The People of Freedom is a
centre-rightThe centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
political party in Italy. With the
Democratic PartyThe Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in Italy, that is the second-largest in the country. The party is led by Pier Luigi Bersani, who was elected in the 2009 leadership election....
, it is one of the two major parties of the current Italian party system.
The party was launched by
Silvio BerlusconiSilvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
on 18 November 2007 and officially founded in a party congress on 27–29 March 2009, when
Forza ItaliaForza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
and
National AllianceNational Alliance was a conservative political party in Italy.Gianfranco Fini was the leader of the party since its foundation in 1995, however he stepped down in 2008 after being elected to the nominally non-partisan post of President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and was succeeded by...
were merged together. Apart from Berlusconi, the PdL is led by a secretary,
Angelino AlfanoAngelino Alfano is an Italian politician who served as Italy's Minister of Justice from 2008 to 2011, as part of the Berlusconi IV Cabinet...
, and three coordinators,
Sandro BondiSandro Bondi is an Italian politician of The People of Freedom. He was appointed on 8 May 2008 to be Culture Minister until March 23, 2011 in Silvio Berlusconi's fourth cabinet.-Biography:...
,
Ignazio La RussaIgnazio Benito Maria La Russa is an Italian politician . He became Minister of Defence in the fourth cabinet of Silvio Berlusconi on 8 May 2008...
and
Denis Verdini-Biography:He graduated in Political Sciences and later became president of the local cooperative bank Credito Cooperativo Fiorentino.He began his political career in the Italian Republican Party, without being elected in the 1994 Italian general elections. After Silvio Berlusconi's victory in...
. Its leading members include
Giulio TremontiGiulio Tremonti is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finance under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 2008 to 2011....
,
Roberto FormigoniRoberto Formigoni is an Italian politician, and the current President of Lombardy Region, Italy.-Life and career:Graduated in Philosophy at the Catholic University of Milan, he studied political economy at the Sorbonne, in Paris....
,
Franco Frattini,
Maurizio SacconiMaurizio Sacconi is an Italian politician from Veneto.A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party, from 1979 to 1994 he was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and from 1987 to 1994 he served also as Under-Secretary of the Treasury...
,
Gianni Alemanno,
Mariastella GelminiMariastella Gelmini, is an Italian politician and attorney . She served as Italian Minister of Education in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet until November 16, 2011.-Political career:Gelmini was born in Leno, Italy....
and
Giancarlo GalanGiancarlo Galan is an Italian politician.After having been a Liberal activist in the Seventies and the Eighties, he was not active in politics until he joined Forza Italia since its foundation in 1994. In the same year he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies.In 1995 he ran successfully...
.
In coalition with Lega Nord, the party formed
Italy's governmentBerlusconi IV Cabinet has been the cabinet of the government of Italy from 8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011.As of July 2011, it was composed of 24 ministers, 4 deputy ministers and 39 under-secretaries, for a total of 67 members.-Sources:*...
from May 2008 to November 2011.
Background
Following the run-up to the
2006 general electionIn the Italian general election, 2006 for the renewal of the two Chambers of the Parliament of Italy held on April 9 and April 10, 2006 the incumbent prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the center-right House of Freedoms, was narrowly defeated by Romano Prodi, leader of the center-left The...
there had been talk among the component parties of the
House of FreedomsThe House of Freedoms , was a major Italian centre-right political and electoral alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi. It was initially composed of several political parties:*Forza Italia *National Alliance...
regarding a possible merger into a "united party of moderates and reformers".
Forza ItaliaForza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
(FI),
National AllianceNational Alliance was a conservative political party in Italy.Gianfranco Fini was the leader of the party since its foundation in 1995, however he stepped down in 2008 after being elected to the nominally non-partisan post of President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and was succeeded by...
(AN) and the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC) all seemed interested in the project. Soon after the election, however, UDC leader
Pier Ferdinando CasiniPier Ferdinando Casini is an Italian politician.-Biography:President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 2001 to 2006...
, who had already been a reluctant coalition partner, started to distance his party from its historical allies. Another party of the coalition, Lega Nord, showed no interest in the idea, because of its character of regional party.
On 2 December 2006, during a big rally of the centre-right in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
against
Romano Prodi's governmentThe Prodi II Cabinet was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008, a total of 722 days, or 1 year, 11 months and 21 days...
,
Silvio BerlusconiSilvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
proposed the foundation of a "freedom party", stressing that voters of the different parties were all part of a single "people of freedom". On 21 August 2007
Michela Vittoria BrambillaMichela Vittoria Brambilla is an Italian politician and businesswoman. On May 12th 2008, she is nominated undersecretary in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet...
, president of the
Circles of FreedomCircle of Freedom , more frequently referred to as Circles of Freedom, is a grassroots organisation within The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy....
(a group of Berlusconi's supporters), registered the name and symbol of the "Freedom Party" (
Partito della Libertà) on Berlusconi's behalf. At that time, none of Berlusconi's allies seemed keen on joining such a party, and also some leading members of Forza Italia looked disappointed.
The "running board revolution"
On 18 November 2007 Silvio Berlusconi claimed that his supporters had collected over 7 million signatures on an appeal demanding the
President of the RepublicThe President of the Italian Republic is the head of state of Italy and, as such, is intended to represent national unity and guarantee that Italian politics comply with the Constitution. The president's term of office lasts for seven years....
,
Giorgio NapolitanoGiorgio Napolitano is an Italian politician who has been the 11th President of Italy since 2006. A long-time member of the Italian Communist Party and later the Democrats of the Left, he served as President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1992 to 1994 and as Minister of the Interior from 1996 to...
, to call a fresh election. Shortly afterwards, from the
running boardA running board is a car or truck accessory part, a narrow step fitted under the side doors of the vehicle. It aids entry, especially into high vehicles. Typical of vintage cars which had much higher ground clearances than today's cars, it is also used as a fashion statement on vehicles that would...
of a car in a crowded Piazza San Babila in
MilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, he announced that Forza Italia would soon merge or transform into a new "party of the Italian people". The new course was thus called the "running board revolution" (
rivoluzione del predellino) and this expression soon became very popular both among Berlusconi's supporters and his adversaries.
At the beginning, the fate of Forza Italia remained unclear. Later, it was explained that the new party's core would consist of Forza Italia, the Circles of Freedom and other grassroots groups, and that some minor parties of the House of Freedoms would join too. AN leader
Gianfranco FiniGianfranco Fini is an Italian politician, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, leader of the center-right Future and Freedom party, and the former leader of the conservative National Alliance and the post-fascist Italian Social Movement...
made very critical statements in the days after Berlusconi's announcement, declaring the end of his support for Berlusconi as candidate for Prime Minister and that his party would not join the new party. UDC leader Casini too criticized the idea from the start and seemed interested in an alternative coalition with Fini.
Foundation and early years
On 24 January 2008 the
Prodi II CabinetThe Prodi II Cabinet was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008, a total of 722 days, or 1 year, 11 months and 21 days...
fell, paving the way for a
new general electionA snap general election was held in Italy on 13 April and 14 April 2008. The election came after President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved parliament on 6 February 2008 following the defeat of the government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi in a January 2008 Senate vote, and the unsuccessful tentative...
