Autonomists for Europe (, ApE) was a minor regionalist,

Christian-democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

and liberal Italian political party. Founded in 2000 by splinters of Northern League as a potentially dangerous competitor, it became a rather marginal force. The party was mainly composed by moderate members of the Northern League who wanted to join forces with

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

Forza Italia (FI; ) was a centre-right liberal-conservative political party in Italy, with Christian democratic,Chiara Moroni, , Carocci, Rome 2008 liberalOreste Massari, ''I partiti politici nelle democrazie contempoiranee'', Laterza, Rome-Bari 2004 (esp ...

, at a time when the League was perceived to be closer to the

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

. Its leading members were

Vito Gnutti Vito Gnutti (14 September 1939 – 6 December 2008) was an Italian politician. Biography A member of the Executive Committee of Confindustria, in 1991 Gnutti joined the Northern League. He has been MP from 1992 to 2001 and in 1994 he served as ...

and

Domenico Comino Domenico Comino (born 27 September 1955) is an Italian politician, who served as the minister of European affairs and state minister in the mid-1990s. Biography Comino was born in Morozzo on 27 September 1955. He is one of the former leaders of ...

, both former Ministers for Northern League in the

Berlusconi I Cabinet The first Berlusconi government was the 51st government of the Italian Republic. It was the first right-wing and non-Christian Democracy (Italy), Christian Democrats government since World War II. Berlusconi resigned on 22 December 1994. Histo ...

History

The party was started as a federation of regional parties on the example of the Northern League: Lombardy Lombardy (''Lombardia Lombardia'') of Daniele Roscia, Future Veneto (''Veneto Futuro'') of Giuseppe Ceccato, Piedmontese Federalist Movement (''Movimento Federalista Piemontese'') of

, Federalist Movement Emilia (''Movimento Federalista Emilia'') of Giorgio Cavitelli, Julian Front (''Fronte Giuliano'') of Giorgio Marchesich, Future Liguria (''Liguria Futura'') of Roberto Avogadro and Tuscan Homelands (''Patrie Toscane'') of Norberto Catalani. Future Veneto eventually merged with the Liga Veneta Repubblica to form Veneti d'Europa and ceased to exist, while the Julian Front soon re-gained much of its independence. Initially the party had five members in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

(Domenico Comino, Mario Lucio Barral, Franca Gambato, Daniele Roscia and Stefano Signorini) and six in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

(Vito Gnutti, Roberto Avogadro, Giuseppe Ceccato, Luciano Lago, Luciano Lorenzi and Donato Manfroi). Later, in the Senate, a parliamentarian joined ( Walter Bianco) and prior to the 2001 general election the Autonomists formed a group with some members of

European Democracy European Democracy (, DE) was a minor Christian-democratic, centrist political party in Italy. History European Democracy was founded in 2001 by Sergio D'Antoni (former leader of the Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions), Giulio Andr ...

( Giovanni Polidoro, Ortensio Zecchino and

Giulio Andreotti Giulio Andreotti ( ; ; 14 January 1919 – 6 May 2013) was an Italian politician and wikt:statesman, statesman who served as the 41st prime minister of Italy in seven governments (1972–1973, 1976–1979, and 1989–1992), and was leader of th ...

), which had split from the Italian People's Party. When the Northern League formed an alliance with Forza Italia and the other parties of the House of Freedoms, ApE lost its reason of existence. At that time ApE was almost disbanded and most of its members joined the

Union of Christian and Centre Democrats The Union of the Centre (, 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. Lorenzo Cesa is the part ...

(UDC). What remains of the party took part only to local electoral contexts, often under the banner of other larger parties, such as the

Italy of Values Italy of Values (, IdV) is a populist and anti-corruption political party in Italy. The party was founded in 1998 by former ''Mani pulite'' prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, who entered politics in 1996 and finally left the party in 2014. IdV has ai ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. At the national level the party generally supported The Union, the centre-left coalition led by

Romano Prodi Romano Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004 and twice as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1996 to 1998, and again from 2006 to 2008. Prodi is considered the fo ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Autonomists For Europe Conservative parties in Italy Christian democratic parties in Italy Catholic political parties Liberal parties in Italy Regionalist parties in Italy Defunct political parties in Italy 2000 establishments in Italy Political parties established in 2000 Political parties with year of disestablishment missing