Lorenzo Fontana

Lorenzo Fontana was born in Verona, Veneto, in 1980. He graduated in political science at the University of Padua, in Christian history at the European University of Rome and in philosophy at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas. During the university, he joined the Liga Veneta, the regional branch of Lega Nord (LN), and in 2002 he was elected vice-secretary of the Young Padanians Movement, the League's youth wing.

Fontana is married and has one daughter. He is a fervent traditionalist Catholic and regularly attends the Tridentine Mass. His spiritual counsellor is Father Vilmar Pavesi who is a well-known monarchist and an opponent of abortion, divorce, euthanasia, and LGBT rights. After being elected to Verona city council, he was elected to the European Parliament with 52,136 votes during the 2009 European Parliament election in Italy. In 2012, he was the head of the League's group in the European Parliament. From 2009 to 2014, he was also vice-president of the European Parliament Committee on Culture and Education. During the 8th legislature, he was also the supervisor of the cooperation deal between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Europol. Fontana was re-elected to the 2014 European Parliament election in Italy, gaining 27,240 votes and becoming a member of the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and of the Delegation for Relations with Iraq (D–IQ).

On 26 February 2016, he was appointed by Matteo Salvini as Deputy Federal Secretary of the League, a position that he held together with Giancarlo Giorgetti. On 8 July 2017, he became deputy mayor of Verona. At the 2018 Italian general election, Fontana was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the multi-member constituency of Veneto 2. From April to August 2018, he served as one of the vice-presidents of the Chamber.

On 1 June 2018, the League and the Five Star Movement (M5S) formed a coalition government led by the independent university professor Giuseppe Conte. The government was sworn in on 5 September 2019. Fontana was appointed Minister of Family and Minister for Disabilities. In August 2018, Fontana called for the repeal of the 1993 Mancino Law, which criminalises hate speech, saying the law was being used by globalists to promote "anti-Italian racism". In March 2019, he helped organize the anti-gay, anti-feminist, and anti-abortion World Congress of Families in Verona, to the point of authorizing the use of the logo of Conte's administrative office in order to promote the event without the prime minister's permission.

On 10 July 2019, Fontana was appointed Italy's Minister of European Affairs. In August 2019, the League filed a motion of no confidence in the coalition government and the cabinet collapsed.