Christian Democracy for the Autonomies ( it, Democrazia Cristiana per le Autonomie, DCA) was a minor

Christian-democratic Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

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 ...

History

DCA was founded on 25 October 2004 by a split from the

Union of Christian and Centre Democrats The Union of the Centre ( it, Unione di Centro, UdC), whose complete name is "Union of Christian and Centre Democrats" (''Unione dei Democratici Cristiani e Democratici di Centro'', UDC), is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Lore ...

(UDC) led by

Gianfranco Rotondi Gianfranco Rotondi (born 25 July 1960) is an Italian politician and a member of the Chamber of Deputies. Biography Rotondi was born in Avellino, Campania. Political career Graduated in law, he was first elected in the Chamber of Deputies in ...

, who wanted closer ties with

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

and who criticised the political line of the then-leader of UDC Marco Follini. The party became part of the

centre-right coalition The centre-right coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-destra) is an 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. Despite ...

following its foundation. The party was part of the

House of Freedoms The House of Freedoms ( it, Casa delle Libertà, CdL) was a major centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, led by Silvio Berlusconi. History The CdL was the successor of the Pole of Freedoms/Pole of Good Government and the Pole f ...

coalition in the 2006 general election, competing the election in an

electoral list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

with the

New Italian Socialist Party The New Italian Socialist Party or New PSI ( it, Nuovo Partito Socialista Italiano or ''Nuovo PSI'', NPSI), more recently styled as Liberal Socialists – NPSI, is a political party in Italy which professes a social-democratic ideology and claims t ...

. The joint list gained 0.7% of the votes and, despite not having passed the 2% threshold, it still elected four deputies since it was the party which received more votes under the 2% in its coalition. Two of these deputies were members of DCA, while two more candidates were elected on the list of Forza Italia. Gianfranco Rotondi was too elected Senator on the list of Forza Italia, along with his colleague and deputy Mario Cutrufo. DCA was part of

The People of Freedom The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia a ...

(PdL) list for the 2008 general election. On 3 April 2008, during a meeting in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

, the party announced an alliance within the new party with the

Liberal Populars The Liberal Populars (''Popolari Liberali'') were a short-lived Christian-democratic political party in Italy (2008–2009), which currently functions as an internal faction of Identity and Action (IdeA). History Originally a faction within the U ...

Carlo Giovanardi Carlo Amedeo Giovanardi (born 15 January 1950, in Modena) is an Italian politician, former member of the Senate of the Republic (Italy), Senate, and leader of the social conservatism, socially conservative wing of the New Centre-Right party. ...

. After the election, in which the party got three deputies and one senator elected, Gianfranco Rotondi joined the

Berlusconi IV Cabinet The fourth Berlusconi government was the 60th government of Italy, in office from 8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011. It was the fourth government led by Silvio Berlusconi, who then became the longest-serving Prime Minister of Italy of the Italian ...

as Minister without portfolio. In 2009 the DCA was eventually merged into the PdL and its members launched a network of circles named after the party's newspaper, ''La Discussione'', led by Giampiero Catone. In October 2012, the balance of accounts of the People of Freedom showed that DCA had received €96,000 of financial support from PdL.

Leadership

*Secretary:

(2005–2009) **Deputy-Secretary: Mauro Cutrufo (2005–2009) **Organization Secretary: Giampiero Catone (2005–2009) *President: Publio Fiori (2005–2006)

Symbols

Christian Democracy for the Authonomies.png, Party logo Logo DC-NPSI 2006.png, 2006 general election

External links

Official website''La Discussione'' circles

References

{{Historical Italian political parties Defunct political parties in Italy Catholic political parties Christian democratic parties in Italy Political parties established in 2005 2005 establishments in Italy 2009 disestablishments in Italy Political parties disestablished in 2009