Francesco Carcaterra

The Honourable Francesco Carcaterra MS
President of the United Transetrurian Federation
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 August 2016
Deputy	Ettore Mantovano (2016-2018) Vittoria Vasari (2018-present)
Preceded by	Andrea Salvini
Leader of the Tribune Movement
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 March 2012
Preceded by	Office established
Representative for San Pietro della Abbadia Lariana
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 2013
Preceded by	Achille Sogliato
Majority	16,530
Personal details
Born	(1970-06-06) 6 June 1970 Vicalvi, Vespasia, Etruria
Political party	Etrurian Federalist Party (1992-1999) National Action (1999-2012) Tribune Movement (2009-present)
Other political affiliations	Flame of Resurgence (1999-2010) Traditional Alternative for the Republic (2010-2012) Tullio Farinace Society (2012-present)
Spouse	Lucrezia (m. 1998)
Children	3
Residence	Palazzo Vittoria
Alma mater	University of San Michele
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Academic
Cabinet	Carcaterrra administration

Francesco Aurelio Carcaterra (born 6 June, 1964) is a Etrurian politician and is current President of the Popular Transetrurian Federation.

Born and raised in Vicalvi, Carcaterra received an history degree from the University of San Michele in 1987, in 1988 he secured his doctorate in Etrurian history from the National University of Vicalvi, where he became a lecturer. He would become both a popular lecturer and highly controversial in his political leanings and interpretations of history.

Carcaterra was a well-known critic of the Euclean Community and a prominent activist in opposing Etrurian membership of the continental bloc. In 1999, he ended his membership with the Etrurian Federalist Party after it declared its intention to work toward reforming Etruria to Euclean standards. The same year, Carcaterra founded National Action a centre-right political party opposed to EC membership. In 2002, he was sacked from the National University for his controversial book "A Solarian Etruria", in which he advocated what many considered to be neo-functionalist policies. He never returned to teaching, instead focusing on leading National Action. Despite failing to break into the federal legislature, it did see some localsied success in Vespasia and Navalia at the state-level. From 1999 until 2012, he was also a prominent member of the nationalistic think-tank and activist group, Flame of Resurgence. In 2012, the Federalist Party government of Emiliano Reali announced that a referendum on Euclean membership would be held in 2016. That year, Carcaterra succeeded in forming the Tribune Movement through a merger of numerous like-minded minor parties on the right of Etrurian politics.

In 2013, the Tribune Movement won 14 seats in the federal lower-house and ten seats in the upper-chamber, with Carcaterra winning his local constituency of San Pietro della Abbadia Lariana. He and other prominent Tribune Movement leaders successfully came to lead to the No-campaign during the referendum, winning it with 55% to 44% for No. The defeat in the referendum crippled the centre-right government, which collapsed in August, leading to a general election. Using populism, soft-Etrurian nationalism and reformist rhetoric, the Tribune Movement won a landslide, elevating Carcaterra to the presidency.

After two years in office, Carcaterra's government called a snap election in 2018, where it won a second landslide, securing a two-thirds majority in the upper-house and a larger majority in the lower house. It was the largest electoral victory for any single party since the restoration of democracy in 1983.

Presidency (2016-present)

Main article: Presidency of Francesco Carcaterra

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?"

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."

Carcaterra has described people who advocate the demolition of the ERR era war monument near Vicalvi as "criminals of mind and soul" and "utter scum."

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."