. On the day after Berlusconi hinted that Forza Italia would probably contest its last election, and postponed the birth of the new party until after the election. In an atmosphere of reconciliation with Fini, Berlusconi also stated that the new party could see the participation of other parties. On 8 February, Berlusconi and Fini agreed to form a joint list under the banner of "The People of Freedom", in alliance with Lega Nord.
Several parties and groups chose to join the PdL:
Forza ItaliaForza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
,
National AllianceNational Alliance was a conservative political party in Italy.Gianfranco Fini was the leader of the party since its foundation in 1995, however he stepped down in 2008 after being elected to the nominally non-partisan post of President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and was succeeded by...
, the
Circles of FreedomCircle of Freedom , more frequently referred to as Circles of Freedom, is a grassroots organisation within The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy....
, the
Circles of Good GovernmentClubs of Good Government is a grassroots organization within The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy.The Clubs are led by Marcello Dell'Utri, one of the seven founding members of Forza Italia along with Silvio Berlusconi. They were first launched in 1999, within Forza Italia, "in order to...
, the
Liberal PopularsThe Liberal Populars was a Christian-democratic Italian political party that is currently a faction within the larger The People of Freedom .-History:...
(a splinter group from the UDC), Christian Democracy for Autonomies, the
Pensioners' PartyThe Pensioners' Party is a centrist Italian political party. It was founded in 1987 in Milan and its current leader is Carlo Fatuzzo....
,
Liberal ReformersLiberal Reformers was a minor libertarian political party in Italy led by Benedetto Della Vedova, a former President of the Italian Radicals.-History:...
, the
Italian Republican PartyThe Italian Republican Party is a liberal political party in Italy.The PRI is party with old roots that originally took a left-wing position, claiming descent from the political position of Giuseppe Mazzini...
, the New Italian Socialist Party, the
Liberal DemocratsThe Liberal Democrats are a liberal-centrist political party in Italy.Its long-time leader was Senator Lamberto Dini, former Minister of the Treasury, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.-History:...
,
Decide!Decide! was an Italian libertarian political association led by Daniele Capezzone.The group was sometimes also referred to as Decidere.net, in reference to its official website. It was one of the founding members of Silvio Berlusconi's The People of Freedom party...
,
Italians in the WorldItalians in the World is an political party in Italy, founded in September 2006 by Senator Sergio De Gregorio, a former Socialist elected in the lists of Italy of Values. The party had previously existed as a political association since 2000. The party is to merge into The People of Freedom in 2009....
, Social Action and the
Reformist SocialistsThe Reformist Socialists were a tiny social-democratic political party in Italy, now acting as a faction within The People of Freedom....
.
In the
general electionA snap general election was held in Italy on 13 April and 14 April 2008. The election came after President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved parliament on 6 February 2008 following the defeat of the government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi in a January 2008 Senate vote, and the unsuccessful tentative...
the PdL won 37.4% of the vote, getting elected 276
deputiesThe Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
and 146
senatorsThe Senate of the Republic is the upper house of the Italian Parliament. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as Senato del Regno , itself a continuation of the Senato Subalpino of Sardinia-Piedmont established on 8 May 1848...
and becoming the Italian largest party. The PdL was also the first party since
Christian DemocracyChristian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
in
1979The Italian election of 1979 was held on June 3. The eighth Parliament of republican Italy was selected. This election was called just a week before the European vote: the lack of matching between the two elections caused much controversy for wasting public money.Terroristic attacks by the Red...
to get more than 35% of the popular vote.
On 27–29 March 2009, the new party held its first congress in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and was officially founded. Berlusconi was elected president of the party.
Sandro BondiSandro Bondi is an Italian politician of The People of Freedom. He was appointed on 8 May 2008 to be Culture Minister until March 23, 2011 in Silvio Berlusconi's fourth cabinet.-Biography:...
,
Ignazio La RussaIgnazio Benito Maria La Russa is an Italian politician . He became Minister of Defence in the fourth cabinet of Silvio Berlusconi on 8 May 2008...
and
Denis Verdini-Biography:He graduated in Political Sciences and later became president of the local cooperative bank Credito Cooperativo Fiorentino.He began his political career in the Italian Republican Party, without being elected in the 1994 Italian general elections. After Silvio Berlusconi's victory in...
were appointed national coordinators. In the
2009 European Parliament electionEuropean elections to elect 72 members of the European Parliament representing Italy were held on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 June 2009, as decided by the Italian government on December 18, 2008...
the party won 35.2% of the national vote, returning 29
MEPA Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
s.
In the
big round of regional elections of 2010A big round of regional elections in Italy took place on 28–29 March in 13 regions out of 20, including nine of the ten largest ones: Lombardy, Campania, Veneto, Lazio, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Apulia, Tuscany and Calabria...
the PdL retained
LombardyLombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
with
Roberto FormigoniRoberto Formigoni is an Italian politician, and the current President of Lombardy Region, Italy.-Life and career:Graduated in Philosophy at the Catholic University of Milan, he studied political economy at the Sorbonne, in Paris....
, gained Lazio with
Renata PolveriniRenata Polverini is an Italian politician and trade unionist. She is currently president of the Lazio region and was formerly Secretary General of the General Labour Union .-Biography:...
,
CampaniaCampania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
with Stefano Caldoro and
CalabriaCalabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
with Giuseppe Scopelliti, while
VenetoVeneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
was won by
Luca ZaiaLuca Zaia is an Italian Venetist politician, member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.Since March 2010 Zaia is President of Veneto...
of Lega Nord, which largely passed the PdL there.
Berlusconi vs. Fini
Between 2009 and 2010
Gianfranco FiniGianfranco Fini is an Italian politician, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, leader of the center-right Future and Freedom party, and the former leader of the conservative National Alliance and the post-fascist Italian Social Movement...
, former leader of the conservative National Alliance (AN) and President of the
Italian Chamber of DeputiesThe Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
, became a vocal critic of the leadership of Berlusconi. Fini departed from party's majority line on
stem cell researchThis article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...
, end of life issues, advance health care directive and
immigrationImmigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
, but, most of all, he was a proponent of a more structured party organisation. His criticism was aimed at the leadership style of Berlusconi, who tends to rely on his personal charisma to lead the party from the centre and supports a lighter form of party, which in his mind should be a movement-party that organises itself only at election times.
Although some
Finiani, such as
Italo BocchinoItalo Bocchino is an Italian politician and journalist.-Biography:Bocchino was born at Naples, and in his youth he was a members of the Italian Social Movement and worked as a spokesman for the member of parliament Giuseppe Tatarella, and subsequently as a journalist for Il Secolo d'Italia.In...
