe. Their main aim is the separation of the North of Italy from the South. One of the central figures of the party is their leader Umberto Bossi who last year suffered from heart attack forcing him to withdraw from politics for some time. Yesterday in a rally of the Northen League Mr. Bossi made a strong comeback and his ideas have not been tempered by his time away making his statements frontpage news across Italy.
For the supporters of the Northern League Mr Bossi is hailed as a hero since he led the party into government as part of the Berlusconi administration. Within the administration the party has considerable influence, often threatening to exit government, an act that would lead to the fall of the Berlusconi government, as they would no longer maintain a majority in parliament.
Yesterday, Mr Bossi was greeted by thousands of the party supporters in a rally in the northen town of Pontida. During his speech he repeated calls to abandon the euro and return to the lira, and expressed his pleasure at the recent blows that the EU has suffered, referring to the rejection fo the EU constitution by the French and Dutch as well as the budget row. The crowd was also pleased that the leader repeated his wish to see a “free Northern Italyâ€, or Padania as they call it.
"No-one will stop us. Free Padania, Padania for ever, thank you Pontida," he said.
The opposition parties have always used the presence of the Northen League in government as a means to attack Berlusconi, since both them and several of the other parties within the government find both the extreme right wing views and the calls for separation from the rest of Italy entirely unacceptable.
