Francesco Carcaterra
The Honourable Francesco Carcaterra | |
|---|---|
 Francesco Carcaterra in 2018 | |
| President of the United Etrurian Federation | |
| Assumed office 11 August 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Emiliano Reali |
| Federal Leader of the Tribune Movement | |
| Assumed office 30 August 2012 | |
| Deputy | Gianfranco Galizia |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Leader of National Action | |
| In office 4 April 2009 – 30 August 2012 | |
| Preceded by | Umberto Fafani |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Represenative for San Pietro della Abbadia Lariana | |
| Assumed office 3 May 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Margareta Gennaro |
| Majority | 22,694 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Francesco Aurelio Carcaterra 6 June 1964 Tyrrenhus, Etruria |
| Political party | National Action (2006-2012) Tribune Movement (2012-present) |
| Spouse | Augustina Carcaterra (1989-Present) |
| Children | 1 |
| Alma mater | University of San Michele |
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Francesco Aurelio Carcaterra (born 6 June 1963), is an Etrurian university professor and politician, who is serving as President of Etruria since August 2016.
Carcaterra spent the majority of his career as a history professor and was also a leading figure in the Academic Association for Etrurian History, a notable right-wing society comprised of academics. He would enter politics in the mid-2000s following his controversial sacking from the prestigious University of San Michele, over his published best-seller book, A Solarian Etruria. In 2009, he was elected the leader of the national conservative National Action, where he then successfully established an electoral bloc with two other hard-right parties.
In 2012, the Coalition of the Right united to form the Tribune Movement, with Carcaterra elected Federal Leader of the party. In 2013, the Tribune Movement became the fourth largest party in that year’s general election and Carcaterra was elected to the Chamber of Representatives. In 2016, Carcaterra and the Tribune Movement would lead the No-campaign in the year’s EC membership referendum. Utilising the widespread corruption in Etrurian government to tar the EC, coupled with energetic championing of national sovereignty, economic independence and anti-immigrant sentiment, the No-vote won by a landslide, ending thirty-years of pro-EC policy and efforts toward obtaining membership of the bloc for Etruria. The defeat of the Yes-campaign as well as the Miraviglia Scandal brought about the collapse of the centre-right coalition government and in August 2016, the Tribune Movement won a landslide victory and entered into coalition with the Farmers and Workers Union, Francesco Carcaterra became President of Etruria on 11 August 2016.
Since becoming President, Carcaterra’s government initially focused on instituting a wide-range reform programme aimed at supporting lower- and middle-income workers. This included a series of worker’s rights amendments, an increase to the federal minimum wage and passing delayed health insurance reforms. Between 2016 and 2018, the Carcaterra government abolished, or shuttered numerous government bodies and agencies dedicated to Etruria meeting EC standards for membership, several of which focused on civil liberties, press freedoms and anti-racial discrimination. Utilising popular referendums to by-pass the two-thirds majority requirement to amend the constitution, the Carcaterra government re-introduced capital punishment, secured electoral reform and federalised law enforcement.
In 2018, a series of laws aimed at censoring debate or reference to Solarian War-era war crimes in academia was condemned by the Euclean Community, this led to the banning and blocking of Le Monde, a Gaullican newspaper, sparking the 2018 EC-Etruria Crisis and the Pietromontecorvino Incident. Riding a wave of patriotism and popular support against what was conceived as EC infringement of Etrurian sovereignty, Carcaterra led the Tribune Movement to a second landslide victory in a snap election, winning a supermajority in the Chamber of Representatives and a two-thirds majority in the State Council, establishing the first single-party government since 1984.
Since the 2018 election, the Carcaterra government has enacted further reforms that have led to significant democratic backsliding in Etruria. Judicial reforms under the guise of combatting corruption in the justice system has led to serious declines in judicial independence, Operation Gladio, which led to the detention of 5,800 suspected organised criminals, also led to the seizure and sale of hundreds of published, digital, radio and television outlets to pro-Tribune companies or consortiums, undermining freedom of the press. This was followed by the sacking and institutional capture of ARE, the nation’s public broadcaster by the Carcaterra government. In 2020, the Carcaterra government passed a law and constitutional amendment, effectively banning abortion nationally. The same year it was reported that the National Audit Office was being used to persecute critics and NGOs with invasive and disruptive tax audits. In late 2020, a second electoral reform law was passed that is widely condemned for its gerrymandering and unfair benefits to the Tribune Movement.
