Susanna Ceccardi

Susanna Ceccardi (born 19 March 1987[1][2]) is an Italian politician. In May 2019, she was elected to the European Parliament.[3] She served as mayor of Cascina from June 2016[4] to June 2019.[5][6]

Susanna Ceccardi
MEP
Susanna Ceccardi (2022)
Member of the European Parliament
Assumed office
2 July 2019
ConstituencyCentral Italy
Mayor of Cascina
In office
21 June 2016 – 27 June 2019
Preceded byAlessio Antonelli
Succeeded byDario Rollo
Personal details
Born (1987-03-19) 19 March 1987
Pisa, Italy
Political partyLega (since 2020)
Lega Nord (until 2020)
Domestic partnerAndrea Barabotti
Children1

Family and early life

The family of her father (Roberto[7]) originated from the hamlet of Vaglie in the comune of Ligonchio and she is a distant cousin through her paternal grandfather of the singer Iva Zanicchi.[8][9][10] Francesco Ceccardi, brother of her paternal grandfather, died in the hamlet of Busana on the Apennine Mountains, killed by the army of the Italian Social Republic in January 1945 and is locally honored by a way-side cross with a plaque.[11][12]

Her family was left-wing but her parents moved their vote to the Northern League in the 1990s.[13]

She graduated at classical high school and she later enrolled at Law School at the University of Pisa, where she began her political activity as student representative.[14] She took all the exams but never graduated.[15]

Political career

Cascina

She was elected at the municipal council of Cascina in 2011 and she participated as a regular guest in the political talk show Announo on the national channel LA7.[16]

She was a candidate for the 2015 Tuscan regional election but did not get a council seat.[17]

Susanna Ceccardi (2016)

During the 2016 Italian local elections she obtained at the Cascina mayoral election 28.4% in the first round and 50.3% in the run-off, while her party got 21.3%.[18][19] Immigration was a core topic of the campaign.[13]

At the time her victory interrupted 70 years of left-wing local leadership,[20][4][21] and Cascina became the first large municipality won by Lega Nord Toscana in the region and the second in general after Bagni di Lucca in the 1990s.[22] in a region which is a traditional left stronghold.[13] She was also the only member of Lega Nord elected mayor in the whole region[23] before Siena, Pisa and Massa followed suit in the June 2018 local elections.[24]

The result was not considered local[notes 1] and was seen as a key example of the political shift fuelled by the topic of immigration, which later occurred at the 2018 Italian general election.[21]

Role in Tuscany

Susanna Ceccardi's role was considered crucial for the elections in the local constituencies of her assessors Edoardo Ziello and Rosellina Sbrana in March 2018 to the Italian Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, respectively, and for the victory of the right-wing candidate Michele Conti at the mayoral election in the bigger neighboring comune of Pisa a few months laters in the 2018 Italian local elections.[5] In Autumn 2018 she was appointed special commissioner (head) of the party in Tuscany.[25]

Susanna Ceccardi with Matteo Salvini in May 2019 at an election rally for the following European and municipal elections, in Montecatini Terme.

Growing national role and European Elections

In September 2018, she joined the staff of Salvini once he had become the Italian Minister of the Interior.[26][27][5]

In April 2019, she became an official candidate for her party at the 2019 European Parliament election in Italy[28][29][30] She was elected with 48,239 preferences.[31] becoming the youngest MEP of her party.[15] Her former deputy Dario Rollo became mayor after she accepted her role of MEP.[6]

Expedition in Spain during COVID-19 pandemics

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she organized with party colleagues Gian Marco Centinaio (former minister of agriculture) and Gianna Gambaccini (a doctor and local assessore in Pisa) a "rescue expedition" traveling by bus from Italy to Barcelona where they collected 46 Italian citizens (mostly from Tuscany.[32]) blocked in the Canary Islands with no direct flight to Italy because of the increasing local travel restrictions and reduction of flights and routes.[33][34][35] The tourists were visited by Gambaccini before the start of the travel, and equipped with protective masks.[36][37]

Ceccardi stated she undertook the initiative after not receiving specific reply from the Italian authorities.[33] The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Luigi Di Maio later asked the rescue mission to be stopped when the bus was already in France.

