It was July 13, 2013 and Matteo Salvini wrote on social media: “Great evening with the Northern League Brothers. Juniper, absinthe, limoncello and now… Serene behind the wheel with Vasco. We are free, free!!!”. Of the countless extravagant outings of the League leader, this is one of those that is cited most often, especially when today’s Salvini talks about safety on the roads and the infamous new highway code, which does not change the permitted limits for alcohol consumption , as underlined by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, but increases the penalties for those who drive after drinking alcohol. And a lot.

What would Salvini risk on 13 July 2013?

The Matteo Salvini of 13 July 2013, in fact, would today risk a fine between 1,500 and 6,000 euros, arrest from 6 months to 1 year and suspension of the driving license from 1 to 2 years. In the package of rules, strongly desired by the Northern League leader, there are also sanctions for those who use Cannabis, even if they do not drive under the influence of Cannabis and are perfectly lucid but have traces of it in their body due to having smoked a week before . Among the many who pointed out the nonsense was the beloved Vasco Rossi, quoted in that famous post.

Matteo Salvini forgot about the sick: “License at risk for us treated with cannabis”

To make the story even more tragicomic, a colorful statement from the MIT, which even announces complaints for causing alarm. “We are witnessing with dismay – we read in the note – a media campaign that almost completely ignores the issue of smartphones (the incorrect use of which is one of the main causes of accidents) and gives space to unmotivated concerns, for example, of restaurateurs who complain even the decline in orders for champagne risotto (news that was highlighted in a major newspaper). The result is offering citizens confusing or dramatically false news, also damaging a crucial sector such as the food and wine sector this, the MIT is also evaluating complaints for causing alarm”.

The fantastic paradox

A fantastic paradox. The leader who has never missed the opportunity to travel the length and breadth of the country celebrating food and wine events and being immortalized with food and alcoholic drinks of all kinds, is today accused of decreasing the sales of champagne risotto: what a disappointment. Salvini “in uniform”, the one who declared war on the terrible scooters driven by equally terrible criminals who arrived from Africa on NGO ships, contradicted Salvini the taster, the one who was immortalized with a glass of wine in his right hand and a cold cuts platter on the left, on a ski slope in Trentino. Ours then tried, with a certain clumsiness, to record a drop of 17 deaths on the roads, taking the first two weeks of implementation of the new rules as a unit of measurement and comparing them to the same period of the previous year. A vaguely forced statistic, which risks being contradicted day by day, because the data is calculated over decidedly longer periods: just think that in the last weekend of 2024, Asaps reports, 21 people lost their lives.

The dream of returning to the Interior Ministry

That Salvini dreams of returning to the Interior Ministry is no mystery. The Ministry of the Interior lends itself much more to problem-free propaganda, made up of proclamations in borrowed uniforms and laws that at most harm those who already have no rights, especially the right to vote. Today the head of the Northern League is the minister of trains that arrive late (when they arrive) or that leave early so as not to arrive late. It is the minister who punishes that average Italian, so dear to him, who gets behind the wheel after drinking juniper, absinthe and limoncello, with Vasco’s songs at full volume, risking killing himself and killing someone.