You chose: umberto bossi

  • “The jihadists hope to flood Libya with Isil militiamen posing as migrants on people-trafficking vessels to Europe,” went the headline. Although this may eventually be true, to date terrorist attacks in Europe have been perpetrated by those living in Europe, not by newcomers. Still, the hordes fleeing war in Syria, Iraq and Sub-Saharan Africa to land on Italian shores represent an ever more intractable problem with serious political repercussions.
  • In his customary cordial way, President Giorgio Napolitano read the political elite of Italy the polite equivalent of the riot act. On Tuesday the president made his traditional end-of-year address to the ranking elders of the Italian state, and it obviously represented a carefully considered sermon. He also insinuated that he will end his term of office Jan. 14, after which a new president must be chosen.
  • Facts & Stories
    Judith Harris(April 13, 2012)
    Umberto Bossi, founding father of the Northern League, resigned as head of his party last week. After 30 years of blaming Rome of robbing, it turns out that some in Bossi's entourage were themselves stealing from the till, and on the grand scale. Bossi's son Renzo, who purchased a university degree with public funds, was no exception.
  • Facts & Stories
    Judith Harris(March 09, 2012)
    There's good news from Italy, and it's about time. (Never fear: at the tail end of this piece we'll report some bad news, too.)
  • Italian President Giorgio Napolitano refused to sign the bill on fiscal federalism, with comments that it was “unreceivable,” poorly drafted and generic. For Berlusconi the bill was a promise he had to keep, not least because Bossi, the head of the Northern League and the prime sponsor of federalism, is the beleaguered Premier’s sole remaining ally in government. To many, the rebuff showed that the government itself has come to a screeching halt