FOUNDER OF ITALY’S NORTHERN LEAGUE, UMBERTO BOSSI DIES AT 84
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By ‘Sefiu Ajape
Italian populist politician Umberto Bossi, founder of the anti-immigrant Northern League party and a leading voice for northern Italy’s independence, has died at the age of 84.
Tributes have poured in from top figures on Italy’s right, including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who said, “Bossi, with his political passion, marked an important phase in Italian history and made a fundamental contribution” to the country’s centre-right movement.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also described him on X as “a key figure in bringing about change in Italy.”
Bossi died in Varese, northern Italy, after a brief stay in intensive care, according to media reports.
Known for his fiery rhetoric, Bossi founded the secessionist Northern League in the late 1980s and built his political career attacking what he described as the corrupt system of “Roma Ladrona” (“Thieving Rome”).
He later became one of Italy’s longest-serving parliamentarians, spending nearly three decades across both houses.
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In its early years, the Northern League campaigned for the wealthy north—what Bossi called the Republic of Padania—to break away from the poorer south.
He was a close ally of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, with the party participating in all three of his administrations.
Bossi suffered a stroke in 2004, forcing him to scale back his political activities. However, despite his frailty and speech difficulties, he returned to campaign ahead of the 2008 general election, at one point pledging to “take up arms” against “Roman scum.”
He remained outspoken against immigration, a core issue for the Northern League.
In 2012, Bossi resigned as party leader amid corruption allegations and was later convicted in 2017 to more than two years in prison for embezzlement. The conviction was annulled in 2019 after Italy’s highest court ruled that the statute of limitations had expired.
Matteo Salvini succeeded him as party leader in 2013, rebranding it as the League to broaden its appeal beyond the north. The party remains part of Meloni’s right-wing coalition government.
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