[4][5][6] He is also considered one of the main leaders of the populist wave in Europe during the 2010s and a member of the neo-nationalist movement, which is a rightist ideology that emphasizes de-globalization, nativist and protectionist stances.

A congress was scheduled for mid-December and in accordance with the new rules set for the election five candidates filed their bid to become secretary: Umberto Bossi, Giacomo Stucchi, Manes Bernardini, Roberto Stefanazzi and Salvini.

[39] On 7 December 2013, Salvini, who counted on the support of Roberto Maroni and most of the party's senior figures (including Flavio Tosi, who had renounced a bid of his own), defeated Umberto Bossi with 82% of the vote in the "primary".

[44][45][46] These moves were criticised by Bossi, who called attention to Salvini's left-wing roots,[47][48] and Tosi, who represented the party's pro-European wing and defended the euro.

A December 2014 Ipsos poll showed that Salvini's approval rating had increased by from 28% to 33%, "cementing his position as a rising political force in Italy".

After the 2016 local elections, in which the party ran below expectations in Lombardy (while doing well in Veneto—thanks to Zaia—as well as Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany) and the NcS performed badly,[61][62][63][64] Salvini's political stance came under pressure from Bossi, Maroni, and especially the recently elected leader of Lega Lombarda, Paolo Grimoldi, who criticized the party's right-wing turn and its focus on the South, while reclaiming the federalist and autonomist identity of the LN.

[70][71][72] Paolo Grimoldi, leader of Lega Lombarda, chose not to run against Salvini (and Maroni maintained his neutrality),[73][74] but Gianni Fava, Lombard regional minister of Agriculture in the old social-democratic tradition, announced his bid aiming at representing the federalist / autonomist / separatist wings of the party.

Fava, who was anti-prohibition of drugs, pro-civil unions for same-sex couples and, like Bossi, anti-National Front ("[it] is one of the most centralist and conservative blocs in Europe, what does it have to do with us?

The ticket won most of its votes in the North (including 32.2% in Veneto, 28.0% in Lombardy, 26.7% in Trentino, 25.8% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and 22.6% in Piedmont), but also made inroads in the rest of the country, especially in Central Italy (notably 20.2% in Umbria), the upper part of the South (13.8% in Abruzzo) and Sardinia (10.8%).

[83] On 24 March, the centre-right coalition and the Five Star Movement agreed on the election of presidents of the Houses of Parliament, Roberto Fico of M5S for the Chamber and Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati of Forza Italia for the Senate.

[87][88][89] On 9 May, after a day of rumours, both Salvini and Di Maio officially requested that President Mattarella give them 24 more hours to strike a government agreement between the two parties.

[100] In his speech after Conte's resignation, Mattarella declared that the two parties wanted to bring Italy out of the Eurozone, and as the guarantor of the Italian Constitution and the country's interest and stability he could not allow this.

[106][107] Meanwhile, Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio announced their willingness to restart the negotiations to form a political government; Giorgia Meloni, leader of FdI, gave her support to the initiative.

[117][118] On 22 February 2019, the Italian magazine L'espresso published an investigation revealing a 3 million euro funding scheme,[119] paid for by Kremlin-linked entities and disguised as a diesel sale.

[120] The case obtained renewed attention in July 2019 when BuzzFeed made public the voice recordings and full transcripts of the meeting at the base of the investigation previously published by L'Espresso.

[143] Early in his tenure, numerous media outlets noted that despite Salvini's junior status in the governing coalition, he placed himself in a role even more dominant than Conte and appeared to set Italy's agenda.

"[144][145] Days after taking his oath, the new Interior Minister created a diplomatic incident with Tunisia, stating that the country sent Italy only convicts who came to Europe with the sole aim of committing crimes.

[150] On 16 June 2018, Matteo Salvini said, "These people should know that Italy no longer wants to be any part of this business of clandestine immigration and they will have to look for other ports to go to", adding "As minister and as a father, I take this action for the benefit of all".

[156] On 24 September 2018, the Council of Ministers approved the so-called "Salvini Decree", which contained a series of hardline measures that abolished key forms of protection for migrants and made it easier for them to be deported.

Matteo Salvini accused Rackete of trying to sink an Italian patrol boat that was attempting to intercept her, calling the incident an act of war and demanding the Netherlands government intervention.

[172] A judge in Catania dismissed the case in May 2021, ruling that no crime had been committed, the incident was not a kidnapping, and that Salvini's six-day block to allow for other EU countries to resettle the migrants was permissible under international law.

[173] On 30 July 2020, the Senate authorized (by 149 votes against 141) a second trial against Salvini over the Open Arms case, where he was accused of kidnapping migrants after blocking the NGO's rescue ship off the coast of Sicily in August 2019.

[178] On 20 December 2024, a court in Palermo acquitted Matteo Salvini of charges relating to the illegal detention of 100 migrants, which stemmed from his refusal to allow disembarkation from the humanitarian rescue vessel Open Arms in Lampedusa in 2019.

[189] His political views have been described as on the far-right,[190][191] espousing policies such as, among others, collecting census data on and expelling members of the Roma community living illegally in Italy.

[citation needed] On social issues, Salvini opposes same-sex marriage, civil unions and adoption[193] as well as anti-discrimination laws,[194] while he supports the legalisation of brothels.

"[206] In the wake of the MV Enrica Lexie case, Salvini called for the expulsion of the Indian Ambassador to Italy and a military operation to extract the two detained Italian marines accused by India of the shooting.

[210] Upon becoming Deputy Prime Minister, he also praised Saudi Arabia as "an element of stability and reliability both in bilateral relations and as an actor in the more general Middle Eastern chessboard", and pledged to expand security, economic, commercial and cultural ties with the Kingdom.

[222][223] Following the Hamas attacks in October 2023, Salvini accused the Italian branch of Amnesty International of "racism" for refusing to attend a comic and games festival, due to Israel's Embassy in Italy having sponsored the event.

[227][228] In September 2018, Salvini pledged his support for The Movement, a European populist group founded by Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon.

[231] He was confronted for his past support of Putin by Wojciech Bakun, the mayor of a Polish town Przemyśl, while visiting its refugee center during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.