Roberto Calderoli

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Roberto Calderoli
Minister of Regional Affairs and Autonomies
Assumed office
22 October 2022
Prime MinisterGiorgia Meloni
Preceded byMariastella Gelmini
Minister of Legislative Simplification
In office
8 May 2008 – 16 November 2011
Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi
Succeeded byFilippo Patroni Griffi
Member of the Senate of the Republic
Assumed office
30 May 2001
ConstituencyLombardy (2001–06)
Piedmont (2006–08)
Lombardy (since 2008)
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
23 April 1992 – 29 May 2001
ConstituencyLombardy
Vice President of the Senate of the Republic
In office
21 March 2013 – 12 October 2022
Personal details
Born (1956-04-18) 18 April 1956 (age 68)
Lega per Salvini Premier
Residence(s)Mozzo, Lombardy
ProfessionMaxillofacial surgeon

Roberto Calderoli (born 18 April 1956) is an Italian politician and a member of the

Meloni Cabinet
since 2022.

Calderoli is often the centre of public controversies, usually because of racist, xenophobic, or offensive public remarks.In July 2013, Calderoli insulted Italy's first black Minister, Italo-Congolese Cécile Kyenge, saying: "Whenever I see Minister Kyenge, I cannot help but think of an orangutan."[2]

Career

A native of Bergamo and a dentist like many of his relatives, Calderoli started his political experience with the Lega Lombarda, a precursor of the federated Northern League, of which he was the president in 1993 and national secretary between 1995 and 2002.

Between 1990 and 1995, he sat in the town council in Bergamo, and since 2002 he has been the coordinator of the national secretariat of the Northern League. He was an MP in the Chamber of Deputies between 1992 and 2001, as a representative of the Northern League-Padania, and for a while he was president of the Commission for Social Affairs.

In the

plurality voting system, which was first introduced in Italy in 1994 by a referendum. Successively, Calderoli himself criticized the electoral law he wrote by defining it una porcata (literally, "a piggish stuff").[3]

Calderoli is currently serving as secretary of

Lega per Salvini Premier.[4]

New electoral law (2005)

A new electoral law was established in 2005 under Calderoli's rapporteurship, and then dubbed Calderoli Law, and it is a form of

Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, and finally agreed by Berlusconi, although criticised (including by political scientist Giovanni Sartori) for its comeback to proportionalism
and its timing, less than one year before general elections. Calderoli himself defined the electoral law as a porcata – a pork affair.

Cartoon crisis

During the international crisis sparked by the publishing of the

Lepanto and Vienna
.

On 15 February 2006, he announced he would wear a T-shirt with the

Rai Uno, during a live interview he said: "I am wearing one of those T-shirts even now", and promptly unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a T-shirt with a caricature emblazoned on it.[5] Though the press reported it to be one of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons, it was actually the cartoon published on the France Soir's front page in the 1 February 2006 issue, the very day the same newspaper published the Jyllands-Posten cartoons. Actually, Calderoli did not show one of the cartoons that caused the international crisis.[6]

The event was widely published in Libya (a former colony of Italy), and about 1,000 people gathered for a protest and began throwing rocks and bottles toward the Italian consulate in Benghazi which they set ablaze. In clashes with the police, at least eleven people died and twenty-five were wounded.[7]

Subsequently, Silvio Berlusconi asked Calderoli to resign because his act was against the government's political line; in an interview given to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Calderoli declared that he would not resign. He eventually gave in to the massive pressure coming from all parties (and lack of support in his own), and resigned on 18 February 2006.[8]

Controversy

Responding to criticism about a controversial electoral law that he penned in 2006, Calderoli affirmed: "I wrote [the law], but honestly it is a pig-sty."[9]

Following Italy's win against France in the

Zidane".[citation needed
]

In June 2008 Calderoli said in a TV interview: "It is obvious that there are ethnic groups and populations that are more inclined to work and others not. And there is greater predisposition for crime by someone over others."[13]

On 13 July 2013, Calderoli told a Lega Nord rally in Treviglio that Integration minister Cécile Kyenge, who was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo but has Italian citizenship, would be better off working as a minister "in her country."[14] According to the Corriere della Sera, which reported the event, he added: "I love animals – bears and wolves, as is known – but when I see the pictures of Kyenge I cannot but think of the features of an orangutan, even if I'm not saying she is one."[14]

Comments on the Swiss vote to ban minarets

In November 2009, after a national referendum resulted in the changing the

prohibited the construction of minarets, Calderoli told Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata that Switzerland had sent a clear signal: "Yes to church towers, no to minarets." He further stated that he wished Switzerland would act as a model for Italy in this regard.[15]

References

  1. ISBN 978-0813172576
    .
  2. ^ "Calderoli: "Calderoli: Kyenge sembra un orango. Letta: inaccettabile. Grasso: chieda scusa"". Il Sole 24 Ore. 12 July 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  3. ^ TV footage. Retrieved on 14 November 2008. (in Italian) Archived August 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Rendiconto Al 31.12.2018" (PDF). Lega per Salvini Premier. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-11-11.
  5. ^ "Photograph of Calderoli unbuttoning his shirt to reveal a t-shirt with an image". alternainsieme.net.
  6. ^ Willey, David (2006-02-15). "Italy minister stirs cartoon row". BBC News. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
  7. ^ "Ten die in Libya cartoon clash". BBC News. 2006-02-18. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
  8. ^ "Italy cartoon row minister quits". BBC News. 2006-02-18. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
  9. ^ "Calderoli: "La legge elettorale? L'ho scritta io, ma è una porcata"". La Repubblica. 15 March 2006. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  10. ^ "Blatter: Zidane may lose best-player award." Archived 2007-03-12 at the Wayback Machine Mail & Guardian online, 12 July 2006.
  11. ^ "Calderoli: «Una Francia fatta di negri e islamici»". Il Giornale, 11 July 2006. (in Italian)
  12. ^ Redazione Tgcom. "Ho fatto bagno nello spogliatoio". Tgcom.mediaset.it. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
  13. ^ "Calderoli choc: "Ci sono etnie più predisposte a delinquere"." Quotidiano.net, 4 June 2008. (in Italian)
  14. ^ a b "Italian senator says black minister has 'features of orangutan'". The Guardian. 14 July 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  15. Swissinfo
    . 29 November 2009.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister for Institutional Reforms
2004–2006 		Succeeded by
New title Minister for Legislative Simplification
2008–2011 		Succeeded by
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