Centrists for Europe (; CpE) is a

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 ...

political party in Italy This is a list of political parties in Italy since Italian unification in 1861. Throughout history, numerous political parties have been operating in Italy. Since World War II no party has ever gained enough support to govern alone; thus, partie ...

. The party was launched, as Centrists for Italy (; CpI), by splinters from the Union of the Centre in December 2016 and officially founded, with its final name, in February 2017.

Pier Ferdinando Casini Pier Ferdinando Casini (; born 3 December 1955) is an Italian politician. He served as President of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy), President of the Chamber of Deputies from 2001 to 2006. Casini is the honorary president of the Centrist Democra ...

is the incumbent leader of the party.

History

In the run-up of the

2016 Italian constitutional referendum A constitutional referendum was held in Italy on 4 December 2016. Voters were asked whether they approved a Constitutional laws of Italy, constitutional law that amends the Constitution of Italy, Italian Constitution to reform the composition a ...

, the Union of the Centre (UdC) chose to campaign for "No", while the

New Centre-Right New Centre-Right (, NCD) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The party was launched on 15 November 2013 by a group of dissidents of The People of Freedom (PdL) who opposed the party's reformation as Forza Italia (2013), Forza Italia (FI) ...

, the UdC's counterpart in

Popular Area Popular Area (, AP) was a centre-right and mainly Christian-democratic coalition, which included two parliamentary groups active in each house of the Italian Parliament: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. "Popular" was a reference to ''popol ...

(AP), was among the keenest supporters of "Yes". After the referendum, which saw a huge defeat of the "Yes" side, the UdC left AP altogether. However, some UdC splinters, notably including

, Gianpiero D'Alia (who had previously launched Centrists for Sicily) and minister Gian Luca Galletti, launched "Centrists for Italy" and confirmed their alliance with the NCD within Popular Area. The party was officially founded, with the current name, in February 2017. At the time the CpE included one minister (Galletti, who had been confirmed in the

Gentiloni Cabinet The Gentiloni government was the 64th government of the Italy, Italian Republic, in office from 12 December 2016 to 1 June 2018. The government was headed by Paolo Gentiloni, former Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affair ...

in December), two deputies (D'Alia and

Ferdinando Adornato Ferdinando Adornato (born 11 May 1954) is an Italian politician and journalist. Biography On 8 June 1994, he founded and led the group ''Area'', "an area of programmatic comparison ... inspired liberal, Christian and environmentalist ... elemen ...

) and three senators (Casini, Aldo Di Biagio and Luigi Marino). Also former minister Francesco D'Onofrio joined the party. In December 2017, the CpE launched the

Popular Civic List The Popular Civic List (, CP) was a centrist coalition of political parties in Italy. Its leader is Beatrice Lorenzin, minister of Health from 2013 to 2018 and member of Popular Alternative. History CP participated in the 2018 general electio ...

(CP), within the

centre-left coalition The centre-left coalition () is a political alliance of political parties in Italy active under several forms and names since 1995, when The Olive Tree was formed under the leadership of Romano Prodi. The centre-left coalition has ruled the c ...

, along with Popular Alternative (AP),

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 ...

(IdV), Solidary Democracy (DemoS), the Union for Trentino (UpT), Italy Is Popular (IP) and minor parties/groups. The new leader of AP,

Beatrice Lorenzin Beatrice Lorenzin (born 14 October 1971) is an Italian politician belonging to the Democratic Party, former leader of Popular Alternative, and former Minister of Health from 28 April 2013 to 1 June 2018, in the governments of Enrico Letta, Ma ...

, was chosen as leader of the list too. In the

2018 Italian general election The 2018 Italian general election was held on 4 March 2018 after the Italian Parliament was Dissolution of parliament in Italy, dissolved by President Sergio Mattarella on 28 December 2017. Voters were electing the 630 members of the Chamber of ...

, CP obtained a mere 0.5% of the vote, far below the electoral thresholds, but Casini was re-elected to the Senate from a single-seat constituency in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, thanks to the decisive support of the Democratic Party and the centre-left coalition. After the election, Casini sat with the heterogenous

For the Autonomies For the Autonomies (, Aut) is a heterogeneous, mostly centrist, centre-left and regionalist, parliamentary group which has been active, with slightly different names and compositions, in the Italian Senate since 2001. History The group was for ...

group.

Later developments

After not taking part in the 2018 regional elections in Molise and those in

Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of and a ...

, the party presented itself in the 2019 regional elections in Abruzzo with its own list in support of the centre-left candidate Giovanni Legnini, receiving 1.53% and no seats. In the 2019 Lucanian elections, CpE presented itself in a united list with

Centro Democratico Democratic Centre (, CD) is a centrism, centrist, Christian leftist and Social liberalism, social-liberal political party in Italy. Most of its members, including its leader Bruno Tabacci, are former Christian Democracy (Italy), Christian Democ ...

in support of the centre-left candidate Carlo Trerotola, collecting 3.30% without electing any councillors. However, the party didn't ran in the 2019 European parliamentary elections but Casini declared his support for the

Partito Democratico The Democratic Party (, PD) is a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Italy. The party's secretary is Elly Schlein, elected in the 2023 Democratic Party (Italy) leadership election, 2023 leadership election, while the party's ...

- Siamo Europei list. During the 2022 election, the party entered the Democratic Party – Democratic and Progressive Italy list, part of the centre-left coalition with Casini who was re-elected in the single-member constituency of Bologna.

Electoral results

Italian Parliament

Regional Councils

External links

Official website

References

{{Political parties in Italy 2016 establishments in Italy Centrist parties in Italy Catholic political parties Christian democratic parties in Italy Political parties established in 2016