Italian deputy PM, transport minister, and leader of the right-wing Lega party Matteo Salvini is seeking to return as the head of the interior ministry, a position he had previously occupied.
At a party congress in Florence on the weekend, Salvini was reelected as the leader of Lega, and top party officials publicly urged his return to the interior ministry to replace current minister Matteo Piantedosi. Salvini said:
My duty is to listen to what my party and the voters ask of me. Matteo Piantedosi is a friend and a great statesman: I will talk about what you have asked me with him and with [Prime Minister] Giorgia Meloni.
Salvini held the role of interior minister in a previous government between 2018 and 2019, during which time he drastically reduced the number of illegal immigrants arriving in Italy.
He was taken to court by left-wing prosecutors and was facing six years in prison for blocking an NGO ship from disembarking illegal migrants in Lampedusa in 2019 but was acquitted last year.
According to Italian sources, his desire to return to his favoured role is part of Salvini’s broader attempt to reclaim political influence after years of declining support.Lega currently has the support of only 8% of the electorate, while PM Meloni’s conservative Fratelli d’Italia party is polling at 30%.
