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Italy's Northern League ramps up anti-Rome rhetoric
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Italy's Northern League ramps up anti-Rome rhetoric
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By Catherine Hornby
ADRO, Italy |
Thu Sep 30, 2010 10:24am EDT
ADRO, Italy (Reuters) - Pupils going back to school this month in the northern Italian town of Adro had something new to stare at on the walls: hundreds of signs and stickers promoting the country's break-up.
The message is a brainchild of the town's mayor, a member of the Northern League party, whose supporters have also called for a ban on Italy's national anthem at official ceremonies.
In recent weeks, the federalist member of Italy's governing coalition has courted controversy on a daily basis, at a time when Rome is celebrating 140 years as the nation's capital.
Party chief Umberto Bossi has joked that Rome's ancient acronym SPQR stands for the phrase "These Romans are pigs," a remarkable statement given that he is a minister in Silvio Berlusconi's government.
With the future of the coalition increasingly open since a split in Prime Minister Berlusconi's center-right party, observers say the anti-immigrant League is ramping up its rebellious antics to rally voters ahead of potential elections.
A confidence motion which Berlusconi survived on Sep. 29 has provided only a temporary respite and many commentators say national elections could come as early as next spring, a prospect the League relishes.
"This is a strategy to win votes in all areas of the North, especially as a good part of the population is disillusioned with Berlusconi," said Renato Mannheimer, a political sociologist at the University of Milan.
Winning the governorship of Veneto and Piedmont in a regional vote in March, reflecting a similar electoral shift toward populist, anti-immigrant parties across Europe, the League now also has its sights set on the town hall of Italy's business capital Milan.
With its members installed in top national posts including at the helm of the interior ministry, the party also has big ambitions regarding the economy and finances of the North. League politicians have been at the forefront of the battle over the future of Italy's biggest bank UniCredit.
The regions where it holds sway are home to some of the politically connected Italian banking foundations which played a decisive role in the resignation of UniCredit's chief executive Alessandro Profumo last week.
CONSOLIDATING POWER
The pervasive influence of the party, which lambasts waste and corruption in the poorer south of Italy, is felt on the streets of Adro, where the League's distinctive symbol known as the 'Sun of the Alps' also adorns benches and garbage bins.
"These are symbols of our land in the North, our Padania," said 57-year-old market vendor Carlo, wearing a jumper and bracelet in the League's signature green, and referring to the name the party uses for the more well-off northern regions.
Since its official formation through the merger of several regional leagues in the early 1990s, the League has often resorted to aggressive language to rally support.
But the rhetoric is yet to produce its stated goal of greater autonomy for the North, which ranges from demands for secession to the current focus on federal reform.
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