The vice premier and minister of infrastructure and transport, Matteo Salvini, succeeded in a company that will probably be precluded to Luca Zaia and Vincenzo De Luca: to obtain the third term. League leader since 2013, Salvini will keep the party guide until 2029, the year in which he promised to leave the secretariat definitively. Considering that the average duration of a leadership in Italy is 10-15 years (20 at most), 2029 could really mark the end of his political career. Provided that Salvini keeps the floor and that some political cataclysm that anticipates the exit on the scene does not occur.

The former “young Padano communist” took the reins of the party after Roberto Maroni, transforming him from territorial force to national movement. A turning point criticized by the League players of the first hour, but rewarded by the voters: during the yellow -green government the League touched 34% of the consents and Salvini gained the nickname of “Captain”. His hard line against illegal immigration was welcomed by many Italians, but the “Papete” case and the subsequent support for the Draghi government marked the beginning of the fall in the consents.

Salvini Ter, the epilogue (perhaps)

Today Salvini dreams of returning to the Interior Ministry, from which he was removed two and a half years ago due to the Open Arms trial, then ended with the acquittal. The League, however, sails in agitated waters. Although he expresses a vice premier, he elected a hundred deputies in 2022 and important governments of the northern regions (Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino), has lost its elections in Umbria and in the polls is permanently below 10%. The real challenge, now, is to maintain control of the northern regions and overcome Forza Italia in the race in second place of the coalition. “We are second, but we intend to return first,” he said.

I would like, but I can’t

This congress can be defined as the Congress of the “I would like, but I can’t” (at least for now). Salvini would like to return to the Interior Ministry, he would like to reconfirm Zaia in Veneto, but to do so he should get the abolition of the roof to the two mandates for regional presidents. Giorgia Meloni and Antonio Tajani, however, oppose. If he could not in order, he will have to at least tear the promise that the guidance of the Region remains from the League. A more than easy undertaking: Fratelli d’Italia does not govern any region of the North, the centrists maintain Liguria with Bucci, Lombardy is in the hands of Fontana until 2028, and in Piedmont the forzist Cirio has just been re -elected to the fury of the people. Meloni could therefore only remain on his own candidate in Veneto, also because his other horse for the next regional ones, the Marches Francesco Acquaroli, will have to deal with a fearful rival: the former mayor of Pesaro, Matteo Ricci. A challenge that is anything but simple.

But the regional ones are not Salvini’s only concern. The League leader also aims to international recognition similar to that obtained by Giorgia Meloni. The participation of Elon Musk’s video game first and then Marine Le Pen then served precisely this: legitimizing his leadership even outside the Italian borders. The recent phone call with the US vice -president JD Vance and the pacifist turning point go in the same direction. In the hope that, sooner or later, the polls return to reward him.