The initiative was criticized by the left parties as unnecessary, but also by other local politicians of Brothers of Italy.[38][39]

2020 Tuscan regional elections
Eugenio Giani with Susanna Ceccardi (top candidates for the upcoming regional elections) at the July 2020 electoral debate in the main building of La Nazione in Florence.[40]

After the good performance of the possible allied parties at the 2019 European elections, Ceccardi declared herself as a possible candidate for the president of Tuscany at the incoming regional elections of 2020.[41] However, possible allies criticized the weak performance of the center-right coalition at the runoff votings of the 2019 municipal elections under her strategical leadership [42] and criticisms of her activism emerged also inside her own party.[17]

In March 2020, Ceccardi was proposed as candidate for the center-right coalition to the 2020 Tuscan regional election.[34][43] The candidature was formalized for the whole center-right coalition in June 2020, when the date of the election was confirmed after the COVID-19 lockdown.[44]

Political views

She has been described as an example of younger Italian politicians supporting a more critical view of the European Union especially compared with the older right-wing officeholders of the previous decades.[45]

In 2016, she gave honorary citizenship to Magdi Cristiano Allam, a former Muslim who converted to Christianity and is noted for his criticism of Islamic extremism.[23] She opposes the construction of mosques and, in exchange for the celebration of the Eid al-Fitr in a public space by the local Senegalese community, she required that they "firmly condemned" all acts of violence induced by Islamic fundamentalism.[46] Ceccardi consider that "regulating immigration is a moderate position"[20]

In April 2019, during Liberation Day, she expressed her critical views about the less debated aspects of the Italian resistance movement.[47]

Personal life

In March 2019, she made public that she is expecting a baby with her partner Andrea Barabotti,[13][48] a member of the Lega from Massa,[49] due in September 2019.[50][10] She expressed the possibility to name her future daughter Kinzica after Kinzica de' Sismondi, a medieval heroine who according to the legend it is said to have defended the town of Pisa from the invasion of the Saracens.[30][10] Kinzika was born in Pisa on September, 28th[49]

She is friend of Andrea Bocelli.[44]

Notes
  1. Matteo Salvini, who at time was only leader of the Northern League, gave himself news of her victory to the national audience during the television late night show Porta a Porta.[5]

