Roberto Calderoli
| Roberto Calderoli | |
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| Minister of Legislative Simplification | |
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In office 8 May 2008 – 16 November 2011 |
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| Prime Minister | Silvio Berlusconi |
| Succeeded by | Filippo Patroni Griffi |
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Italian Republic Senator from Lombardy |
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Assumed office 30 May 2001 |
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| Constituency | Piedmont 2006–2008 |
| Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from Northern Lombardy |
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In office 23 April 1992 – 29 May 2001 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
18 April 1956 Bergamo, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Political party | Lega Nord |
| Residence | Mozzo, Lombardy |
| Profession | Maxillofacial surgeon |
Roberto Calderoli (born 18 April 1956) is an Italian politician and a member of the Senate of Italy. He was a Minister without portfolio for Legislative Simplification in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet. He previously served as Minister without portfolio for Reforms and Devolution in the Berlusconi II Cabinet (since 20 June 2004) and in the Berlusconi III Cabinet (until 18 February 2006, when he resigned following the so-called "cartoon crisis"). Roberto Calderoli is a leading member of the Northern League. He is regarded as representing the right wing of the political spectrum and Bergamo, whereas Roberto Maroni represents the area originating from the left wing and Varese.
Calderoli is often the centre of public controversies, usually because of racist, xenophobic or offensive public remarks. Responding to criticism about a controversial electoral law that he penned in 2006, Calderoli affirmed that "I wrote [the law], but honestly it is a pig-sty (in Italian Porcata)." In July 2013, Calderoli insulted Italy's first black Minister, Italo-Congolese Cécile Kyenge, saying: "Whenever I see Minister Kyenge, I cannot help but think of an orangutan," drawing condemnation from some sides of Italian society and support from others for being brave against political correctness.
A native of Bergamo and a dentist like many of his relativies, Calderoli started his political experience with the Lega Lombarda, a precursor of the federated Northern League, of which he was the president in 1993 and national secretary between 1995 and 2002.
Between 1990 and 1995 he sat in the town council in Bergamo, and since 2002 he has been the coordinator of the national secretariat of the Northern League. He was an MP in the Chamber of Deputies between 1992 and 2001, as a representative of the Northern League-Padania, and for a while he was president of the Commission for Social Affairs.
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