Zaia: “Let politics follow the people more. I’m like the parrot in the joke”

Governor for 15 years (and for many of these at the top of all the rankings of the most loved and reliable in Italy), trailblazer in battles such as that for autonomy or for the Milan Cortina Olympics, face of a League almost antithetical to the “official” one capable of talking about civil rights and euthanasia and perhaps also for this absolute record holder with ben 203,054 preferences, the highest number ever recorded in Italian history. Per Luca Zaiaformer governor of Veneto and now president of the regional council, il 2025 was the year of the turning point between the ban on the third term and the many investitures hypothesized for the near future.

What do you bring from this 2025?

“I bring a year full of satisfactions because 2025 for me was also the balance of 15 and a half years of work and allows me to look at the many projects completed”.

Do you have a list in mind?

“I could talk about healthcare which is the most excellent at a national level, about the path to autonomy, because it must be remembered that if we talk about it today it is because of what I have done, of the Venetian Pedemontana and much more. But the greatest result is having given back to the Venetians the pride of saying that they are Venetian”.

And what do you expect from 2026?

“The Olympics will be inaugurated on February 6th. We will be the theater of the largest world event and the Veneto and Italy that emerge from it will not be the same as they are today. The Olympics, as far as the Dolomite area is concerned, are my creation: I invented it with zero initial support because everyone thought it was something impossible, and on paper it actually seemed impossible. Then we know that defeat has only one paternity, whereas victory is full of mothers and fathers.”

Do you regret not being there as governor on February 6th at San Siro?

“The important thing is to know that I will be there, that they invited me. I remember that these Olympics were born as Milan 2026, making them become Milan Cortina 2026 and even having them close in Verona was all work done by me.”

Any resentment towards those who hindered his re-nomination as governor in every way?

“I’m pragmatic. And as Seneca says: life isn’t short, it’s men who make it short. And to lengthen it you need to take yourself less seriously, relativize what happens and know that everything has a beginning and an end. I also said the rest during the election campaign with the joke about the three parrots.”

What? Can you tell us about it?

“There are three parrots. The first costs a thousand euros because he speaks Italian. The second costs 5 thousand because he speaks Italian, English and answers the telephone. And the third costs a million euros. ‘A million? – asks a curious person – and what will he be able to do?’, ‘I don’t know what he can do – replies the first – but I know that the other two call him president’. Well, one doesn’t become president by chance and the electoral result has demonstrated this to the full. Without my running the scenario would have been different”.

Are you referring to the 203 thousand preferences?

“Yes, but not only that. I made myself available with my heart and I did it regardless of the mountain of preferences obtained, knowing that I would be an added value. I said that the polls would get everything wrong: I knew they would be wrong because I talk to people and I know my people”.
Was this a revenge after months of battle for the third term?

“I look beyond. I left my role with serenity and satisfaction, I left the ring after 15 years without dents so I would say as a winner in a world in which after 24 hours your guarantee has already expired”.

And what do you see in your future? It’s a nice suggestion to be the mayor of Venice, isn’t it?

“I took some time to reorganize my life. What I’m doing I do with all the passion and energy I have. Now have I taken some time to reflect on the many opportunities parliament, ministry, Venice, Eni? In due time I will decide what to do in my life but always with one beacon: the people”.

A more transversal people than ever given the results of the polls…

“The theme is that if you work only for consensus, sooner or later you get hurt. During Covid I was the first to create red zones with soldiers in camouflage. I closed the Venice carnival, cinemas, theatres, schools while everyone said it was a banal flu and while Milan demonstrated saying “Milan doesn’t close”, and so did Rome. If I had thought about consensus I would never have done it”.

So how can we talk about civil rights within the center-right?

“When I started talking about euthanasia which was like blaspheming, for me it was the right thing and after years the polls came out and 80% of citizens were in favour. Not a strictly Northern League theme. The League has many ideological origins and varied backgrounds. You can find what comes from the left as well as the right. Of course, it must be liberal and progressive, within the centre-right fold: we do not deny our origins and ideas but today’s League is not that of 30 years ago and the one of tomorrow will not be the same as today. Rousseau says in the social contract that the people delegate to represent them and when they no longer represent they withdraw the delegation. Here, the people evolve and the institutions must always follow them”.

But this time, returning to the 203 thousand preferences and therefore to the popular desire to still see her ‘in command’, the institutions have not evolved in this sense…

“The elimination of mandates is fundamental, it is an entirely Italian anomaly. The justification of the blockade as a way to avoid centers of power is like saying that citizens are fools. It has no justification.”

What is your opinion on the Meloni government?

“The government is miraculously restoring this country. The fact that our country’s rating is A and not B and that the spread is as low as we haven’t seen it for years is becoming non-news. The government has shown that it has clear ideas and a desire to act. And Meloni is an excellent prime minister who is giving the country the international standing that it has no longer had for years.”

It would be a perfect government, in short, if only autonomy also arrived…

“‘It is a pillar of the government like the premiership and the justice reform. The commitments made with the citizens must be respected just as there must also be respect in the response times so I really hope that the government closes this game brilliantly before going back to the polls”.