Carcaterra’s social conservatism, right-wing populism and advocacy of what he describes as an "traditional and virtuous state" have attracted significant international. He is viewed by some in Etruria as overseeing a drift toward authoritarianism.
Early life and career
Carcaterra was born on the 6 June 1964 in Tyrrenhus, to Giorgio, a foreman at the Gianelli-Scalto Steel Mill and Aurelia, an office secretary. They lived in the working-class district of Castel Madaglia, which according to Carcaterra, “was as much an influencer on my life as my parents, in Castel Madaglia, you had a loving close community anchored with tradition and religion.” In 1969, Carcaterra attended the Santa Cecilia Catholic School, before graduating to the Classical Lyceum “Ricardo Dandarini.” Carcaterra then secured a Church-funded scholarship to study History at the University of San Michele, the most prestigious in Etruria. In 1979, Carcaterra secured his doctora in Etrurian History, his lecturers during his PhD studies remarked later, his “intense ability and skill to discerning details from historical events in relation to the modern day.”
Between 1980 and 1989, Carcaterra worked as a senior research consultant for the National Museum of Etrurian History, playing a key role in the development of exhibitions on the Etrurian First Republic, Etrurian Revolution and the Greater Solarian Republic. During this period, he also joined the Academic Association for Etrurian History, a controversial group of right-wing academics, who regularly produced books and thesis countering what they perceived to be a “left-wing and politically motivated presentation of historical fact.” Between 1985 and 1989, Carcaterra wrote several best-selling books on Etrurian history, his series on Renaissance Etruria were critically acclaimed.
In 1989, Carcaterra secured a lecturing position at San Michele, teaching masters and doctorate level students Etrurian history. He would hold this position until 2009. His teaching style was described as “personal and energetic”, while some students throughout his academic career did note an emotional bias toward the Etrurian First Republic, the Revolution and a “stunted” approach toward the controversial atrocities of the Solarian War, despite this, he was popular with his students.
In 1994, he caused controversy nationally with his book, the ”The Republic of Heaven: Esoteric Extremism or Catholicism’s Salvation?”, in which he called the Etrurian First Republic, the “greatest expression of Catholicism’s political potential, in manner that is universal as it is inherently and intrinsically Etrurian.” According to his biographer, Luigi Marco Manin, the 1994 controversy was both a precursor to the 2006 controversy over ”A Solarian Etruria”, as well as an “influential point, when Carcaterra, the right-wing academic rejected the adulation of the Greater Solarian Republic, like so many before him, for a veneration of the revolutionary Etrurian First Republic.”
In 2002 and 2004, Carcaterra took to writing his ambitious book yet, a full analysis of the Greater Solarian Republic. The book, though becoming a national best-seller and earning him an estimated ₣4.5 million (€2.8 million) in royalties and being critically acclaimed, sparked a serious academic debate. The book, ”A Solarian Etrurian” contained what many academics saw as an advocacy for several GRS-era policies, such as Etrurianitas and strong central government, and a denial of any war crimes or atrocities. It was the latter that resulted in Carcaterra being removed from San Michele as a senior lecturer, his sacking sparked a backlash among Etrurian society and despite being offered compensation and a return to his post, Carcaterra rejected it, telling interviewers on ARE in late 2004, “I have no wish to debase myself and my beliefs constructed through analysis and study of our nation’s history, by returning to an institution that is hell-bent on peddling theories and agendas that mar or blur historical reality.”
His sacking and public retaliation propelled him into a popular figure among the Etrurian hard-right and far-right, who saw him as a victim of the “pro-EC, anti-Etrurian Proteri Oscuri.” Supported by the financial income made the post-sacking media focus, Carcaterra took up membership of the hard-right National Action party.