, Carmelo Briguglio and Fabio Granata, shared Fini's views on moral issues and immigration, many others, including
Andrea RonchiAndrea Ronchi is an Italian politician, former Italian Minister of Community Policy.-Biography:Andrea Ronchi was born in Perugia, Umbria. He graduated in political science and worked as a journalist. He was a founding member of the National Alliance party.In 2001, he joined the House of...
and Adolfo Urso, took a very different approach on these issues. In fact most
Finiani were Southern conservatives who opposed Berlusconi's leadership, his firm alliance with Lega Nord, federal reform and
Giulio TremontiGiulio Tremonti is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finance under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 2008 to 2011....
's economic policy. Fini was able to make inroads among the liberal and centrist ranks of the former Forza Italia, but he lost the support of most leading members of the former AN, notably including
Ignazio La RussaIgnazio Benito Maria La Russa is an Italian politician . He became Minister of Defence in the fourth cabinet of Silvio Berlusconi on 8 May 2008...
,
Maurizio GasparriMaurizio Gasparri is an Italian politician.After a period as Member of the Italian Parliament for the Movimento Sociale Italiano, Gasparri served as an Alleanza Nazionale member. During the course of his career he has served as Minister of Communications...
and
Altero MatteoliAltero Matteoli is an Italian politician, former member of Alleanza Nazionale right-wing party and then member of People of Freedom.Matteoli was born in Cecina. From 2001 to 2006 he was the Italian Environment Minister.-References:*...
, who became close allies of Berlusconi. Others, including
Gianni Alemanno and Alfredo Mantovano, found common ground with the party's Christian democrats.
On 15 April 2010 Bocchino launched an association named
Generation ItalyGeneration Italy is a faction within Future and Freedom , a political party in Italy.Although most of its members come from the conservative National Alliance and were earlier members of the Italian Social Movement , the foundation was considered the cradle of social liberalism within The People...
in order to better represent Fini's views within the party and push for a different party organisation. Five days later 52 MPs (39 deputies and 13 senators) signed a document in support of Fini and his theses, while other 74 MPs former members of AN, including La Russa, Gasparri, Matteoli and
Giorgia Meloni-Biography:Giorgia Meloni was born on January 15, 1977 in Rome, Italy. in 1996, she graduated from the Amerigo Vespucci Institute in Foreign Languages...
, plus Alemanno, Mayor of Rome, signed an alternative document in which they reasserted their loyalty to the party and Berlusconi. On 22 April 2010 the National Committee of the PdL convened in Rome for the first time in a year. The conflict between Fini and Berlusconi was covered live by television. At the end of the day a resolution proposed by Berlusconi's loyalists was put before the assembly and approved by a landslide margin.
Since then, clashes between Fini and Berlusconi became even more frequent and reached their height in late July, when Fini questioned the morality of some party bigwigs under investigation. On 29 July 2010 the party executive released a document (voted by 33 members out of 37) in which Fini was described as "incompatible" with the political line of the PdL and unable to perform his job of President of the Chamber of Deputies in a neutral way. Berlusconi asked Fini to step down and the executive proposed the suspension from party membership of three
Finiani (Bocchino, Briguglio and Granata) who had harshly criticized Berlusconi and accused some party members of criminal offences. As response, Fini and his followers formed their own groups in both chambers under the name of
Future and FreedomFuture and Freedom , whose complete name is Future and Freedom for Italy is a centre-right political party in Italy....
(FLI).
It was soon clear that FLI would leave the PdL and become an independent party. On 7 November, during a convention in
Bastia UmbraBastia Umbra is a comune in the Province of Perugia in the Italian region Umbria, located about 15 km southeast of Perugia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 20,523 and an area of 27.6 km²....
, Fini asked Berlusconi to step down from his post of Prime Minister and proposed a new government including also the Union of the Centre (UdC). A few days later, the four FLI members of the government resigned. On 14 December FLI voted against Berlusconi in a vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies, a vote won by Berlusconi by 314 to 311.
Re-organisation and discontents
In May 2011 the party suffered a big blow in local elections. Particularly painful was the loss of
MilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Berlusconi's hometown and party stronghold, where the outgoing PdL mayor
Letizia MorattiLetizia Brichetto-Arnaboldi Moratti is an Italian businesswoman and politician. She is the former mayor of Milan.-Biography:...
was defeated by
Giuliano PisapiaGiuliano Pisapia is an Italian lawyer and politician, twice member of the Parliament and Mayor of Milan since 1 June 2011...
, a leftist independent close to
Nichi VendolaNicola "Nichi" Vendola is an Italian left-wing politician and currently the President of Apulia.-Life:Born in Terlizzi, province of Bari , Vendola had been a member of the Italian Communist Youth Federation since the age of 14; he studied literature in university, presenting a dissertation about...
's Left Ecology Freedom party. In response to this and to crescent fibrillation within party ranks (especially among
ScajolianiScajoliani refers to the faction around Claudio Scajola, a leading member of The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy.The group wielded particular influence within Forza Italia , the main precursor of PdL. Scajola and his allies proposed a stronger party organization, differently from...
and ex-AN members),
Angelino AlfanoAngelino Alfano is an Italian politician who served as Italy's Minister of Justice from 2008 to 2011, as part of the Berlusconi IV Cabinet...
, the Justice minister, was chosen as national secretary in charge of re-organising and renewing the party. The appointment of 40-year old Alfano, a former
Christian DemocratChristian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
and later leader of Forza Italia in
SicilySicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, was unanimously decided by the party executive. However, Economy minister
Giulio TremontiGiulio Tremonti is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finance under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 2008 to 2011....
expressed his concerns as the nominee "will make us lose votes in the North". On 1 July the National Council modified the party's constitution and Alfano was elected secretary almost unanimously. In his acceptance speech, Alfano proposed the introduction of primaries.
Alfano led the party through a huge membership drive and, on 1 November, announced that more than one million individuals had joined the party. Alfano also drove the party to a Christian-democratic direction. The factions which benefited most from the effort were those of
Roberto FormigoniRoberto Formigoni is an Italian politician, and the current President of Lombardy Region, Italy.-Life and career:Graduated in Philosophy at the Catholic University of Milan, he studied political economy at the Sorbonne, in Paris....
(
Network ItalyNetwork Italy is a Christian-democratic faction within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy. It is composed of followers of Roberto Formigoni, a party bigwig who is currently President of Lombardy...
),
Ignazio La RussaIgnazio Benito Maria La Russa is an Italian politician . He became Minister of Defence in the fourth cabinet of Silvio Berlusconi on 8 May 2008...
(
Protagonist ItalyProtagonist Italy is a liberal-conservative faction and think tank within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy....
) and
Franco Frattini (
LiberamenteLiberamente is a liberal-centrist faction and think-tank within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy...
). The Christian-democratization of the party and the perceived marginalization of liberals and social democrats led
Carlo Vizzini-Political life:Vizzini was Secretary of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party from 1992 to 1993, Minister of Mails, and Minister for Cultural Assets and Activities , and was a member of the Italian Senate from Sicily for Forza Italia and latterly The People of Freedom...
to leave the party: "It seems to me that the PdL is set to become the Italian section of the
European People's PartyThe European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...
