Pro-Europeans, anti-Europeans, but above all «Padani»: the Northern League, EMU and the European integration process (1982-199

di Massimo Piermattei
in Memoria e Ricerca n.s. 36 (2011), p. 169

The essay focuses on the evolution of the Italian Northern League Party’s approach to European integration (1982-1998), with particular regard to the impact the Maastricht Treaty and economic and monetary union had on Italy. The author has examined unpublished documents in their historical perspective to help trace the Northern League’s tortuous, contradictory path as it moved away from its original strong pro-European stance and veered towards Euro scepticism. Further light is also thrown on the crucial role the League played in the history of the Italian Republic and in the Italian party system during the 1990s – especially after the 1992-1994 crisis – and on the dawn of the party’s independency strategy in 1996.