Early political career
In 2005, Carcaterra joined National Action. At the time, National Action was predominately a national conservative, Catholic conservative political party, that rarely exceeded 3% of the national vote. In a television interview in 2008, Carcaterra said he joined National Action because it was “civil and reasonable, there is no place for thuggish rhetoric.” Owing to his national reputation and profile, Carcaterra was appointed to the Central Executive Committee of the party by then leader, Umberto Fafani.
Carcaterra used his position on the CEC to urge for a refining of the party’s message, citing the endemic corruption of the establishment parties (the Etrurian Federalist Party and the Social Democratic Party) at the federal and state levels. He also urged for a refining of the traditional values platform, suggesting the party come out directly opposing same-sex civil unions, abortion and the secularisation of schooling. Impressed, Fafani backed Carcaterra’s proposal in time for the 2006 snap local and state elections in Veratia. The clearer platform and Carcaterra’s own approach to campaigning for candidates delivered National Action 10 seats in the State Assembly and over 60 seats locally across Etruria’s largest state.
In the run-up to the 2009 federal election, Carcaterra was selected as National Action’s first candidate for the San Giovanni II seat, a suburban area west of Tyrrenhus. He also played a significant role in the party’s manifesto for the year’s election, building on the success of the Veratian campaign. Etruria had escaped relatively unscathed the 2005 Financial Crisis, however, the tax cuts and stimulus launched under the SDP-led government headed by President Vinko Begović was widely condemned as benefiting only middle-income areas of the country. This marked Carcaterra’s first foray into working-class focused populism. Eager to build up on momentum, party leader Umberto Fafani began to attack the open-borders approach of the SDP government, committing numerous damaging gaffes and being openly accused of racism and sexism by the press. Fafani’s comments damaged National Action, wiping out its 9% average poll ratings, which would have seen it achieve the 5% threshold for seats in the Senate. On election day, National Action won only 3.9% of the vote, failing to win any seats, including Carcaterra’s San Giovanni II.
Following the disastrous result, the CEC of National Action voted out Fafani as party leader. Carcaterra announced his own candidacy for party leader and won by a landslide 78% against two other state-level politicians. His first act as leader, was to institute a party-wide rule book for public relations, this included a series of lectures by him for party candidates on behaviour, rhetoric and conduct. This was followed by a complete removal of any references on immigration. This was followed by the expulsion of noted neo-functionalists, which led to praise from the mainstream press.
In mid-2009, Carcaterra announced his plans to enter negotiations with the other two major hard-right political parties in Etruria; the People’s Radical Party (Partito Radicale Popolare) and the Justice and Freedom Party (Partito Giustizia e Libertà), to form an electoral bloc. In an interview with television reporters, Carcaterra said, “unless the right of Etruria unites, we will never succeed in shattering the corrupt and criminal monopoly held by the establishment centre-left and so-called centre-right.”
Coalition of the Right
In the spring of 2010, he arranged for a meeting of the three party leaderships and through negotiation, succeeded in forming a unified electoral alliance, known as the Coalition of the Right (Coalizione di Destra). Very quickly, Carcaterra and his allies from National Action were able to mould the bloc's political views and platform. Carcaterra dismissed the traditions of the other parties, of often blunt language and racist anti-immigrant rhetoric, instead, he pursued a focus on income disparity, declining cultural traditionalism and rampant political corruption.
The CdD saw its first electoral success in 2011, following the collapse of the Red-Blue coalition in the state of Palestrina. In the 2011 Palestrina state election, the Coalition won 29 seats out of the 280 in contention, while the centre-right Etrurian Federalist Party was able to form a coalition with the christian democrat Libertas party, this was the most successful result for the hard-right for decades. The seats gained and the 21% of the popular vote vindicated Carcaterra's argument for softening the tone. His personal success further emboldened him and his allies from National Action to further liberalise the hard-right's most contentious positions.
The centralisation of organisation and leadership within the Coalition was hastened by the departure of Enrico Sorelli, the leader of the JFP. Sorelli was a "old-time right-winger" and held personal and familial ties to the National Social Movement (Movimento Sociale Nazionale), a legal successor to the National Solarian Front of the Greater Solarian Republic regime. Sorelli was replaced by Gianfranco Galizia, a more moderate and modern political mind. Galizia and Carcaterra swiftly developed a close rapport that eased the modernisation process.