. I come from another tradition: I have been secretary of the
PSDIThe Italian Democratic Socialist Party is a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. Mimmo Magistro is the party leader. The PSDI, before the 1990s decline in votes and members, had been an important force in Italian politics, being the longest serving partner in government for Christian...
and I was one of the founders of the
Party of European SocialistsThe Party of European Socialists is a European political party led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. The PES comprises social-democratic national-level political parties primarily from Member state of the European Union, as well as other nations of the European continent. The...
. When I joined Forza Italia there were
LiberalsThe Italian Liberal Party was a liberal political party in Italy.-Origins:The origins of liberalism in Italy came from the so-called "Historical Right", a parliamentary group formed by Camillo Benso di Cavour in the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia following the 1848 revolution...
,
SocialistsThe Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
, Radicals. Now everything has changed."
In the midst of the European sovereign debt crisis, Vizzini was not alone in leaving the party. On 14 October, following calls by
Claudio ScajolaClaudio Scajola is an Italian politician.-Career:A long-time Christian Democrat, he was mayor of Imperia in the Eighties, as his father and his brother had been. When Christian Democracy disbanded, he joined Forza Italia in 1995. He was then elected deputy in 1996 and was national coordinator of...
and
Giuseppe PisanuGiuseppe Pisanu is an Italian politician, longtime member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Christian Democracy and then for Forza Italia...
for a new government, two deputies close to Scajola,
Giustina DestroGiustina Mistrello Destro is an Italian politician and entrepreneur.An entrepreneur by profession, Destro joined politics relatively late in her life. In 1999 she formed a list for Padua municipal election and ran as an independent candidate for mayor, with the support of centre-right parties,...
and
Fabio GavaFabio Gava is an Italian politician.A member of the Italian Liberal Party since 1967, he joined Forza Italia in 1993 following his long-time friend Giancarlo Galan. Elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in 1995, he was floor leader of Forza Italia and regional minister of Budget in Galan I...
, voted against Berlusconi during a vote of confidence and left the party altogether. On 2 November, Destro and Gava, along with Roberto Antonione,
Giorgio StracquadanioGiorgio Stracquadanio is an Italian politician and journalist.He began his political careers in the 1980s as activist of the Radical Party in Milan with the municipal councillor Tiziana Maiolo....
, Isabella Bertolini and Giancarlo Pittelli (who had left the party along with
Santo VersaceSanto Versace is the president and co-chief executive officer of Gianni Versace SpA, based in Milan, Italy. Since 2008 he has been elected as Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic in the constituency of Calabria...
in September), promoted an open letter in which they asked Berlusconi to step down. Contextually, Antonione announced that he was leaving the party. In the following days three more deputies, Alessio Bonciani, Ida D'Ippolito and Gabriella Carlucci, left to join the Union of the Centre. In three months, the PdL had lost 15 deputies and 4 senators, including 7 deputies and 3 senators who launched
Force of the SouthForce of the South is a liberal-conservative political party in Italy based in Sicily.In September 2010, after years of weighting , Gianfranco Micciché, long-time leader of Forza Italia and, later, The People of Freedom in Sicily and Under-Secretary in Berlusconi IV Cabinet, announced his exit...
/Great South under Gianfranco Micciché.
Berlusconi's resignation
On 7 November Lega Nord's leader
Umberto BossiUmberto Bossi is an Italian politician, leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy. He is married to Manuela Marrone and has four sons ....
proposed
Angelino AlfanoAngelino Alfano is an Italian politician who served as Italy's Minister of Justice from 2008 to 2011, as part of the Berlusconi IV Cabinet...
as Berlusconi's successor. On 8 November, during a key vote on a financial statement in the Chamber, three more deputies elected with the PdL (Franco Stradella, Gennaro Malgieri and Francesco Stagno d'Alcontres of Great South) were absent or abstained from the vote. The statement was passed thanks to the abstention of opposition parties, but Berlusconi got just 308 votes, 8 short of absolute majority. Malgieri stated that he was in the restroom and that he intended to vote yes, while another centre-right deputy, Francesco Nucara of the
Italian Republican PartyThe Italian Republican Party is a liberal political party in Italy.The PRI is party with old roots that originally took a left-wing position, claiming descent from the political position of Giuseppe Mazzini...
, was at the hospital and another one,
Alfonso PapaAlfonso Papa is an Italian politician, and a judge on leave of absence.A law professor and a judge, later elected to the Chamber of Deputies, Mr...
, in jail. Subsequently, Berlusconi announced that he intended to step down after the passage of the budget bill.
Days of big turmoil followed. Not only the party was highly divided, but its numerous factions and groups were divided too. As the appointment of
Mario MontiMario Monti is an Italian economist and academic who is Prime Minister of Italy, as well as Minister of Economy and Finance, since November 2011. Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the Internal Market, Services, Customs and Taxation from 1995 to 1999...
, an independent economist and former
European CommissionThe European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
er, looked very likely, some in the party wanted to support the new possible government (and some even wanted to join it), while others were resolutely against and preferred an early election instead. Alfano, in his capacity of secretary, had to mediate.
Among the party's Christian democrats,
Roberto FormigoniRoberto Formigoni is an Italian politician, and the current President of Lombardy Region, Italy.-Life and career:Graduated in Philosophy at the Catholic University of Milan, he studied political economy at the Sorbonne, in Paris....
, Maurizio Lupi and
Raffaele FittoRaffaele Fitto is an Italian politician, current Minister for Regional Business in Berlusconi IV Cabinet.-Biography:Raffaele Fitto was born in Maglie, Province of Lecce. His father, Salvatore Fitto, who was an exponent of the Christian Democracy and President of Apulia from 1985, died in...
(
Network ItalyNetwork Italy is a Christian-democratic faction within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy. It is composed of followers of Roberto Formigoni, a party bigwig who is currently President of Lombardy...
),
Claudio ScajolaClaudio Scajola is an Italian politician.-Career:A long-time Christian Democrat, he was mayor of Imperia in the Eighties, as his father and his brother had been. When Christian Democracy disbanded, he joined Forza Italia in 1995. He was then elected deputy in 1996 and was national coordinator of...
(
Christopher Columbus FoundationThe Christopher Columbus Foundation, whose complete name is Christopher Columbus Foundation for Freedoms is a faction and think tank within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy...
), and
Giuseppe PisanuGiuseppe Pisanu is an Italian politician, longtime member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Christian Democracy and then for Forza Italia...
(hence
PisanianiPisaniani refers to the faction around Giuseppe Pisanu, a leading member of The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy.Formerly a left-wing Christian Democrat, Pisanu has been an ally of Silvio Berlusconi, first in Forza Italia and later in the PdL, since 1994...
) supported Monti, while
Gianfranco RotondiGianfranco Rotondi is an Italian politician, and the current leader of the Christian Democracy for Autonomies since June 2005.- Biography :Rotondi was born in Avellino, Campania....
(Christian Democracy for Autonomies) and
Carlo GiovanardiCarlo Amedeo Giovanardi is an Italian politician and member of the Parliament..-Political career:He graduated in jurisprudence, and did his military service in the Carabinieri...
