Salvini has the names, but Fratelli d’Italia decides what happens after Zaia in Veneto (Meloni)

Salvini said he has 10 names in mind for Zaia's successor but the wind has changed: here's what could happen

VENICE – There is still time to decide who will replace Luca Zaia as president of Veneto. The leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, has already said that he has 10 names in mind, but that Zaia will be the one to deal the cards. But the wind has already changed and the direction seems set: if the next European elections also see Giorgia Meloni’s party in first place then Veneto will be governed by Fratelli Italia, with an area president who already has approval of the party leader. Listening to some Venetian centre-right sources at a transversal level, here is the picture that is emerging.

“Inside Fratelli d’Italia – they explain – there is the regional councilor for Labor, Elena Donazzan, who is already thinking of running for the next regional elections”. But isn’t she a candidate in the European elections? “True, and it is precisely that he wants to start from there. Donazzan is telling people that he will get at least 80,000 preferences, and that he will use that strong consensus when the time comes to decide the presidential candidate”. But there is a problem, apparently Donazzan is not considered to be in close compliance with the leader of the Brothers of Italy. Inside Meloni’s party, in fact, they invite us to turn our antennas in the direction of “the minister Adolfo Urso born in Padua“.

What does it have to do with it? “Urso has already spotted the candidate – they explain – among his first appointments, in fact, he chose Matteo Zoppas as president of ICE. And he has all the characteristics of the right man for the new political phase of the Brothers of Italy in Veneto “. Born in 1974 in Pordenone, Matteo Zoppas graduated in Business Economics from the Luigi Bocconi University of Milan, and among his many significant roles are those that refer to Confindustria. Zoppas was a member of the Central Council of the national Confindustria, then President of Confindustria Venezia and from 2017 to 2019 President of Confindustria Veneto. An exponent who is not overtly party, but from an area, with an entrepreneurial vision and a strong connection with the regional economy. With him, they say, “Fratelli d’Italia would make a great leap in quality, with a high profile person and not merely a party member”.

And Salvini’s League? In Veneto, as Governor Zaia has already made clear, General Vannacci’s candidacy has created great discontent, and many fear that there will be a large transfer of Northern League votes towards Fdi and Forza Italia because, they explain, “Veneto is a Christian Democratic and moderate land that does not like extremism”. There is also Flavio Tosi, once a member of the Northern League and now in Forza Italia, “who is already working to create confusion and space for himself – they explain – someone thinks that in case the Centre-right were to ‘split’ he he could play it on his own, perhaps creating his own list and also trusting in the possible votes that would come from the centre-left, very divided and out of any game, which at that point could play for at least a marginal victory”. But other respondents think they are just the thoughts of the interested parties.

But we can see that there are big problems within the Veneto League by following the advice of a source “to look at what is happening in Bassano del Grappa, a large and significant municipality. There the outgoing mayor of Salvini’s League, Elena Pavan, was not re-nominated by the party which instead focused on Nicola Finco, vice-president of the Regional Council and, unbelievably, who appears supported by Forza Italia and civic lists Fratelli d’Italia, however, has made its own and will vote for the outgoing mayor Pavan together with Coraggio Italia of mayor Brugnaro. To complete the picture, he is missing, Luigi Brugnaro whose mandate, what a coincidence, will end with the next regional elections? “Mayor Brugnaro – explains a Venetian source – is already active, he surprisingly appeared and marched at the Alpine rally in Vicenza, a signal given that he is not he had been participating since 2017. He is a great entrepreneur, has his own financial resources for the possible electoral campaign, is a moderate and could be the right man in case the center-right does not find a common candidate. But he has a little problem…”. Which one? “He doesn’t answer to anyone, he respects everyone in the centre-right but no leader could remotely control him and make him do things he doesn’t want, he would do everything on his own.” It could actually be a problem.