The Democratic Union ( it, Unione Democratica, UD) was a small

social-liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

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 ...

. It was founded in February 1996 by

Antonio Maccanico Antonio Maccanico (4 August 1924 – 23 April 2013) was an Italian constitutional specialist and social liberal politician, who served in various capacities in the parliament and federal administrations of Italy. Early life and education Maccani ...

, along with Willer Bordon and

Giorgio Benvenuto Giorgio Benvenuto (born 8 December 1937) is an Italian trade unionist and politician. He was general secretary of Italian Labour Union (UIL), one of the largest Italian trade union centers from 1976 to 1992.See historical section from uil.it He ...

(both members of Democratic Alliance), Valerio Zanone (a former leader of the

Italian Liberal Party The Italian Liberal Party ( it, Partito Liberale Italiano, PLI) was a liberal and conservative political party in Italy. The PLI, which is the heir of the liberal currents of both the Historical Right and the Historical Left, was a minor part ...

) and Giorgio La Malfa (leader of the

Italian Republican Party The Italian Republican Party ( it, Partito Repubblicano Italiano, PRI) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Italy. Founded in 1895, the PRI is the oldest political party still active in Italy. The PRI has old roots and a long hist ...

). The party was a minor member of The Olive Tree, and formed the Populars for Prodi list with the Italian People's Party for the 1996 general election, electing five deputies and one senator. The party was part of the

Prodi I Cabinet The first Prodi government was the 53rd government of Italy. It held office from 18 May 1996 until 21 October 1998. Formation On 21 April 1996, the Olive Tree won 1996 general election in alliance with the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), ...

, with Maccanico becoming minister for Communications, and later the

D'Alema I Cabinet The first D'Alema government was the government of Italy from 21 October 1998 to 22 December 1999. The first Prodi government fell in 1998 when the Communist Refoundation Party withdrew its support to Prodi. This led to the formation of a new go ...

D'Alema II Cabinet The second D'Alema government was the government of Italy from 22 December 1999 to 26 April 2000. Following the exit from the majority of the United Christian Democrats led by Rocco Buttiglione and of the Union for the Republic led by Francesco ...

and Amato II Cabinet with Maccanico minister of Institutional Reforms. In 1999 the party joined

Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Pr ...

's new party, The Democrats.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Democratic Union 1996 establishments in Italy 1999 disestablishments in Italy Defunct political parties in Italy Liberal parties in Italy Political parties established in 1996 Political parties disestablished in 1999