(
Liberal PopularsThe Liberal Populars was a Christian-democratic Italian political party that is currently a faction within the larger The People of Freedom .-History:...
) did not. Within
LiberamenteLiberamente is a liberal-centrist faction and think-tank within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy...
and among the party's
SocialistsThe Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
,
Franco Frattini (who threatened to leave the party) and
Fabrizio CicchittoFabrizio Cicchitto is an Italian politician.-Career:Fabrizio Cicchitto entered politics during the earlier 1960s, supporting the Marxist left wing of Riccardo Lombardi in the Italian Socialist Party and then becoming secretary of the party's youth organization...
were in favour, while
Mariastella GelminiMariastella Gelmini, is an Italian politician and attorney . She served as Italian Minister of Education in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet until November 16, 2011.-Political career:Gelmini was born in Leno, Italy....
, Paolo Romani,
Maurizio SacconiMaurizio Sacconi is an Italian politician from Veneto.A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party, from 1979 to 1994 he was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and from 1987 to 1994 he served also as Under-Secretary of the Treasury...
,
Renato BrunettaRenato Brunetta is an Italian economist and politician and, as of May 2008, a minister in the Berlusconi government.He is a former member of the Italian Socialist Party, Member of the European Parliament for the North-East from 2004 to 2009 with the Forza Italia, part of the European People's...
and, covertly,
Giulio TremontiGiulio Tremonti is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finance under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 2008 to 2011....
were against. The vast majority of former
National AllianceNational Alliance was a conservative political party in Italy.Gianfranco Fini was the leader of the party since its foundation in 1995, however he stepped down in 2008 after being elected to the nominally non-partisan post of President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and was succeeded by...
members (
Ignazio La RussaIgnazio Benito Maria La Russa is an Italian politician . He became Minister of Defence in the fourth cabinet of Silvio Berlusconi on 8 May 2008...
,
Maurizio GasparriMaurizio Gasparri is an Italian politician.After a period as Member of the Italian Parliament for the Movimento Sociale Italiano, Gasparri served as an Alleanza Nazionale member. During the course of his career he has served as Minister of Communications...
,
Altero MatteoliAltero Matteoli is an Italian politician, former member of Alleanza Nazionale right-wing party and then member of People of Freedom.Matteoli was born in Cecina. From 2001 to 2006 he was the Italian Environment Minister.-References:*...
,
Giorgia Meloni-Biography:Giorgia Meloni was born on January 15, 1977 in Rome, Italy. in 1996, she graduated from the Amerigo Vespucci Institute in Foreign Languages...
, etc.) was against, while a minority (mainly
Gianni Alemanno) was in favour.
On 12 November Berlusconi finally tendered his resignation to President
Giorgio NapolitanoGiorgio Napolitano is an Italian politician who has been the 11th President of Italy since 2006. A long-time member of the Italian Communist Party and later the Democrats of the Left, he served as President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1992 to 1994 and as Minister of the Interior from 1996 to...
. The executive of the PdL decided to support a government led by Monti under some conditions, the first being that it should not include politicians but just technocrats. The
Monti CabinetThe Monti cabinet is the incumbent cabinet of the government of Italy and was announced on 16 November 2011. The cabinet is composed of technocrats, three of whom are women. It includes 12 ministers with portfolio, and five without portfolio.-References:...
took office on 16 November. In the subsequent votes of confidence in the two houses of Parliament, PdL members largely voted yes.
Ideology
The PdL aims to combine together the traditions of its two main predecessors,
Forza ItaliaForza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
(FI) and
National AllianceNational Alliance was a conservative political party in Italy.Gianfranco Fini was the leader of the party since its foundation in 1995, however he stepped down in 2008 after being elected to the nominally non-partisan post of President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and was succeeded by...
(AN), as well as their smaller partners (
Liberal PopularsThe Liberal Populars was a Christian-democratic Italian political party that is currently a faction within the larger The People of Freedom .-History:...
, Christian Democracy for Autonomies, New Italian Socialist Party,
Liberal ReformersLiberal Reformers was a minor libertarian political party in Italy led by Benedetto Della Vedova, a former President of the Italian Radicals.-History:...
, Social Action, etc.).
Forza Italia, launched in 1994 by
Silvio BerlusconiSilvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
, was joined mainly by former
Christian DemocratsChristian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
,
SocialistsThe Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
and
LiberalsThe Italian Liberal Party was a liberal political party in Italy.-Origins:The origins of liberalism in Italy came from the so-called "Historical Right", a parliamentary group formed by Camillo Benso di Cavour in the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia following the 1848 revolution...
who had seen their parties disappear amid the
TangentopoliTangentopoli is a term which was coined to describe pervasive corruption in the Italian political system exposed in the 1992-6 Mani Pulite investigations, as well as the resulting scandal, which led to the collapse of the hitherto dominant Christian Democracy party and its allies.-Popular distrust...
scandals. National Alliance, successor of the post-
fascistItalian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
Italian Social MovementThe Italian Social Movement , and later the Italian Social Movement–National Right , was a neo-fascist and post-fascist political party in Italy. Formed in 1946 by supporters of former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the party became the fourth largest party in Italy by the early 1960s...
(MSI), had become a respectable conservative party under the leadership of
Gianfranco FiniGianfranco Fini is an Italian politician, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, leader of the center-right Future and Freedom party, and the former leader of the conservative National Alliance and the post-fascist Italian Social Movement...
. FI and AN started to cooperate and were the pillars of the centre-right
Pole of Good GovernmentThe Pole of Good Government was a centre-right electoral alliance in Italy, launched at the 1994 general election by Silvio Berlusconi.The alliance was composed primarily of Forza Italia and the National Alliance, but also included Christian Democratic Centre , the Union of the Centre and Liberal...
,
Pole of FreedomsThe Pole of Freedoms was a centre-right electoral alliance in Italy, launched at the 1994 general election by Silvio Berlusconi.The alliance was composed primarily of Forza Italia and the Lega Nord, but also included Christian Democratic Centre and the Union of the Centre...
and
House of FreedomsThe House of Freedoms , was a major Italian centre-right political and electoral alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi. It was initially composed of several political parties:*Forza Italia *National Alliance...
coalitions.
The "Charter of Values" of the PdL underlines the "Christian" and "liberal" character of the party, presenting it as a defender of traditional values as well as of individual responsibility and self-determination. The document stresses the adherence of the party to the values and the platform of the
European People's PartyThe European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...
(EPP), its support for
European integrationEuropean integration is the process of industrial, political, legal, economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe...
and the transformation of Italy into a
federal stateA federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
, coherently with its alliance with Lega Nord.
The PdL is a classical example of
catch-all partyIn politics, a big tent party or catch-all party is a political party seeking to attract people with diverse viewpoints. The party does not require adherence to some ideology as a criterion for membership...
. Although the leadership of Berlusconi is largely unquestioned, the party is far from being a monolith. In line with its allies within the EPP, its main cultural strains are
Christian democracyChristian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...
and
liberal conservatismLiberal conservatism also known as progressive conservatism is a variant of political conservatism which incorporates liberal elements. As "conservatism" and "liberalism" have had different meanings over time and across countries, the term "liberal conservatism" has been used in quite different...