Following Sorelli's departure, the three parties of the coalition met in late January 2012 to discuss a renewed and more cohesive political platform. This led to a significant shift of the CDD toward the centre-right in some areas of policy. This included the introduction of a monthly payment to families with one child or more under the age of 30, improved women's right in the workplace, improved maternity leave provisions and an expansion of government subsidies for healthcare. Conversely, the CDD announced it would restore capital punishment, national service, mandatory sentencing and a major overhaul of the electoral system and judiciary to confront organised crime and corruption. The CDD's anti-elite and populist message was further refined, which would be a key cause for the Tribune Movement's landslide victory four years later.
July 2012, President Emiliano Reali announced that his government would organise a referendum on membership of the Euclean Community. Owing to Etruria's progress of meeting the EC's membership standards was still short, the Reali government penciled the referendum for July 2016. The shock announcement sent the right-wing of Etrurian politics into a tailspin as no major movement or indication of securing membership had been raised since 2005. In response, the Coalition of the Right met for an emergency congress in August and agreed to formally unite into the Tribune Movement. Carcaterra became Federal Leader, whilst Galizia was appointed Federal Secretary and party deputy leader.
Senate
The formation of the Tribune Movement in 2012, unified the Etrurian right for the first time since 1984 and provided Etrurian voters with the first major alternative to the centre-right Etrurian Federalist Party. The announcement of an EC membership referendum also energised the Right, leading to a series of defections from the Pro-EC EFP by Eucloskeptic senators to the Tribune Movement. Two these figures, Ettore Mantovano and Leandro Ladarola, who would go on to serve as Vice President and Finance Minister respectively.
Carcaterra was adept at packing the party’s Federal Executive with supporters and loyal allies, but also figures who shared his desire to “civilise the right” and had the capacity to enforce it. In a speech to Tribune activists, which was uploaded onto social media he described the Tribune’s mission as, “the pursuit of nationalist, populist and sovereigntist agenda based on scientific approaches. We must denounce open borders not as the racist and thuggish ways of yesterday, but through science. We oppose open borders not because these people are foreign, don’t share our values, but because mass migration places undue pressure on public services, which this country sadly, cannot even provide adequately for its indigenous citizens.” To further cement the abandonment of openly racist language, the Federal Executive banned Tribune candidates from operating their own social media accounts, instead placing control in the hands of electoral agents.
The message discipline of the Tribune Movement from 2012 and 2013 enabled it to carve out an exclusive position for those who opposed EC membership, while its social media campaigns proved highly superior to that of the establishment parties. Carcaterra described the Tribune Movement’s platform in the lead up to the 2013 federal election as, “no to EC membership, no to mass migration, no to foreign control of our rights and no to corruption.”
In the 2013 federal election, the Tribune Movement came 4th nationally, winning over 6% of the vote and 45 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 10 seats in the State Council.
Carcaterra was appointed to the seat of San Pietro della Abbadia Lariana, a suburban district of eastern Tyrrenhus, near his childhood home. Carcaterra became the Tribune leader in the Chamber of Representatives and proved a capable debater and orator.
As a member of the senate, Carcaterra developed a reputation as an avid district representative, regularly meeting with his district voters. He would regularly attack the Reali government rather than ask questions and held significant authority and sway among Tribune senators. 18 months after the election, he infamously asked President Emiliano Reali, “I would like to ask the President today, which fashion house bribed him to wear their suit today? And perhaps he would like to twirl for us” His question followed a news story that President Reali had been gifted a €1,500 tailored suit from Armada, Etruria’s most famous fashion designer. In early 2014, he again entered the public limelight for asking President Reali, “I would like to ask the President whether he has ever met a steel welder? If so, did he ever explain to that fine man why he seeks to destroy his entirely universe by adopting policies that will only unleash suffering and poverty?” The same month, Carcaterra denounced Finance Minister Massimiliano Papandrea in the Chamber as the “soulless creature who emerges at night, not to steal children, but to destroy the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the working class. He comes not for blood, but for your future.”
