Berlusconi's ally and vice president of the Senate says a Minister reminds him of a orang-utan

Sunday, 14 July 2013. Roberto Calderoli, vice president of the Senate of Italy and member of the Northern League – a Berlusconi's People of Liberty political ally - compares the first black Italian minister Cécile Kyenge to orang-utan to show off at political rally in Treviglio.

The esthetically sensible Roberto Calderoli

The vice president of the Italian Senate was in Treviglio (a town in the province of Bergamo), last Sunday, holding a public speech in front of his fellow Northern League (NL) militants, when he came out saying “I love animals - bears and wolves, as everyone knows - but when I see the pictures of Kyenge I cannot but think of, even if I'm not saying she is one of those, the features of an orang-utan.”.

The handsome politician was speaking about Cécile Kyenge Kashetu, current Minister for Integration in the Letta cabinet, an Italian citizen of Congolese descent.

Apparently the former minister didn't reckon the public in Treviglio worth of a more complex argumentative speech than likening opponents (peculiar opponent, this time, since the NL is an ally to the PdL, which is an ally to PD...) to animals. It was a “nice joke”, according to a later statement by Mr Calderoli, when interviewed on the subject.

Minister Cécile Kyenge

It's not the first time that a Northern League member steps over the line when it comes to criticize the Minister, one month ago NL's Mario Borghezio was expelled from the European Parliament's Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) eurosceptic group for making racist or male chauvinist remarks about her (like “she wants to impose tribal traditions of bonga bonga” and “she'd make a good housewife, not a Minister” ro “she could be a Minister in her bonga bonga land”).

Calderoli's partner, Gianna Gancia, has also stated that Calderoli's words were "over the limit" and "unjustifiable". And she is a "leghista" too!

Northern League's secretary Maroni said that Calderoli has apologised for the deed (actually he just said that he “spoke at a rally, made a joke, perhaps unfortunate, but the kind of a joke you make at rallies, and this was immediately clear to all the attendees.”).

Cécile Kyenge stated that she doesn't want to address Calderoli the person, nor she's asking for his resignations, but as a senior representative of an institution Italy should reflect on his behaviour.

Calderoli institutional duty to talk about animals showed in the past, when he dubbed his own electoral law established in 2005 a “porcata” (an “obscenity”, a “pigswill” from “porco”, Italian for “pig”).