, but it is not to underestimate the weight of those coming from the right-wing AN and the relevant role played by former Socialists, who were disproportionately represented in
Berlusconi IV CabinetBerlusconi IV Cabinet has been the cabinet of the government of Italy from 8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011.As of July 2011, it was composed of 24 ministers, 4 deputy ministers and 39 under-secretaries, for a total of 67 members.-Sources:*...
. Four leading ministers (
Giulio TremontiGiulio Tremonti is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finance under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 2008 to 2011....
,
Franco Frattini,
Maurizio SacconiMaurizio Sacconi is an Italian politician from Veneto.A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party, from 1979 to 1994 he was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and from 1987 to 1994 he served also as Under-Secretary of the Treasury...
and
Renato BrunettaRenato Brunetta is an Italian economist and politician and, as of May 2008, a minister in the Berlusconi government.He is a former member of the Italian Socialist Party, Member of the European Parliament for the North-East from 2004 to 2009 with the Forza Italia, part of the European People's...
) hail from the old
PSIThe Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
, while another Socialist,
Fabrizio CicchittoFabrizio Cicchitto is an Italian politician.-Career:Fabrizio Cicchitto entered politics during the earlier 1960s, supporting the Marxist left wing of Riccardo Lombardi in the Italian Socialist Party and then becoming secretary of the party's youth organization...
, is the party leader in the Chamber of Deputies. This is not to say that all former Socialists are actually social-democratic now: for instance, while Tremonti is an outspoken critic of
globalizationGlobalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
and is not enthusiastic about
labour market flexibilityLabour market flexibility refers to the speed with which labour markets adapt to fluctuations and changes in society, the economy or production.-Definition:In the past, the most common definition of labour market flexibility was the neo-liberal definition...
, Brunetta is a free-market liberal and frequently clashes with Tremonti over economic and fiscal policy.
Moreover, internal alliances are often not consistent with the previous affiliation of party members. On issues such as end of life, Sacconi, a former Socialist who still claims to be a social democrat, has sided with the party's Christian democrats and the social-conservative wing of the former AN, while several members hailing from the MSI found themselves in alliance with the liberal wing of the former FI. This is no surprise as the late MSI also had a strong
secularSecularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
tradition, now represented by Gianfranco Fini, while Forza Italia was home to both social conservatives and uncompromising social liberals. On the economy, ex-FI Giulio Tremonti has often been at odds with ex-FI liberals like
Antonio MartinoAntonio Martino is an Italian politician, who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1994 and Italian Minister of Defense from 2001 to 2006. He is a founding member of Forza Italia, holding party card no. 2.-Career:...
and
Benedetto Della VedovaBenedetto Della Vedova is an Italian politician, formerly the leader of Liberal Reformers, a minor liberal and libertarian party, and currently member of The Liberal Part, a liberal faction within the centre-right People of Freedom party.-Biography:His political experience began in 1994 with the...
, and, more recently, he was attacked by
Giancarlo GalanGiancarlo Galan is an Italian politician.After having been a Liberal activist in the Seventies and the Eighties, he was not active in politics until he joined Forza Italia since its foundation in 1994. In the same year he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies.In 1995 he ran successfully...
for being a "socialist".
Traditional values and the
social market economyThe social market economy is the main economic model used in West Germany after World War II. It is based on the economic philosophy of Ordoliberalism from the Freiburg School...
grew of importance in the rhetoric of the new party, partly replacing the
small governmentA Small government is one which minimizes its own activities. It is a concept important to classical liberalism and libertarianism.-In Hong Kong:...
and
libertarianLibertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
ideals expressed by Forza Italia since 1994. In this respect, Maurizio Sacconi summarised the economic propositions of the PdL with the slogan "less state, more society". However, there is still some room for
ReaganomicsReaganomics refers to the economic policies promoted by the U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s, also known as supply-side economics and called trickle-down economics, particularly by critics...
in the PdL, with Berlusconi often making the case for lower taxes and Tremonti for
deregulationDeregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...
and against
red tapeRed tape is excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that is considered redundant or bureaucratic and hinders or prevents action or decision-making...
.
Factions
The party is home to a wide range of factions, groups and associate parties, whose ideology range from
social democracySocial democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
to
national conservatismNational conservatism is a political term used primarily in Europe to describe a variant of conservatism which concentrates more on national interests than standard conservatism as well as upholding cultural and ethnic identity, while not being outspokenly nationalist or supporting a far-right...
:
- Christian democrats
Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...
. The core of the former Forza Italia plus some minor groups (Network ItalyNetwork Italy is a Christian-democratic faction within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy. It is composed of followers of Roberto Formigoni, a party bigwig who is currently President of Lombardy...
, ScajolianiScajoliani refers to the faction around Claudio Scajola, a leading member of The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy.The group wielded particular influence within Forza Italia , the main precursor of PdL. Scajola and his allies proposed a stronger party organization, differently from...
/Christopher Columbus FoundationThe Christopher Columbus Foundation, whose complete name is Christopher Columbus Foundation for Freedoms is a faction and think tank within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy...
, PisanianiPisaniani refers to the faction around Giuseppe Pisanu, a leading member of The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy.Formerly a left-wing Christian Democrat, Pisanu has been an ally of Silvio Berlusconi, first in Forza Italia and later in the PdL, since 1994...
, Christian Democracy for Autonomies, Liberal PopularsThe Liberal Populars was a Christian-democratic Italian political party that is currently a faction within the larger The People of Freedom .-History:...
, Christian ReformistsThe Christian Reformists are a Christian-democratic faction within The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy....
, Federation of Christian PopularsThe Federation of Christian Populars was a tiny Christian-democratic political party in Italy which is now a faction within The People of Freedom , a broad centre-right party led by Silvio Berlusconi....
, and a pletora of local groups). Many party members hail from the late Christian DemocracyChristian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
: they include Roberto FormigoniRoberto Formigoni is an Italian politician, and the current President of Lombardy Region, Italy.-Life and career:Graduated in Philosophy at the Catholic University of Milan, he studied political economy at the Sorbonne, in Paris....
, Renato SchifaniRenato Maria Giuseppe Schifani is an Italian politician and a prominent member of the centre-right People of Freedom. Since 29 April 2008 he has been President of the Italian Senate. Schifani was born in Palermo.-Berlusconi's chief whip:...
, Claudio ScajolaClaudio Scajola is an Italian politician.-Career:A long-time Christian Democrat, he was mayor of Imperia in the Eighties, as his father and his brother had been. When Christian Democracy disbanded, he joined Forza Italia in 1995. He was then elected deputy in 1996 and was national coordinator of...
, Angelino AlfanoAngelino Alfano is an Italian politician who served as Italy's Minister of Justice from 2008 to 2011, as part of the Berlusconi IV Cabinet...
, Mario MauroMario Mauro is an Italian Member of the European Parliament and a teacher of history. He was first elected on the Forza Italia ticket, and in 2009 on the merged party The People of Freedom ticket...
and Maurizio Lupi.
