Domino Effect: Another Italian Region to Vote on Recognizing Crimea

Italy’s regionalist Lega Nord (Northern League) party plans to submit to the Council of the northern region of Lombardy a resolution calling for official recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, RIA Novosti reported.

“A pertinent resolution will be submitted to the regional Council in early June. We are optimistic and hope that it will be adopted”, Paolo Grimoldi, the secretary of the Northern league’s regional chapter and a federal MP, told RIA.

The document calls for the regional Giunta (Executive body) to work together with the national government to officially recognize Crimea as part of the Russian Federation, thus recognizing the will of the Crimean parliament and the will of the Crimean people reflected in a referendum held in 2014.

The Northern League also wants early lifting of the economic sanctions against Russia.

“No one needs these sanctions which are only causing economic damage to our home,” Grimoldi emphasized.

In a resolution adopted earlier this week, the local Council of Italy’s northern Veneto region urged the Italian government to recognize Crimea as part of Russia and to get the European Union to lift the sanctions it imposed on Moscow in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis.

Twenty-seven out of 51 members of the regional council voted in favor of the resolution, while nine voted against.