Act to Stop the Decline ( it, Fare per Fermare il Declino, Fare or FFD) was a liberal

political party in Italy This article contains a list of political parties in Italy since Italian unification in 1861. Throughout history, numerous political parties have been operating in Italy, and since World War II no party has ever gained enough support to govern ...

, founded in 2012 as Stop the Decline (''Fermare il Declino'', FiD). Oscar Giannino and

Michele Boldrin Michele Boldrin (; 20 August 1956) is an Italian-born economist, academic and former politician expert in economic growth, business cycles, technological progress and intellectual property. He is the Joseph Gibson Hoyt Distinguished Professor in ...

have been its main leaders.

History

FFD was launched in July 2012 as a spinoff of a cultural movement, "Fermare il Declino" initiated by a group of seven economists with an open letter published in Italy's major newspapers: Oscar Giannino,

, Sandro Brusco, Alessandro De Nicola,

Andrea Moro Andrea Carlo Moro (born July 24, 1962) is an Italian linguist, neuroscientist and novelist. He is currently full professor of general linguistics at the Institute for Advanced Study IUSS Pavia, Italy, founder and former director of NeTS and of ...

, Carlo Stagnaro and Luigi Zingales. The manifesto of the association was signed by 240 personalities and, as of May 2013, had attracted more than 70,000 signatures. The core goals of FFD included the reduction of the national debt by 20% of GDP in 5 years, the reduction of the public expenditure by at least 6% of GDP in 5 years, the reduction of the tax burden on citizens by at least 5% in 5 years, the introduction of a serious

federalism Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments ( provincial, state, cantonal, territorial, or other sub-unit governments) in a single ...

, university reform,

liberalization Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used m ...

s and

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

s. On 8 December 2012 it was announced that the association would run an electoral list in the 2013 general election. In the election, held in February 2013, the party obtained 1.2%, returning no seats. Luigi Zingales left the party that same month. FFD contested the 2014 European election within the

European Choice European Choice ( it, Scelta Europea, SE) was a pro-European and primarily liberal electoral alliance of political parties in Italy formed to contest the 2014 European election on a platform influenced heavily by the Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt ...

(SE) electoral list alongside

Civic Choice Civic Choice ( it, Scelta Civica; SC) was a centrist and liberal political party in Italy founded by Mario Monti. The party was formed in the run-up of the 2013 general election to support the outgoing Prime Minister Monti and continue his pol ...

, Democratic Centre and other minor parties. The list received just 0.7% of the vote and failed to elect any MEPs. Boldrin publicly expressed his regret about the decision to take part in SE and criticized its coalition partners and

Guy Verhofstadt Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (; ; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian politician who was the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe from 2009 to 2019, and has been a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium ...

. The party has since been almost inactive and lost media attention and notability. In late 2015 the official website was no longer active.

Electoral results

Italian Parliament

European Parliament

Leadership

*President/Coordinator: Oscar Giannino (2012–2013), Silvia Enrico (acting, 2013),

(2013–2014) *President of the National Assembly: Santo Versace (2014)

References

External links

Official website
{{Historical Italian political parties Political associations of Italy Libertarianism in Italy 2012 establishments in Italy Classical liberal parties Defunct political parties in Italy Political parties established in 2012 Liberal parties in Italy