- Liberal
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
centristsIn politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...
. Various groups which preside the political centre of the party (LiberamenteLiberamente is a liberal-centrist faction and think-tank within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy...
, TremontianiTremontiani refers to the faction around Giulio Tremonti, a leading member of The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy.Close to Tremonti is ResPublica, a liberal think tank led by Eugenio Belloni...
, Magna CartaMagna Carta is a think tank, and practically a faction, within The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy.The group tries to combine elements of liberalism with Catholic social teaching, supports the so-called "Judeo-Christian roots" of Europe, takes a strong pro-United States and pro-Israel...
, DellutrianiDellutriani refers to the faction around Marcello Dell'Utri, a leading member of Forza Italia and, later, of The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy...
). Liberamente, led by Mariastella GelminiMariastella Gelmini, is an Italian politician and attorney . She served as Italian Minister of Education in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet until November 16, 2011.-Political career:Gelmini was born in Leno, Italy....
and Franco Frattini, represents the bulk of Forza Italia, being composed by liberal loyalists of Berlusconi, and is probably the single largest faction within the party.
- Liberals
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
. The liberal factions of the former Forza Italia (Free FoundationThe Free Foundation is a think tank within The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy.Although most of its leading members are former members of the Italian Socialist Party and thus have social-democratic roots, the group expresses liberal and libertarian stances...
, Popular LiberalismPopular Liberalism , recently known also as Liberal Union of the Centre , is a liberal faction within The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy....
) plus some new groupings (mainly CountercurrentCountercurrent is a liberal faction within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy.The faction was launched in October by some 30 liberals who opposed Giulio Tremonti's policies as economy minister. They included Antonio Martino, Giorgio Stracquadanio, Guido Crosetto, Isabella...
). Leading liberals within PdL ranks are Antonio MartinoAntonio Martino is an Italian politician, who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1994 and Italian Minister of Defense from 2001 to 2006. He is a founding member of Forza Italia, holding party card no. 2.-Career:...
, Raffaele CostaRaffaele Costa is an Italian politician. He has been President of the Province of Cuneo...
, Giancarlo GalanGiancarlo Galan is an Italian politician.After having been a Liberal activist in the Seventies and the Eighties, he was not active in politics until he joined Forza Italia since its foundation in 1994. In the same year he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies.In 1995 he ran successfully...
and Daniele CapezzoneDaniele Capezzone is a centre-right Italian politician.He currently is the spokesman for the People of Freedom.From July 14, 2001 to November 4, 2006, he was secretary of the Italian Radicals, a liberal, pro-market economy, libertarian movement associated with the Transnational Radical Party...
.
- Social democrats
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
. The social democrats of the former Forza Italia, their organisations (Reformism and FreedomReformism and Freedom is a "reformist" and mainly social-democratic think tank within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy...
, We Reformers, Young ItalyYoung Italy is a social-democratic faction within The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy.Named after the late organization led by Giuseppe Mazzini, the faction was founded on 16 July 2004. It is led by Stefania Craxi, daughter of Bettino, a long-time leader of the Italian Socialist Party...
, European ReformistsEuropean Reformists is a social-democratic faction within The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy.The faction aims to "promote the culture of liberal and socialist reformism in the context of a Europe aware of its role in the new international scenarios" and is composed mainly of former...
), plus the New Italian Socialist Party. Notably, several leading members of the party started their political career in the Italian Socialist PartyThe Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
and some of them still identify themselves as Socialists: Franco Frattini, Giulio TremontiGiulio Tremonti is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finance under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 2008 to 2011....
, Maurizio SacconiMaurizio Sacconi is an Italian politician from Veneto.A long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party, from 1979 to 1994 he was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and from 1987 to 1994 he served also as Under-Secretary of the Treasury...
, Renato BrunettaRenato Brunetta is an Italian economist and politician and, as of May 2008, a minister in the Berlusconi government.He is a former member of the Italian Socialist Party, Member of the European Parliament for the North-East from 2004 to 2009 with the Forza Italia, part of the European People's...
, Fabrizio CicchittoFabrizio Cicchitto is an Italian politician.-Career:Fabrizio Cicchitto entered politics during the earlier 1960s, supporting the Marxist left wing of Riccardo Lombardi in the Italian Socialist Party and then becoming secretary of the party's youth organization...
and Stefano Caldoro.
- Liberal conservatives
Liberal conservatism also known as progressive conservatism is a variant of political conservatism which incorporates liberal elements. As "conservatism" and "liberalism" have had different meanings over time and across countries, the term "liberal conservatism" has been used in quite different...
. The bulk of former National Alliance's main factions (New AllianceNew Alliance was a liberal-conservative faction within National Alliance, a political party in Italy.It was founded in December 2001 by Domenico Matteoli, Cristiana Muscardini, Adolfo Urso and Domenico Nania, who were at the time the stauchest supporters of the leadership of Gianfranco Fini...
, Protagonist RightProtagonist Right was a liberal-conservative faction within National Alliance, a political party in Italy.It was founded in July 1999 by the followers of Giuseppe Tatarella, who had died in February of that year...
), as well as some people from other parties; Maurizio GasparriMaurizio Gasparri is an Italian politician.After a period as Member of the Italian Parliament for the Movimento Sociale Italiano, Gasparri served as an Alleanza Nazionale member. During the course of his career he has served as Minister of Communications...
and Ignazio La RussaIgnazio Benito Maria La Russa is an Italian politician . He became Minister of Defence in the fourth cabinet of Silvio Berlusconi on 8 May 2008...
have re-organised their faction into as Protagonist ItalyProtagonist Italy is a liberal-conservative faction and think tank within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy....
, while Altero MatteoliAltero Matteoli is an Italian politician, former member of Alleanza Nazionale right-wing party and then member of People of Freedom.Matteoli was born in Cecina. From 2001 to 2006 he was the Italian Environment Minister.-References:*...
launched the Foundation of FreedomFoundation of Freedom is a liberal-conservative think tank/faction within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy....
.
- National conservatives
National conservatism is a political term used primarily in Europe to describe a variant of conservatism which concentrates more on national interests than standard conservatism as well as upholding cultural and ethnic identity, while not being outspokenly nationalist or supporting a far-right...
. The right-wing of the former National Alliance represented by several groups (New ItalyNew Italy is a national and social-conservative think tank which acts as a faction within The People of Freedom , a political party in Italy...
, Movement for ItalyMovement for Italy was a conservative political party in Italy which now functions as a faction within The People of Freedom , a much larger centre-right party led by Silvio Berlusconi....
, Libertarian RightLibertarian Right was a national-conservative political party in Italy.The party was launched in November 2008 as a split from The Right led by Luciano Buonocore, who did not agree with the party's decision not to run within The People of Freedom joint list...
).
- Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
. Centre-right clubs in the Forza Italia tradition (Promoters of FreedomPromoters of Freedom is an official grassroots organisation within The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy....
, Circles of FreedomCircle of Freedom , more frequently referred to as Circles of Freedom, is a grassroots organisation within The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy....
