Mario Borghezio
Mario Borghezio (born on 3 December 1947 in Turin) is an Italian politician, member of the Northern League political movement.
He is MEP for North-West with the Lega Nord, part of the eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and its Committee on Petitions.
He is a substitute for the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection.
On December 17, 2005, Borghezio came back into the news after having been injured by some No Tav activists when they recognized him aboard a train from Turin to Venice. Because of the riot, he needed to undergo an operation for a fractured nasal septum. That morning he had participated in a counter-protest against the NO TAV movement in the Susa Valley.[1]
On September 11, 2007, he was arrested by Belgian police for participating in protest against islamization of Europe.[2][3]
Controversy and Convictions
In 1993 he was sentenced to pay a fine of 750,000 lire for private violence on a child in relation to an incident dating back to 1991. He detained by the arm and brought to the police a 12 years old Moroccan vendor, who was living in Italy without proper visa.[4]
In July 2005, Borghezio was found guilty of arson, for having set fire to the pallets of some immigrants while they were sleeping under a bridge in Turin during a vigilante raid. For this he was sentenced to two months and twenty days, which converted into a fine of €3,040.[5][6]
In May 2011, Borghezio made inflamatory remarks days after the arrest of Ratko Mladic, the ex-Sebian milatary leader indicted for war crimes at the Hague, including the genocide of 8000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica. Borghezio was quoted as saying "Mladic is a Patriot" and "The Serbs could have halted the advance of Islam into Europe, but they weren't allowed to do it." [7]
Quotes and Facts
In an interview published on 7 February 2006 on an Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera, Borghezio declared: "«Sul palco mi trasformo, dico quello che mi viene su dalla pancia. È qualcosa di eccitante. [...]. Di più, quasi un orgasmo» that can be roughly translated as "On stage at political rallies I can transform myself, I say everything that comes out of my stomach. It's exciting. No, more, it's almost an orgasm".[8]
Education
- Graduate in law
Career
- since 1977: On the Register of Lawyers
- 1990-2001: Member of Turin City Council
- 1992-2004: Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy
- 1994: Under-Secretary for Justice
- 1999-2004: Chairman of the 'Government of Padania'
- since 2001: Member of the European Parliament
See also: European Parliament election, 2004 (Italy)
Borghezio in Popular Culture
Borgezio was parodized by Rai 3 State TV channel's satyrical show La Lavanderia. The show constantly featured a section called "Borghezio caffé". Parodyzing the sitcom Caméra Café the skits were rapresenting Borgezio furious for discovering his own daughter had picked an accent from Southern Italy, thus betraying her Padania heritage.
Notes
- ^ ‘Borghezio aggredito dagli autonomi’, La Repubblica, 18 December 2005, p. 26.
- ^ International Herald Tribune, 11 September, 2007.
- ^ ‘Borghezio in cella a Bruxelles, l' Italia protesta’, Corriere della Sera, 12 September 2007.
- ^ ‘Leghista violento su minore’, Corriere della Sera, 23 June 1993.
- ^ http://www.la7.it/blog/post_dettaglio.asp?idblog=TETRIS_19&id=3399
- ^ ‘Provocò un incendio Condannato Borghezio’, La Stampa, 2 July 2005.
- ^ 'Borghezio (Lega): "E' un patriota" ', La Repubblica, 28 May 2011.
- ^ ‘Io, Borghezio, un obiettivo vivente’, Corriere della Sera, 7 February 2006.
External links
- Template:EP MEP info/6th term
- Declaration (PDF) of financial interests (in Italian)
Template:Members of the European Parliament 2004–2009 Template:Italy MEPs 2009–2014