Roberto Maroni


Roberto Ernesto Maroni is an Italian politician from Varese, former President of Lombardy. He was leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padania. From 1992–2013 he was a Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic, always elected in Lombard constituencies. He was Interior Minister of the Italian Republic from 1994–95, and from 2008–11.

Career

In 1979, Maroni received a law degree with a dissertation in Civil Law, from the University of Milan. He became a lawyer after spending two years working as a Legal Affairs Manager for various companies.
In 1990, he was elected Province Secretary of the Northern League in Varese. He also became a town councilor in Varese that year. Two years later, he was elected Chairman of the Northern League Parliamentary Group. He also entered the party's Federal Council and campaigned heavily for the Northern League prior to Berlusconi's first Cabinet.
He also served as Minister of the Interior during the first Silvio Berlusconi cabinet, from 1994 to 1995. He also served as Minister of Labour and Welfare from 2001 to May 2006 in Berlusconi's second and third cabinets.
In April 2006, after Berlusconi narrowly lost his re-election bid to Romano Prodi, Maroni alleged problems with the election comparable to those in Florida during the 2000 Presidential election. "The level pegging is very similar to what happened in Florida. With one vote more or one vote less, you lose or you win," he said.
After the 2008 electoral victory of the centre-right coalition in Italy, Maroni assumed the office of Minister of the Interior in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet.
Following the forced retirement of Umberto Bossi due to his alleged involvement in a scandal, Maroni was elected Political Secretary of the Northern League at its Congress in Assago.
After the election on 24 February 2013, he became the ninth President of Lombardy.

Passion for music

In September 2006, Maroni told Vanity Fair that he downloads music illegally and thinks music should be "free and accessible to all". He added that authors should still be able to stop their work from being widely distributed on the Internet. Maroni said his confession was intended to spark a discussion in Parliament about changing Italy's copyright laws, which are among the strictest in Europe.

Basic income

On 12 May 2015, Maroni announced that his executive intends to introduce a basic income, as a pilot project, "to ensure all families in the region have enough money to be able to pay for basic necessities". He also said that the plan was to use 220 million euros from the European Social Fund for the initiative.

Terrorism

Shortly after the 2016 Normandy church attack, Maroni called on the Pope to "immediately proclaim" Jacques Hamel "St Jacques."