, Clubs of FreedomClubs of Freedom is a grassroots organisation within The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy.The Clubs are led by Mario Valducci, who, as one of the seven founding members of Forza Italia along with Silvio Berlusconi, had been coordinator of the "Clubs of Forza Italia"...
, Circles of Good GovernmentClubs of Good Government is a grassroots organization within The People of Freedom, a political party in Italy.The Clubs are led by Marcello Dell'Utri, one of the seven founding members of Forza Italia along with Silvio Berlusconi. They were first launched in 1999, within Forza Italia, "in order to...
).
Popular support
The People of Freedom has its strongholds in
Northern ItalyNorthern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...
, and especially
LombardyLombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
and
VenetoVeneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
, and in some regions of the South, notably including
SicilySicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
and
ApuliaApulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
. Despite this, at the
2008 general electionA snap general election was held in Italy on 13 April and 14 April 2008. The election came after President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved parliament on 6 February 2008 following the defeat of the government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi in a January 2008 Senate vote, and the unsuccessful tentative...
, the party was fairly stronger in the South than in the North, due to the big win of Lega Nord, which gained 27.1% in Veneto, 21.6% in Lombardy and 12.6% in
PiedmontPiedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
. In this respect the region where PdL scored best was
CampaniaCampania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
, with a surprising 49.1% in a traditionally
centre-leftCentre-left is a political term that describes individuals, political parties or organisations such as think tanks whose ideology lies between the centre and the left on the left-right spectrum...
region. At the
2010 regional electionsA big round of regional elections in Italy took place on 28–29 March in 13 regions out of 20, including nine of the ten largest ones: Lombardy, Campania, Veneto, Lazio, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Apulia, Tuscany and Calabria...
Lega Nord passed the PdL in Veneto (35.2%) and in large chuncks of Lombardy, which was however the region in which the PdL scored best.
The electoral results of the PdL in the 10 most populated Regions of Italy are shown in the table below. As the party was launched in 2007, the electoral results from 1994 to 2006 refer to the combined result of the two main percursor parties,
Forza ItaliaForza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
and
National AllianceNational Alliance was a conservative political party in Italy.Gianfranco Fini was the leader of the party since its foundation in 1995, however he stepped down in 2008 after being elected to the nominally non-partisan post of President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and was succeeded by...
.
| |
1994 general |
1995 regional |
1996 general |
1999 European |
2000 regional |
2001 general |
2004 European |
2005 regional |
2006 general |
2008 general |
2009 European |
2010 regional |
| Piedmont |
34.8 |
37.9 |
33.8 |
36.8 |
42.7 |
41.2 |
31.0 |
31.9 |
35.8 |
34.3 |
32.4 |
25.0 |
| Lombardy |
31.8 |
39.5 |
32.6 |
36.5 |
43.6 |
40.9 |
32.9 |
34.7 |
37.3 |
33.5 |
34.4 |
31.8 |
| Veneto |
31.4 |
34.7 |
28.8 |
34.3 |
40.2 |
40.5 |
33.6 |
30.8 |
35.8 |
27.4 |
29.3 |
24.7 |
| Emilia-Romagna |
25.5 |
28.5 |
26.6 |
29.0 |
32.6 |
33.5 |
28.2 |
27.1 |
28.8 |
28.6 |
27.4 |
24.6 |
| Tuscany |
27.3 |
32.2 |
30.1 |
30.4 |
35.2 |
34.7 |
28.7 |
27.9 |
29.5 |
31.6 |
31.4 |
27.1 |
| Lazio |
45.8 |
43.5 |
45.0 |
40.9 |
44.6 |
46.8 |
35.9 |
39.3 |
40.0 |
43.5 |
42.7 |
38.2 |
| Campania |
40.2 |
37.2 |
42.1 |
35.9 |
32.1 |
46.9 |
32.7 |
22.5 |
39.8 |
49.1 |
43.5 |
31.7 |
| Apulia |
27.3 |
41.1 |
42.5 |
40.7 |
44.2 |
45.4 |
36.4 |
38.9 |
40.5 |
45.6 |
43.2 |
31.1 |
| Calabria |
36.2 |
36.0 |
41.7 |
31.6 |
28.7 |
40.9 |
28.5 |
19.9 |
31.7 |
41.2 |
34.9 |
36.3 |
| Sicily |
47.6 |
31.2 (1996) |
48.6 |
38.9 |
36.4 (2001) |
47.4 |
36.0 |
29.8 (2006) |
40.0 |
46.6 |
36.4 |
33.4 (2008) |
| ITALY |
34.5 |
- |
35.8 |
35.5 |
- |
41.1 |
32.3 |
- |
36.0 |
37.4 |
35.3 |
- |
Leadership
- President: Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
(2008–present)
- Secretary: Angelino Alfano
Angelino Alfano is an Italian politician who served as Italy's Minister of Justice from 2008 to 2011, as part of the Berlusconi IV Cabinet...
(2011–present)
- Coordinator: Sandro Bondi
Sandro Bondi is an Italian politician of The People of Freedom. He was appointed on 8 May 2008 to be Culture Minister until March 23, 2011 in Silvio Berlusconi's fourth cabinet.-Biography:...
/ Ignazio La RussaIgnazio Benito Maria La Russa is an Italian politician . He became Minister of Defence in the fourth cabinet of Silvio Berlusconi on 8 May 2008...
/ Denis Verdini-Biography:He graduated in Political Sciences and later became president of the local cooperative bank Credito Cooperativo Fiorentino.He began his political career in the Italian Republican Party, without being elected in the 1994 Italian general elections. After Silvio Berlusconi's victory in...
(2009–present)
- Organisation Secretary: Maurizio Lupi (2009–present)
- Spokesperson: Daniele Capezzone
Daniele Capezzone is a centre-right Italian politician.He currently is the spokesman for the People of Freedom.From July 14, 2001 to November 4, 2006, he was secretary of the Italian Radicals, a liberal, pro-market economy, libertarian movement associated with the Transnational Radical Party...
(2009–present)
- Party Leader in the Chamber of Deputies
The Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
: Fabrizio CicchittoFabrizio Cicchitto is an Italian politician.-Career:Fabrizio Cicchitto entered politics during the earlier 1960s, supporting the Marxist left wing of Riccardo Lombardi in the Italian Socialist Party and then becoming secretary of the party's youth organization...
(2008–present)
- Party Leader in the Senate
The Senate of the Republic is the upper house of the Italian Parliament. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as Senato del Regno , itself a continuation of the Senato Subalpino of Sardinia-Piedmont established on 8 May 1848...
: Maurizio GasparriMaurizio Gasparri is an Italian politician.After a period as Member of the Italian Parliament for the Movimento Sociale Italiano, Gasparri served as an Alleanza Nazionale member. During the course of his career he has served as Minister of Communications...
(2008–present)
- Party Leader in the European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
: Mario MauroMario Mauro is an Italian Member of the European Parliament and a teacher of history. He was first elected on the Forza Italia ticket, and in 2009 on the merged party The People of Freedom ticket...
(2009–present)
External links