In 2015, Carcaterra was elected President of the Senatorial Committee on Justice and Law Enforcement.
In 2015, following the passing of a bill that extended senatorial immunity from prosecution until 2020 (this was repealed in 2016 following the Tribune victory), Carcaterra denounced the Etrurian federal legislature as the “pulsating lair of beasts, who’s nests are feathered with the souls of ordinary Etrurians. As of now, our ancestors from the Solarian Republic, Empire, the renaissance states, the First Republic howl in indignation at this blatant act of smug arrogance. This place is the gaping maw of hell and Satan’s claws are scratching your backs.”
Carcaterra’s brief tenure as an opposition leader enabled the Tribune Movement and himself to present themselves as the champions of the average Etrurian, the manual worker, lower and middle income earners. Whilst his regularly attacks on corruption fuelled and entrenched the party’s perception as the anti-corruption crusaders.
EC Referendum
On 14 March 2016, Francesco Carcaterra officially announced the formation of the Etruria Says No (L'Etruria Dice No) campaign, to represent the No-vote in the upcoming EC referendum. To the surprise and shock of many Pro-Eucleans, the No-campaign saw an immediate surge in volunteers, donations and official endorsements by several businesses, trade unions and leading eucloskeptics across the political spectrum.
Though polls indicated a landslide victory for Yes throughout 2016, Carcaterra proved a capable campaigner, addressing large open-air rallies and making adept use of social media. The No-campaign’s simplified position and message discipline was in stark contrast to the Yes-campaign, which lacked a singular body and instead boasted four independent campaigns, that rarely coordinated their efforts. Commentators at the time bemoaned the chaotic nature of the Yes-campaign, with Il Popolo writing, “much like the civil politics of the centre, the effort to secure Etruria a spot in the EC is now falling victim to ego, selfishness and inter-personal rivalries. And there on the side of regression and dog whistles is a singular message, a singular point and one man, Francesco Carcaterra.”
Throughout April and May, polls indicated a steady increase for the No-vote, aided by repeated public spats and contradictory messages by the Yes-campaigns. While the race was tightening, the Yes-campaign still held a 12 point lead.
On May 18, a televised debate was held between Francesco Carcaterra and President Emiliano Reali, who led the Euclean Etruria campaign, the designated official group for Yes. The debate was marred by vicious battles between the Yes-campaigns who demanded they all be represented at the debate, rather than relying on Reali. The debate was widely seen as a disaster for Reali and the Yes-campaigns, with Carcaterra continuingly attacking Reali on a study that showed the common market would have devastating effects on Etruria’s manufacturing industry. Reali’s answer on whether Etrurian farmers would be protected, “there have to be concession to secure membership, farmers will have to take it” was portrayed as elitist and arrogant by Carcaterra who replied, “and so rural Etruria is thrown under the bus of globalism.”
The debate saw Yes’ lead close to just 5 points, but stabilised. Notably, the Yes-campaigns agreed to no further debates with Carcaterra.
On June 20, the entire campaign was thrown into chaos when federal agents arrested the Minister of Infrastructure and Development’s chief of staff. On June 21, a further 24 aides to at least four cabinet ministers and the director-general of the National Audit Office were arrested for corruption. On June 22, the Miraviglia Scandal broke, engulfing the entire Reali government, including President Reali himself and Vice President Andrea Salvini.
Carcaterra and the No-campaign immediately conflated the scandal and corruption with EC membership. Controversially, the No-campaign began to spread a conspiracy theory on social media and on the campaign trail, that if Etruria joined the EC, corruption would go on unpunished as the “EC only likes globalists and the liberal-left.” The accusation that Etruria’s judicial system would be subordinate to the EC legal structure further fuelled its claims that corruption trials would collapse on purpose to protect the pro-EC elite.
The scandal decimated the Yes-vote’s lead and on May 3, the No-vote was found to hold a twenty-point lead over Yes. The side lining of Reali on the campaign trail by SDP leader, Giorgio Abbate saw Yes cut No’s lead by 9 points on the day of voting.
