Attilio Fontana
Attilio Fontana is an Italian politician from Varese, Lombardy. A member of Lega Nord, he has served as President of Lombardy since 2018 in a coalition with centre-right parties.Biography
A long-time member of Lega Lombarda and Lega Nord, he was Mayor of Induno Olona from 1995 to 1999. Fontana, with LN, was elected in the 2000 regional election and 2005 regional election to the Regional Council of Lombardy, of which he functioned as President until July 2006. He stepped down from that office after being elected Mayor of Varese with 57.8% of the vote in the first round of 28 May 2006. He was re-elected in May 2011 with 53.8% of the vote in a run-off. Fontana, ineligible to run for reelection due to term limits, left the office in June 2016. In 2007 Fontana was the lawyer of Andrea Mascetti in the case against the left-wing journalist Michele Santoro from who they won.
Some journalists in July 2016 speculated a nomination of Fontana as LN candidate in 2018 election for President of Lombardy if the incumbent President of Region Roberto Maroni will not run for a second consecutive term; in January 2018, when Maroni announced his retirement from politics, Fontana was selected as Centre-right candidate to the Presidency of Lombardy.
On 15 January 2018, Fontana stated that the Western culture was in danger due to the migration flows from Africa. This created many protests as well as criticisms from the centre-left Democratic Party and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement. Because of the controversy he apologised for his remarks, declaring that it was a slip of the tongue and an expressive error, not due to inherent racism of him or his party.. Fontana's principal rivals were Giorgio Gori and Dario Violi. On 4 March 2018 Fontana won 50% in the regional election.
On May 2019, the Prosecutor Office of Milan started an investigation on him due to abuse of power in a case of corruption.
On July 2020 another investigation started, following the activities of Fontana, his wife and his brother in law during the Covid-19 pandemic.
