On 13 July 2013, Calderoli told a Northern League rally in Treviglio that Integration minister Cécile Kyenge, who was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo but has Italian citizenship, would be better off working as a minister "in her country." According to the Corriere della Sera, which reported the event, he added: "I love animals – bears and wolves, as is known – but when I see the pictures of Kyenge I cannot but think of the features of an orangutan, even if I'm not saying she is one."