On 5 July, the leaders of the campaigns were permitted one broadcasted message. Carcaterra used the corruption scandal to once again conflate criminality with the EC:
“it is important now to see who it is that wishes us to join the EC. It is the media, it is the globalist centrists and centre-left, it is the judiciary, it is those who have been politics for decades and yet do nothing for the ordinary Etrurian, you. What do these people and factions have in common? They’re corruption and criminal. They steal, they lie and they abuse because they have lofty aspirations and are politically correct. If we join the EC tomorrow, these people will never be held to account and their abuses and violations against our country will continue indefinitely. We must vote no tomorrow, vote no for justice, democracy, liberty, civility, civic duty and clean politics.”
On 6 July, Etruria voted against EC membership 55% to 44%, with every state with the exceptions of Altidona, Chiastre and Peravia. The same day, President Emiliano Reali resigned and was succeeded by Andrea Salvini, the result effectively ended thirty-years of progress by Etruria toward EC membership and threw its relations with the bloc into a tailspin, primarily due to the falsehoods spread by the No-campaign. The referendum also served as a cataylst for a resurgence in Etrurian nationalism and the far-right, whilst opinion polls for political parties showing the Tribune Movement in the lead with 43% of voters. In a short televised statement, Carcaterra described the No-victory as the "day we renewed our faith, love and trust in our country, truly the greatest to ever grace God's creation."
2016 federal election
The resignation of Emiliano Reali inflicted significant damage on the governing Etrurian Federalist Party, the arrest of aides to ministers belonging to the Sotirian DemocraticLibertas party threatened to collapse the coalition. President Andrea Salvini, who was named as suspect as Reali’s Vice President further eroded public trust. The scandal which as of 10 July, now expanded to included members of the SDP on separated charges, coupled with the establishment parties’ defeat in the EC referendum supplied the Tribune Movement with historic momentum. On July 11, Carcaterra in a video posted on social media demanded an election, saying, “the criminals have been laid low by the people, now they must vacate government. It is over.”
Anti-government protests over the Miraviglia Scandal became a daily occurrence in the days after the EC referendum, while scuffles between Pro-EC and the far-right turned violent. In an article written in the right-leaning Telegrafo Solariano, Carcaterra said, “we are witnessing the collapse of the Etrurian status-quo, to many this is a sad affair, government collapsing, protests and fights in the street, but in truth this is a moment of charged revolutionism, this is a moment for real change.”
On July 20, the Farmers and Workers Union withdrew from the governing coalition, citing “irreconcilable differences of policy and integrity.” The FWU withdrawal denied the EFP its majority and ultimately forced President Salvini to call a general election.
Carcaterra and the Tribune Movement immediately posted a manifesto that focused near exclusively on combatting corruption. The most prolific promise made by the Tribunes during the August election was to revoke immunity for senators, enabling them to be charged with criminality. The Tribune Movement complimented its anti-corruption promises with various economic reforms, increases to the minimum wage, improved workers’ rights, restrictions on immigration and to federalise law enforcement.
On 10 August 2016, the Tribune Movement won a landslide victory, winning 41.60% of the popular vote, though owing to the country’s electoral system, it fell short of majority. Neogitations that took place during the election with the FWU saw the two parties enter coalition on 11 August, with Carcaterra assuming office as President of Etruria.
Presidency (2016-present)
Domestic policy
Economy policy
Constitutional reform
Judicial reform
Operation Gladio
Foreign policy
EC relations
Personal life
Controversies and leadership style
Attacks on the media
Throughout his rise to power, Carcaterra has been a frequent critic of the Etrurian press, often describing them as "vicious dilettantes " and "purveyors of Etruria hating falsehoods". During the EC referendum when he led the No-campaign, he often came under fire and scrutiny by pro-EC papers, particularly Il Popolo. A week into the campaign, the paper published a two-page spread cover of his comments and works, arguing that Carcaterra was a "wolf in sheep's clothing holding a meek academics mask, when in reality, he is the greatest threat to Etruria's future since the military dictatorship." In response to the article, he denounced Il Popolo as a "paper for the brain dead and deluded. I am threat to the foul and dark future they would enforce on all Etrurians, and I intend to be a bigger threat than they can possibly imagine."
