Federalist Italian League

Last updated
Federalist Italian League
Lega Italiana Federalista
Federal Coordinator Sergio Cappelli
Founded1995
Dissolved1996
Split from Northern League
Ideology Federalism
Liberalism
Political position Centre-right

The Federalist Italian League (Lega Italiana Federalista, LIF) was a short-lived federalist and liberal political party in Italy.

Contents

History

The party was founded by dissident members of Northern League on 13 February 1995, including Luigi Negri (who had been secretary of Lombard League until 9 January [1] ), Enrico Hüllwech and Giorgio Vido. Sergio Cappelli was elected federal coordinator of the party during a founding convention in Genoa. [2] They had left the party of Umberto Bossi in disagreement with his decision to bring down Berlusconi I Cabinet in December 1994. It was initially composed of 14 Deputies and 10 Senators.

At that time Lega Nord was split between those who supported the new course of the party and those who wanted to continue the alliance with Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia. Among the latter figured also Roberto Maroni, minister of the Interior under Berlusconi and number two of the party. The decision of Bossi led him to leave resign from Parliament on 11 February. LIF members hoped that Maroni would have joined their party (to become its leader) and tried to convince him to run as their candidate for the post of President of Lombardy. [3] Contrarily to what most people expected, Maroni did not leave Northern League and returned to active politics in July.

This was a hard blow for Negri and his followers. Many of them thus switched to the Federalist Union (UF) led by Gianfranco Miglio or the Federalists and Liberal Democrats (FLD), led by Furio Gubetti and Raffaele Costa. On 14 July the party's group in the Chamber of Deputies was reduced to a sub-group within the Mixed Group. [4] On 20 December most members of LIF, including Luigi Negri, joined FLD. [5] The year later, again in December, a substantial group of LIF members, including Enrico Hüllwech, Flavio Devetag and Luca Azzano Cantarutti, joined the parliamentary group of the Christian Democratic Centre (CCD).

In the 1996 general election, when the Northern League, despite the several splits had its best result ever (10.1% nationally), the only member of LIF who stood as candidate under the party's banner was Luca Azzano Cantarutti, future president of Venetian Independence, who got just 2.8% of the vote in the single-seat constituency of Adria. [6] [7] LIF leader Luigi Negri was however re-elected to the Chamber for the Pole for Freedoms [8] and soon joined Forza Italia along with what remained of UF and FLD. He later left also that party to join the Italian Republican Party and thus the centre-left coalition supporting Romano Prodi's government. Among the other leading members of LIF, Enrico Hüllwech was elected Mayor of Vicenza in 1998 for Forza Italia, while Giorgio Vido was one of the leaders of Fronte Marco Polo and Liga Fronte Veneto.

Leadership

Related Research Articles

Lega Nord Political party in Italy

Lega Nord, whose complete name is Lega Nord per l'Indipendenza della Padania, is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. Its current leader is Matteo Salvini.

Forza Italia Former Italian political party

Forza Italia was a centre-right political party in Italy with liberal-conservative, Christian-democratic, liberal, social-democratic and populist tendencies. Its leader was Silvio Berlusconi, who served as Prime Minister of Italy four times.

Matteo Salvini Italian politician

Matteo Salvini is a far-right Italian politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of the Interior from 1 June 2018 to 5 September 2019. He is Federal Secretary of Italy's Lega Nord party since December 2013. He is a Senator in the Italian Senate since March 2018. He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the constituency of North-West Italy from 2004 to 2018.

1996 Italian general election

The 1996 Italian general election was held on 21 April 1996 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left The Olive Tree, won the election, narrowly defeating Silvio Berlusconi, who led the centre-right Pole for Freedoms.

Liga Veneta Repubblica Political party in Veneto

Liga Veneta Repubblica is a Venetist political party in Veneto, Italy. The party maintains a mildly separatist position and campaigns for the self-government of Veneto.

Liga Veneta Political party in Veneto

Liga Veneta, whose complete name is Liga Veneta per Salvini Premier, is a regionalist political party active in Veneto.

Fabio Padovan is an Italian entrepreneur and politician.

Lega Lombarda Political party in Lombardy

Lega Lombarda, whose complete name is Lega Lombarda per Salvini Premier, is a regionalist political party active in Lombardy. Established in 1984, it was one of the founding "national" sections of Lega Nord (LN) in 1991 and has been the regional section of Lega per Salvini Premier (LSP) in Lombardy since 2020. Along with Liga Veneta, the LL has formed the bulk of the federal party (LN/LSP), which was led by Lombards since its foundation.

Federalist Party (Italy) Italian political party

The Federalist Party was a federalist Italian political party.

The Federalists and Liberal Democrats was a liberal and federalist political party in Italy, founded in 1994 as a parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies.

The Liberal Democratic Foundation was a Christian-democratic and liberal Italian political party.

Berlusconi I Cabinet 51st government of the Italian Republic

The Berlusconi I Cabinet was the 51st cabinet of the Italian Republic.

2006 Italian Senate election in Lombardy

Lombardy renewed its delegation to the Italian Senate on April 9, 2006. This election was a part of national Italian general election of 2006 even if, according to the Italian Constitution, every senatorial challenge in each Region is a single and independent race.

Luca Azzano Cantarutti

Luca Azzano Cantarutti is a Venetian independentist, Venetist politician and lawyer.

The centre-right coalition is a political alliance of political parties in Italy, active—under several forms and names—since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed his Forza Italia party.

Independence We Veneto was a Venetist and separatist political party based in Veneto, Italy.

Umberto Bossi Italian politician (born 1941)

Umberto Bossi is an Italian politician and former leader of the Lega Nord, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padania. He is married to the Sicilian Manuela Marrone and has four sons.

2017 Lega Nord leadership election

The 2017 Lega Nord leadership election took place on 14 May 2017.

Gianni Fava Italian politician

Giovanni Fava is an Italian politician of Lega Nord, MP in the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 28 April 2006 to 4 June 2013 and Mayor of Pomponesco for two consecutive full terms from 22 November 1993 to 13 May 2001.

Cambiamo! Italian political party

Cambiamo! is a centre-right political party in Italy, launched in August 2019. Its leader is Giovanni Toti, President of Liguria region and former notable member of Forza Italia.

References