The management this time asks for a portrait of Andrea Crippa: In short, we want to explain well who this assistant secretary of the League is and who is not, a 37-year-old from Monza who is considered the most authoritative interpreter of Salvini's thoughts, the one who who speaks when Salvini is forced into silence (rarely, but it happens), and in fact he is a loyal and trustworthy friend of the boss, also full of bracelets and tight shirts, but reluctant to take Nutella and selfies with slices of bread and Nutella, therefore In contrast to his big brother Major Matteo, Andrea is dry and toned, a robust body under a Jim Carrey smile, so you never know exactly what's really going through his mind.
The other day, unfortunately, it was immediately clear: When the news arrived that Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin's greatest opponent, had already been poisoned by the Russian services and then forced to undergo physical and psychological torture for months, was dead in the broadcast hour (at minus 50 degrees). Courtyard of Kharp Prison, the regime's penal colony codenamed IK-3 but also known as “Arctic Wolf” because we are in northern Siberia, near the Pole, Crippa invites us to walk slowly. “It is premature and inappropriate,” he says, “to name the culprits.” While the law firms of the democratic world are horrified to suspect Putin, the criminal who is preparing for the usual farce of new elections, Crippa disagrees and warns: “ We have to wait for clarity!” – also because then it might come to light that Navalny had a habit of not wearing a scarf, and we know that you are about to get pneumonia.
For long, tragic minutes, the league's troubling line is Crippa's. Zaia and Giorgetti, Fedriga and Molinari: all four read the agency presentation with his words with astonishment and bitterness.
But the most interesting agency is another.
Our Davide, Corriere's archivist, found it.
Hear.
It is an announcement from November 17, 2018. “The youth wing of the League has signed a cooperation agreement with the Young Guard of United Russia, Putin's party.” Tass reports this, citing representatives of the Lega Nord. A delegation of young members of the Northern League led by parliamentarian Andrea Crippa traveled to Moscow, the Russian agency said.
You shouldn't be surprised. These are the foggy days (euphemism) of the mysterious Gianluca Savoini and the meetings at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. Salvini arrives in front of the Kremlin, shows the now legendary T-shirt with the picture of Putin and repeats phrases like: “Here.” “I feel at home,” “I prefer Putin to Europe,” “Putin is hope.” , “We would be better off with Putin in Italy.” Crippa listens. And learning.
Crippa joined the party at the age of 16: “partly because of the professors who are all communists”, a little impressed by Umberto Bossi (who in recent weeks, as Francesco Verderami said in the Corriere, is suffering from the fact that his league ” become far right'). However, Crippa graduated in political science from the Catholic University of Milan and, after a brief experience as a city councilor in Lissone, became Salvini's parliamentary assistant in Strasbourg. Let's put it better: It's his bag carrier. Together they share the same 40 square meter apartment and it's okay that Crippa is almost always alone, because his Matteo in the European Parliament turns out to be a terrible absentee (with more than 7,000 euros net a month), but a few dinners in the end it escapes us. It's cold outside, one rumor leads to another. It's the backup. Salvini identifies Crippa as his potential heir. He begins to shape it and the career of the anonymous boy from Brianza becomes unstoppable: in 2015 he takes over the leadership of Giovani Padani, three years later he ends up in Montecitorio thanks to an armored seat and twelve months later he is promoted to deputy secretary.
Main foundation: freedom of expression. Which, however, is only apparent. As we know, the League is a rigid party: Salvini decides, Salvini speaks. So when he doesn't speak, you must feel like Crippa.
The guy has already picked up a lot from the boss. He alternates politically aggressive attitudes with suddenly Franciscan ones. But mostly his job is to hit the ground hard. To the head of state: “Mattarella? He kneels in front of the law offices of half of Europe.” On the Salis case: “I'm sorry, but every country punishes as it wants.” A diplomatic crisis begins with Germany: “80 years ago the army used it, today it uses migrants. ” Then he deals with Roberto Vannacci, the Folgore general, who publishes this book full of nonsense with a fascist flavor, which oscillates between racism, denial and homophobia (“Dear homosexuals, you are not normal, get over it”). Crippa reads. And he recruits him (on behalf of Salvini): “Commander, the doors of the League are open.”
But Crippa also knows how to be tender. And he actually falls in love. By Anna Falchi. Then, with elegance, sobriety and confidentiality, he goes to Radio Libertà and announces: “I confirm participation …”. And he specifies: “It’s obvious that I’m heterosexual” (they’re obsessed, duh).