Following the No victory in the referendum, he further attacked the pro-EC papers saying in June 2016, "they lost and now they scramble to further insult the millions of patriotic Etrurians who said no their dystopian plans. These papers are the enemies of the people, they are as much a fifth column as Marolevs and as criminal as the Mafia."
In 2017, in response to a highly critical article against the Tribune Movement and its base, Carcaterra reportedly threatened the remove the personal detail from Ronaldo Garlini, a prominent investigative journalist with the Quotidiano San Alessandro newspaper. Garlini has personal protection in response to death threats by mafia groups following his groundbreaking work against the Altadonna Syndicate in the early 1990s. In March the same year he said, "Is it not right that these supposed journalists pay for their own protection? Why is the tax payer covering it when all these people do is throw muck at this country?"
Attacks on the judiciary
Parliamentary debate absences
Views and ideology
Carcaterra is a self-described populist-nationalist and throughout his academic and political careers advocated policies or positions befitting these accolades. His ideology according to commentators is rooted around six key tenets, popular participation, a strong federal government, nationalism, historical revisionism, enhanced state capitalism and militarism.
With domestic focus, Carcaterra has advocated a powerful federal government in certain areas, he's described the weak federalism of the Third Republic (1983-present) as "recipe for collapse and anarchy", legislating for increased federal powers over the national economy, development and law enforcement. In line with his position on a strong federal government, he has openly criticised the "government being the altar to civil liberties trumping common sense and security" and regularly claims that the state has the right to violate laws and rights in pursuit of national prosperity and security. Carcaterra has also expressed views that have been described as welfare chauvinism, where he has claimed Marolevs and Zingari undermine services, such as healthcare and education due to their cultural traditions.
The welfare chauvinism ties into Carcaterra's advocacy for nationalism and patriotism in society and business. He has regularly argued that "nationalism is not bad, but a key means of uniting society harmoniously", he has also denounced liberal leaning media outlets in Etruria as "advocates for self-loathing, national guilt and shame". He has advocated a return of Solarianitas, a veneration of Ancient Solarian history, civics and culture, while simultaneously dismissing historical war crimes during the Solarian War. He has also criticised attempts at re-evaluating the historiography of the Etrurian Revolutionary Republic and its functionalist regime as "further attempts at self-demonisation for accommodation". These nationalistic views are integral aspects of the Tribune Movement and Carcaterra's presidency.
Carcaterra is widely considered to be a Catholic Nationalist, by regularly criticising the secular status of the Etrurian government. In 2013 he said, "the Church is a fountain of wisdom and guidance, that can flow into governance for the betterment of all." He is pro-life, describing abortion as "an assault upon humanity's greatest gift from God", his government since 2017 has introduced stricter regulations on its use in Etruria. He has repeatedly called for its criminalisation. As a practicing Solarian Catholic, he has throughout his career argued for an increased role for the Church in all areas of public life. In 2016, his government re-introduced the ban on non-Catholics teaching in state schools, forcing them into minority-religious schools exclusively. He has made dismissive comments about Etruria's religious minorities, in an interview with Nuovo Percorso he said, "we are a Catholic nation since the very beginning and those who are not, should change to reflect this reality if possible."
Views of the Revolutionary Republic
Throughout his academic and political career, Carcaterra has made a number of admiring comments of the Etrurian Revolutionary Republic and the functionalist regime under Ettore Caviglia and Aldo Tassinari, which ruled the country from 1938 until 1946. In 2012 he said, "the Revolutionary Republic had great ideas and plans, just execution was poor" and that victory in the Solarian War would have "given Euclea a golden age worthy of the Solaria of Emperors and Consuls."
In 2013 he described attempts at "de-functionalisation" as "historic vandalism and short-sighted idiocy", he and his party have regularly argued that those who seek to present the regime negatively, do so through their desire to turn Etruria into a "soulless landscape like the rest of Euclea". During his academic career he regularly analysed and debated reasons for the ERR's failure in the Solarian War, he sparked controversy in 1994 by arguing that the regime failed because it "failed to kill off enough of the deadwood and wastage", ostensibly blaming its defeat on internal opposition.
