The Federalist Italian League (''Lega Italiana Federalista'', LIF) was a short-lived federalist and

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

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), Enrico Hüllwech and Giorgio Vido. Sergio Cappelli was elected federal coordinator of the party during a founding convention in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

. They had left the party of

Umberto Bossi Umberto Bossi (born 19 September 1941) is an Italian politician and former leader of Lega Nord (Northern League), a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padania. He is married to the Sicilian Manuela Marrone, and has f ...

in disagreement with his decision to bring down

Berlusconi I Cabinet The first Berlusconi government was the 51st government of the Italian Republic. It was the first right-wing and non-Christian Democrats government since World War II. Berlusconi resigned on 22 December 1994. History In order to win the March ...

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 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 ...

's Forza Italia. Among the latter figured also

Roberto Maroni Roberto Ernesto Maroni (; 15 March 1955 – 22 November 2022) was an Italian politician from Varese and a past President of Lombardy. He was the leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padan ...

minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

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 The president of Lombardy is the supreme authority of Lombardy, the most populated region of Italy. Election Originally appointed by the Regional Council of Lombardy, since 1995 ''de facto'' and 2000 ''de jure'', the president is elected by pop ...

. 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. On 20 December most members of LIF, including Luigi Negri, joined FLD. 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 The Christian Democratic Centre ( it, Centro Cristiano Democratico, CCD) was a Christian-democratic political party in Italy from 1994 to 2002. Formed from a right-wing split from Christian Democracy, the party joined the centre-right coalition, a ...

(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 Venetian Independence ( it, Indipendenza Veneta, vec, Independensa Vèneta, IV) is a Venetist, liberal and, to some extent, libertarian political party active in Veneto. The party seeks to achieve full political independence for the former ter ...

, who got just 2.8% of the vote in the single-seat constituency of

Adria Adria is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Rovigo in the Veneto region of northern Italy, situated between the mouths of the rivers Adige and Po River, Po. The remains of the Etruria, Etruscan city of Atria or Hatria are to be found below ...

. LIF leader Luigi Negri was however re-elected to the Chamber for the

Pole for Freedoms The Pole for Freedoms ( it, Polo per le Libertà) was a centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, which was active from 1996 to 2000. It included Forza Italia (FI), the National Alliance (AN), Union of the Centre (UdC), Christian De ...

Ministry of the Interior – Historical Archive of Elections
/ref> 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 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 ...

and thus the

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coalition supporting Romano Prodi's government. Among the other leading members of LIF, Enrico Hüllwech was elected Mayor of

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a thr ...

in 1998 for Forza Italia, while Giorgio Vido was one of the leaders of Fronte Marco Polo and

Liga Fronte Veneto Liga Veneta Repubblica (''Łiga Vèneta Republica'', Venetian Republic League, LVR) is a Venetist political party in Veneto, Italy. The party maintains a mildly separatist position and campaigns for the self-government of Veneto. The party's f ...

Leadership

*Federal Coordinator: Sergio Cappelli (1995–1996)

References

{{Historical Italian political parties Political parties with year of disestablishment missing Regionalist parties in Italy Political parties established in 1995 1995 establishments in Italy Defunct political parties in Italy