Footnotes
  1. "Amministrazione comunale Cascina". www.tuttitalia.it (in Italian). Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  2. Coman, Julian (1 December 2018). "'Italians first': how the populist right became Italy's dominant force". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  3. "Elezioni, ecco i nuovi eurodeputati "toscani": passano Ceccardi e Bonafé" (in Italian). La Nazione. 27 May 2009. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  4. Poggiolo, Sylvia (14 August 2019). "Long A Bastion Of The Left, Tuscany Is Turning Hard Right". NPR. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  5. Allegranti, Davide (19 February 2019). "Chiamatemi signor sindaco". Come si diventa leghisti: Viaggio in un paese che si credeva rosso e si è svegliato verde. UTET. ISBN 9788851169473. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  6. "Scontro dem-Lega sul passaggio di consegne al vice Dario Rollo" (in Italian). Il Tirreno. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  7. "Cascina, Santori contestato dai 5stelle. E il padre di Ceccardi sfida le Sardine con un cartello" (in Italian). La Repubblica. 12 September 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  8. "Un giorno da pecora" (in Italian). Rai Radio 1. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  9. "La leghista Ceccardi parente di Iva Zanicchi: "La Isoardi? Ancora rosica"" (in Italian). La Stampa. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  10. Gasperetti, Mario (6 May 2019). "La sindaca leghista di Cascina (Pisa): "Chiamo mia figlia Kinzica", ma ci sono dubbi sul patriottismo del nome" (in Italian). Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  11. Caroppo, Luigi (30 June 2020). "Ceccardi, ex Pci. "Tanti di sinistra ci voteranno"" (in Italian). La Nazione. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  12. "Scheda monumento" (PDF). ANPI- Reggio Emilia. 12 March 2018. p. 35. Retrieved 8 August 2020..
  13. Bennhold, Katrin (12 June 2019). "Part 3 : 'Italy first'". The New York Times (in Italian). Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  14. "Elezioni studentesche, 46mila al voto" (in Italian). La Nazione. 5 May 2009. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  15. Gurrado, Antonio (4 July 2019). "La regola del "ma non" spiegata con l'europarlamentare leghista Susanna Ceccardi" (in Italian). Il Foglio. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  16. Daddi, Luca (5 May 2014). "Susanna Ceccardi va ad Announo e porta in tv la rabbia dei giovani" (in Italian). La Repubblica. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  17. Gori, Giulio; Lunedì, Luca (28 May 2019). "Ceccardi in Europa, una spada di legno, 48 mila preferenze. E un ritorno in vista" (in Italian). Corriere Fiorentino. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  18. "Susanna Ceccardi è il nuovo sindaco di Cascina - Cronaca - il Tirreno" (in Italian). Il Tirreno. 19 June 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  19. "Comune di Cascina - Toscana - Elezioni Comunali - Risultati - Ballottaggio - 5 giugno 2016". Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  20. Politi, James (16 November 2017). "Italy takes sharp turn right ahead of general election". The Irish Times. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  21. Politi, James (15 November 2017). "Spectre of immigration sparks rightward turn in Italy". Financial Times. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  22. "Ballottaggi 2016, la Lega espugna Cascina con Susanna Ceccardi: "Mi deridevano, io mosca verde li ho sconfitti"" (in Italian). Fatto Quotidiano. 20 June 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  23. Coen, Emanuele (15 December 2016). "Susanna Ceccardi, la sindaca leghista in guerra contro gay, migranti e femministe" (in Italian). L'Espresso. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  24. Giuffrida, Angela (22 August 2018). "Matteo Salvini rides wave of popularity in wake of Genoa disaster". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  25. Allegranti, David (7 November 2018). "Perché Matteo Salvini adesso punta tutto su Susanna Ceccardi" (in Italian). Il Foglio. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  26. "Susanna Ceccardi entra nello staff di Salvini" (in Italian). Il Tirreno. 20 September 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  27. "La sceriffa leghista entra al Viminale: "Legittima difesa e zero clandestini"" (in Italian). Il Giornale. 22 September 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  28. "La sindaca Ceccardi candidata al Parlamento europeo" (in Italian). Il Tirreno. 16 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  29. "Elezioni Europee, le liste dei candidati della Lega: Salvini capolista in tutte le circoscrizioni" (in Italian). Il Fatto Quotidiano. 16 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  30. Bennhold, Katrin (25 May 2019). "In Parliament Elections, Populists Seek to Break the E.U. From Within". New York Times. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  31. "Circ. III : ITALIA CENTRALE". Ministero dell'Interno (in Italian). 29 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019. (clic on the party name to open the list as a menu)
  32. "Coronavirus, italiani bloccati alle Canarie rientrano col bus noleggiato da Ceccardi" (in Italian). La Nazione. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  33. "Coronavirus, Ceccardi (Lega) noleggia un pullman e va a Barcellona per "recuperare" 50 turisti italiani. Pd e M5s: "Irresponsabile"" (in Italian). Il Fatto Quotidiano. 14 March 2020.
  34. Di Lollo, Michele (15 March 2020). "La missione di Susanna Ceccardi: in autobus verso la Spagna per salvare italiani bloccati" (in Italian). Il Giornale. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  35. "Coronavirus, ritorno in pullman dalla Spagna dei 46 turisti italiani recuperati dalla Lega. Il Pd attacca: "Solo propaganda"" [Coronavirus, return by coach from Spain of the 46 Italian tourists recovered from the League. The Democratic Party attacks: "Only propaganda"] (in Italian). La Repubblica.
  36. "Coronavirus, pullman leghista a Barcellona per riprendere gli italiani: "Corsa contro il tempo"" (in Italian). Adnkronos. 15 March 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  37. "Coronavirus, le ultime notizie in Italia - Italiani bloccati alle Canarie stanno tornando su bus" (in Italian). La Repubblica. 15 March 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  38. "Il bus della Lega scatena i veleni nel centrodestra. FdI: "Ceccardi fa la tour operator"" (in Italian). Il Tirreno. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  39. Lamorte, Antonio (16 March 2020). "Italiani bloccati alle Canarie, bus di leghisti ne porta indietro 46. La polemica: "E' solo propaganda"" (in Italian). Il Riformista. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  40. Marinari, Franceso (13 July 2020). "Regionali Toscana: Giani-Ceccardi, confronto a La Nazione / VIDEO" (in Italian). La Nazione. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  41. Adinolfi, Carmela (28 May 2019). "La leghista Ceccardi: "Disponibile a candidarmi per la presidenza della Toscana"" (in Italian). La Repubblica. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  42. "Flop Lega alle Comunali, ora Ceccardi rischia la candidatura alla Regione" (in Italian). Il Tirreno. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  43. "Regionali, la Lega lancia per la Toscana la candidatura di Susanna Ceccardi". La Repubblica. 7 March 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  44. Bozza, Claudio (6 May 2019). "Regionali, Chi è Susanna Ceccardi, la "zarina" della Lega scelta per l'assalto al fortino rosso in Toscana" (in Italian). Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  45. Johnson, Miles (16 December 2018). "Italy: pinning the blame on Brussels". Financial Times. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  46. "Cascina, la sindaca Ceccardi (Lega) concede la palesta comunale per la fine del Ramadan" (in Italian). La Nazione. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  47. "Liberazione, Susanna Ceccardi: "Certi partigiani commisero infamità"" (in Italian). La Nazione. 25 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  48. "Il leghista mette su famiglia con la leader: "Farò il mammo perché tra noi due Susanna è la più brava"" (in Italian). Il Tirreno. 26 March 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  49. "E' nata Kinzica, la figlia di Susanna Ceccardi" (in Italian). La Repubblica- Firenze. 28 September 2019.
  50. "La sindaca Ceccardi aspetta un figlio: l'annuncio al suo compleanno" (video) (in Italian). Il Tirreno. 27 March 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
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