ITALY: ROBERTO CALDEROLI NEW MINISTER FOR REFORMS

UNCLAS ROME 002876

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINR PGOV IT ITALIAN POLITICS
SUBJECT: ITALY: ROBERTO CALDEROLI NEW MINISTER FOR REFORMS

REF: A) ROME 2836, B) ROME 2815, C) MILAN 270,
- D) MILAN 220

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION.


1. (SBU) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: As expected, Prime Minister
Berlusconi named Northern League National Coordinator and
Senate Vice President Roberto Calderoli the new Minister for
Reform and Devolution on July 20. Calderoli replaces League
Secretary Umberto Bossi, who resigned the previous day to

SIPDIS
assume the seat in the European Parliament to which he was
elected in June. Calderoli has been a League firebrand who
has not always exercised even the minimal rhetorical control
exhibited by the outspoken Bossi. Since his appointment as
Minister, however, he has shown some restraint. Neither
this appointment, nor the sum total of new ministers (two so
far -- Calderoli and Domenico Sinicalco as Finance Minister
(Ref A),with a third coming to replace Rocco Buttiglione,
just named Italy's EU Commissioner, as Minister for EU
Policies) constitute a major reshuffle, nor do they ease
significantly the governing coalition's internal tensions,
as they essentially maintain the status quo. END SUMMARY
AND COMMENT.


2. (U) Roberto Calderoli was appointed Minister for Reform
and Devolution in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-
right government on July 20, 2004. He replaced Northern
League leader Umberto Bossi, who resigned on July 19 as a
result of a long illness and hospitalization following a
massive heart attack. (Refs B, D)


3. (U) Calderoli was elected to the Senate in May 2001
with the Northern League and appointed Senate Vice President
the following June, a position from which he resigned to
join PM Berlusconi's cabinet. Calderoli is also Northern
League National Coordinator and will likely retain this
position even during his government tenure. He is a member
of the Senate Defense Committee and of the Joint
Parliamentary Commission investigating the 1997 sale to
Italy of a stake of Serbia's national telecommunication
company, Telekom Serbia, during the Milosevic regime.
Calderoli was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1992-
2001, winning a seat for the Northern League in the national
elections of 1992, 1994, and 1996, and was active in the
Chamber's Social Affairs Committee.


4. (U) In 2003, Calderoli was the Northern League's
representative and one of the governing coalition's four
"wise men" during a five-day retreat to craft the
government's draft law on constitutional reform and
devolution. This draft law is currently being examined by
the Chamber of Deputies; the Berlusconi Government has said
the reform would be passed in 2004.


5. (SBU) Calderoli is devoted to Bossi and
organizationally astute, regarded by many as a natural
replacement to carry through to completion the Northern
League's dream of devolution. As National Secretary of the
Northern League/Lombard League 1995-2001, and party
President 1993-95, Calderoli was a sort of "alter ego" to
Umberto Bossi. He remains close to Bossi's wife, who wields
considerable party influence herself, during the party
leader's convalescence. (Ref D)


6. (SBU) Although he has been active in politics only
since the 1990s -- in the early 90s, he was City Councilor
in his hometown of Bergamo -- Calderoli has Northern League
grassroots politics in his blood. His grandfather, Guido,
founded an autonomist movement in the family's northern
hometown and would make derogatory declamations against
Italy's center and south. Roberto Calderoli also has spoken
out provocatively on a number of political issues. While
his friend and mentor Bossi has tended to reserve his
inflammatory speeches for League rallies in its northern
strongholds -- at least during the party's second experience
in government -- Calderoli has not consistently exercised
such restraint. The sometimes-impulsive Calderoli is
balanced by other League leaders, such as the more studied
Minister of Labor Roberto Maroni. (Ref C)


7. (U) A doctor specialized in facial surgery, Calderoli
followed a family tradition: his grandfather, father, four
uncles and three of his seven brothers are dentists and are
commonly regarded as the best in Bergamo. He was born in
Bergamo on April 18, 1956. He was a motorcycle racer during
the 1970s-80s, competing and winning regional rallies. He
is married. His English level is not known.
SEMBLER


NNNN
2004ROME02876 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED