Roberto Calderoli

Roberto Calderoli

Roberto Calderoli (born April 18, 1956 in Bergamo ) is an Italian politician of the Lega Nord party . Within Italy, but also beyond its borders, he is known for his racist and homophobic statements. From July 2004 to February 2006 he was reform minister in the Berlusconi government . From May 2008 to November 2011 he was head of department in Berlusconi's fourth cabinet of the newly created special ministry for simplification in legislation ( Italian Semplificazione Legislativa ).

Political career

The doctor (orthodontic doctor) Calderoli began his political career in the Lega Lombarda , of which he was president in 1993 and national secretary from 1995 to 2002.

From 1990 to 1995 he was a local councilor in Bergamo and has been the coordinator of the national secretariat of the Lega Nord since 2002. As a representative of the Lega Nord Padania , he was represented in the Chamber of Deputies from 1992 to 2001 and for some time chaired the Commission for Social Affairs.

In 2001 he was elected to the Italian Senate in the Albino constituency. He served as Vice-President of the Senate until July 2004 when he took over the Ministry of Reforms from Umberto Bossi , who was elected to the European Parliament . In 2013 he was again elected Vice President of the Senate.

Calderoli is considered a right-wing populist . After a series of attacks against Islam , he appeared in a live interview on Italian state television in February 2006 with a T-shirt depicting controversial Mohammed cartoons . It is therefore considered to be the trigger for violent protest demonstrations in Libya , in which eleven people died after clashes with the police in front of the Italian consulate in Benghazi .

His cabinet colleagues, especially Prime Minister Berlusconi, then urged him to resign , which he submitted on February 18, 2006. Calderoli declared: “I can no longer allow this harmful instrumentalization against myself and the Lega Nord, even by the government coalition. I'm resigning out of a sense of responsibility, not because of the demands of the government alliance and the opposition. "

In July 2006, after the World Cup in Germany , he made headlines with a racist utterance when he described the French team, which was narrowly defeated in Italy, as a “team without identity”. He denigrated the French eleven as a team "that for the sake of results has lost its own identity by creating negroes , Muslims and communists ". Previously, on May 4, 2006, he had been appointed Vice President of the Senate.

On June 11, 2007, the Lodi Public Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation into Calderoli, who was charged with embezzlement in connection with the Bancopoli banking scandal . On September 13th of the same year he agreed to organize a so-called Maiale-Day (German: Pig Day ) in Milan . In protest against the planned building of a mosque , a herd of pigs was to be driven onto the area intended for construction in order to pollute it and make it unusable for the Muslim community (in Islamic belief the pig is considered unclean ).

From May 2008 to November 2011 Roberto Calderoli was Minister for Simplification in Legislation in the Berlusconi IV cabinet .

Political statements Calderoli

Roberto Calderoli is known for his verbal lapses. This section brings together some of the most controversial statements.

Statements about immigrants

Calderoli's statements about immigrants range from right-wing populist phrases to inflammatory slogans:

• "Con una salva di dietro e una davanti, le navi dei clandestini non partirebbero più!"

(With one volley in front of the bow and one behind the boat, no more illegal boat would leave the harbor!)

• «Ci ​​sono etnie con una maggiore propensione al lavoro e altre che ne hanno meno. Ce ne sono che hanno una maggiore predisposizione a delinquere. "

(There are ethnicities more inclined to work and others less inclined. Some are more inclined to crime.)

Statements about homosexuals

On February 15, 2006, on the occasion of a television program on the subject of the Mohammed cartoons, Calderoli spoke about his party's program items on the subjects of family, same-sex couples and the rainbow family . At the request of the moderator Clemente Mimun, he explained the possible direct participation of Umberto Bossi in the party's program as follows:

• "La civiltà gay ha trasformato la Padania in un ricettacolo di culattoni ... Qua rischiamo di diventare un popolo di ricchioni."

(The gay culture has turned Padania into a reservoir for assfuckers ... we risk becoming a gay people here.)

• "Pacs e porcherie varie hanno come base l'arido sesso e queste assurde pretese di privilegi da parte dei culattoni ..."

( PACS and the various filths are based on callous sex and these absurd demands for privileges on the part of the ass fuckers ...)

Insult to Cécile Kyenge

At a party event in 2013, Calderoli declared that Integration Minister Cécile Kyenge , the first Italian minister of African descent, was “like an orangutan ”. Although numerous politicians have called for his resignation as Vice President of the Senate, his racist remarks have remained without consequences. On November 6, Bergamo Public Prosecutors brought charges of racial discrimination against Calderoli. In 2019, he was sentenced to a year and a half in prison for this statement.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Italy fears revenge actions in the caricature dispute ( Memento of the original from September 25, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Swissinfo , February 18, 2006 
2. ↑ Ten die in Libya cartoon clash BBC News , February 18, 2006 (English)
3. ^ Italian ex-minister insults French World Cup eleven Spiegel Online , July 11, 2006
4. ^ France outraged by statements of racism from Italy Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , July 11, 2006
5. ↑ ANSA of August 21, 2006, published by various newspapers, including la Repubblica and il Manifesto ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ http://qn.quotidiano.net/2008/06/04/94564-calderoli_choc_sono_etnie.shtml
7. ^ Corriere.it, E il ministro Calderoli fece il macho , January 15, 2006
8. ^ Corriere della Sera of January 15, 2006
9. ↑ Calderoli, offese alla Kyenge. Accolta richiesta di process. Corriere della Sera , November 7, 2013, accessed November 24, 2013 . 
10. ^ Italian politician Calderoli convicted of racism

Web links

• Profile at the Italian Senate (Italian)
• Profile at openpolis.it (Italian)