It is difficult to say who was more conservative or liberal between Tosi and Zaia, who have often exchanged their positions within the party. Tosi was a more traditional conservative-liberal, while Zaia, while being a centrist, has resembled a green-populist position on environmental issues, nuclear power, GMOs, etc. In occasion of the 2011 referendums, Zaia declared his support for three referenda aimed at blocking the return to nuclear energy and the privatisation of water services. Needless to say, Tosi declared himself a "keen nuclearist" and a supporter of the free market instead. At the federal level of the party, Tosi was a long-time ally of Roberto Maroni.