Throughout his career, Carcaterra has advocated the Great Betrayal ("Grande Tradimento") theory that was used by Caviglia and Tassinari to build their regime. In 2010 he said, "the Great Betrayal was real, we entered the Great War as allies with good intentions, only to see our colonial dominions and gains stripped from us by the perfidious northern powers." In 2002 he published two books on the subject, that used sources direct from the peace negotiations, while becoming bestsellers, critics in academia raised questions over his sourcing. In 2009 he defended his position saying, "we were stabbed in the back, we had our war dead violated by the betrayal, the Revolutionary Republic was necessary to restore Etruria's dignity."
Views on Solarian War atrocities
In keeping with his views on the Revolutionary Republic, Carcaterra has been a vocal denier of war crimes perpetrated by the ERR during the Solarian War. In 2001 he said, "they say history is written by the victors, so its fair to say that the history of the Solarian War is wrong." In 2014 during a parliamentary debate on exhuming Floren war dead in eastern Etruria he said, "for national politicians to buy into this garbage of Etrurian war crimes is testament to the failure of patriotic conviction."
In 2015 he told Orrizonte News, "Etruria never has nor never will degrade itself to dirt by committing atrocities against innocents. Its not in our culture or nature as a good and noble people." However, in 2018 he accepted that significant number of civilians died in occupied countries during the war, telling Amadeo Venti from Posta e Globo di Vespasiano, "we do need to accept that a large number of civilians died in the war, a needless amount. Whether Etruria is solely to blame is still debatable."
In 2018, his government passed the National Dignity Act, which prohibited academics at universities from raising the war crimes issue with students either in printed work, theses or lectures. He defended the act saying, "we can't have educators pollute our young peoples' minds with nonsense that will lead only to them hating their own country."
Views on Etruria's minorities
As an academic, Carcaterra's views on minorities was rooted in an opposition to open-door migration, which was instigated in the late 1990s. In 2001 he wrote, "as a developing nation and economy, allowing the mass entry of foreign nations will undermine the ratio of job creation for native born Etrurians... thus instigating social tensions." His writings on migration policy as an academic were firmly in keeping with other conservative analysis of policy, though this would change with his political career. Following his sacking from the University of San Michele after the publishing of "A Solarian Etruria", his attitudes toward migration dramatically shifted.
In 2007 he described the continue open-door policy as "the self immolation of Etrurian culture and identity" and in 2009 told a debate panel, "this policy of open-door, ensures that our government is the architect of our own destruction." In 2010, Carcaterra and National Action led the "Marcia per la Conservazione Nazionale" (March of National Conservation) in response to a report that showed that between 2000 and 2010 over 986,000 Bahians had migrated to Etruria. Over 75,000 people marched and at the rally he said, "by inviting in mass migration into our developing country, they condemn our people to low wages, limited job opportunities and the slow destruction of our cultural identity. This is a plot against all of us." As president, his government dramatically curtailed migration from Bahia and Coius with the introduction of a points-based migration system in 2017.
However, throughout his political career, Carcaterra has held significantly negative views toward Etruria's Marolev minority. He and many Tribune Movement politicians regularly claim the minority overuses federal and state level welfare programs, are predominately to blame for the country's crime rates and represent national security threats. Many analysts describe Carcaterra's views toward the Marolevs as outright racist and culturally chauvinistic. In 2014 he told the Telegrafo Solariano, "I do not believe for one second that we have ever successfully assimilated one Marolev, they are incapable of accepting Etrurian culture, it is beyond their capacity."
In 2015, he claimed the entire Marolev population represent a fifth column, writing in a blog, "we must accept that the entire Marolev population of Etruria seeks to undermine our country. Even as far back as Ancient Solaria, it has been the Marolev that has brought destruction and grief down upon us and our land. Be it through excessive use of social welfare, refusal to work, refusal to abide by our laws or treat our people with respect."