ITALY'S federalist Northern League party yesterday took a major step in its continuing drive towards secession from the Italian Republic by electing its own, 10 member shadow government during a session of its self styled parliament in Mantua, northern Italy.
Mr Giancarlo Pagliarini, a finance minister in the 1994 government of Silvio Berlusconi, was appointed "prime minister" at a "parliamentary" sitting attended by the 86 deputies and senators elected at last month's national elections won by the centre left Olive coalition.
The Northern League leader, the enigmatic Senator Umberto Bossi, proved one of the surprise winners of last month's elections, defying predictions of a heavy electoral reversal to pick up 10.1 per cent of the vote. That success has given extra impetus to his regular calls for secession, a call first voiced four years ago, but one which until recently had been treated by rivals as mere rhetoric.
For much of the last decade, Senator Bossi's regular calls for a federalist Italy had not appeared to threaten the country's unity. Political commentators viewed the Northern League as a genuine protest movement voicing the frustrations of the rich, industrial north, fed up with high tax levels, complex state bureaucracy, inefficient state services and mainstream political stagnation.
Since his withdrawal from the 1994 Berlusconi government, a withdrawal which prompted that government's downfall, Senator Bossi has, however, assumed ever more isolationist tones, calling for the creation of a separate state in the north, called "Padania", and for the break up of Italy along lines similar to the break up of Czechoslovakia.
Speaking before yesterday's parliamentary session, he said: "This government is a great hope for Padania and if, as I believe, it is true that the country is heading for collapse then this government is the hope that in the end, there will be a way out."
The Northern League's secessionist stance has provoked across the board condemnation in the last week not only from political rivals on the left and the right, but also from Pope John Paul.
At his Wednesday public audience this week, the Pope said that political and cultural unity were among Italy's most valuable assets.
On Friday, in an inaugural speech as speaker of parliament, Mr Luciano Violante, of the Democratic Left (PDS), received an ovation from the house when he suggested that the use of force to prevent secession would be legitimate.
Reuter adds: The leader of Italy's election winning Olive Tree bloc, Mr Romano Prodi, said yesterday there was no question of Italy quitting Nato despite the objections of the hardline communist party which supports it in parliament.
"As far as I am concerned, Nato remains the pillar of our defence. Clearly, together with the Americans and the other Europeans we have to see how the new Nato will shape up . . . but no one is thinking of pulling out of Nato," Mr Prodi said.
The centre left coalition is given a majority in the Chamber of Deputies (lower house) by the hardline Communist Refoundation Party. Its leader Fausto Bertinotti has said he plans to push Mr Prodi's government towards getting out of the alliance.
Mr Mirko Tremaglia, a deputy for the far right National Alliance, said Mr Bertinotti's remarks "immediately pose a credibility problem for the Prodi government".