Civics and Innovators (, CI) was a
centrist
Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...
and
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist.
* An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...
sub-group within the
Mixed Group
The mixed group (, GM) is a parliamentary group active in both houses of the Italian Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. ...
(previously a
parliamentary group
A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...
) 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 ...
of the
Italian Parliament
The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italy, Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingd ...
. Its leader was
Giovanni Monchiero Giovanni may refer to:
* Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname
* Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data
* ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...
.
The CI were demoted to sub-group in July 2017 for lack of members.
In August 2017 the sub-group was officially named Civics and Innovators for Italy, while in November 2017 it took the name of Civics and Innovators – Energies for Italy,
after that some of its members joined
Energies for Italy
Energies for Italy (, EpI) was a political party in Italy, launched in November 2016 and officially established on 1 April 2017. Its leader is Stefano Parisi, a former director-general of Confindustria and CEO of Fastweb, who was an unsuccessfu ...
(EpI).
History
Background
The group, which was formed by dissidents from
Civic Choice
Civic Choice (; SC) was a centrist and liberal political party in Italy founded by Mario Monti. The party was formed in the run-up of the 2013 general election to support the outgoing Prime Minister Monti and continue his political agenda. In t ...
(SC) in October 2016, was actually not new. In fact, until then it had been the official group of the party, which was launched by
Mario Monti
Mario Monti (; born 19 March 1943) is an Italian politician, economist and academic who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a Technocratic government (Italy), technocratic government in the wake of the European sov ...
in the run-up of the
2013 general election and had later suffered several splits, including that of Monti, who returned to his independent status of
senator for life
A senator for life is a member of the senate or equivalent upper chamber of a legislature who has life tenure. , five Italian senators out of 205, two out of the 41 Burundian senators, one Congolese senator out of 109, and all members of the Bri ...
.
Most notably, in mid 2016 SC was divided on the prospect of forming a joint group with
Denis Verdini
Denis Verdini (born 8 May 1951) is an Italian politician and banker.
Biography
Born in Fivizzano, Verdini graduated in Political Sciences from the University of Florence and later became president of the local cooperative bank, Credito Coopera ...
's
Liberal Popular Alliance
The Liberal Popular Alliance, whose full name was Liberal Popular Alliance – Autonomies (, ALA), was a centrist and liberal political party in Italy. ALA members were known as ''Verdiniani'', from the name of their leader Denis Verdini, who w ...
(ALA), as proposed by new party leader
Enrico Zanetti
Enrico Zanetti (born 12 August 1973, Venice) is an Italian politician and tax advisor. He was appointed Secretary of Civic Choice in February 2015.
Biography
Enrico Zanetti was born on 12 August 1973 in Venice; from 1990 to 1998 he moved to Go ...
. In July, after that the majority of the party's deputies had come in opposition of an alliance with ALA, Zanetti led four deputies (later joined by a fifth) out of the parliamentary group. Contextually, Zanetti, who pretended to be still the leader of SC, started to organise a joint group with the ALA and others. The party's national board finally sided with Zanetti later that month, and the national assembly did the same in October, with 63 votes in favour and 39 against.
This caused the final break-up of the party and the formation of two different parliamentary groups.
Formation and early months
The SC group eventually changed name into "Civics and Innovators" on 12 October 2016. At the time, it counted 15 deputies and was led by
Giovanni Monchiero Giovanni may refer to:
* Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname
* Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data
* ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...
.
Later that month the group was joined by two more deputies (
Ivan Catalano and
Mara Mucci
Mara Mucci (born 5 July 1982) is an Italian politician.
Born in Bologna, Mucci got a degree in computer science, did competitive swimming, and also was a theater actress and a photographer.
In 2013 Mucci was elected deputy for the 5 Star Move ...
), who were both former members of the
Five Star Movement
The Five Star Movement ( , M5S) is a political party in Italy, led by Giuseppe Conte. It was launched on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a political activist and comedian, and Gianroberto Casaleggio, a web strategist. The party is primarily d ...
.
In December 2016 the group was generally supportive of the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
led by
Paolo Gentiloni
Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who was European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission from 1 December 2019 to 30 November 2024. He had previously served as prime minister of Italy ...
(
Democratic Party, PD), who replaced
Matteo Renzi
Matteo Renzi (; born 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician who served as prime minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016. He has been a senator for Florence since 2018. Renzi has served as the leader of Italia Viva (IV) since 2019, having bee ...
(also a Democrat) as
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
. 12 deputies gave confidence to the cabinet, four deputies (
Adriana Galgano
Adriana, also spelled Adrianna, is a Latin name and feminine form of Adrian. It originates from present day Italy and Spain.
Translations
*Arabic: أدريان
* Belarusian: Адрыяна (Adryjana)
* Bulgarian: Адриана (Adriana)
*Chines ...
,
Salvatore Matarrese
Salvatore may refer to:
* Salvatore (name), a given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
* "Salvatore", a song by Lana Del Rey, on her 2015 album ''Honeymoon''
* Salvatore (band), a Norwegian instrume ...
,
Domenico Menorello
Domenico is an Italian given name for males and may refer to:
People
* Domenico Alfani, Italian painter
* Domenico Allegri, Italian composer
* Domenico Alvaro, Italian mobster
* Domenico Ambrogi, Italian painter
* Domenico Auria, Italian ar ...
and Mucci) were not present during the vote, and the remaining one (
Pierpaolo Vargiu Pierpaolo is a masculine Italian given name. Notable people with the name include:
* Pierpaolo Barbieri (born 1987), Argentine businessman
* Pierpaolo Bisoli (born 1966), Italian football player and manager
* Pierpaolo Cristofori (born 1956), Itali ...
) voted against. In January 2017 deputy
Mario Catania
Mario Catania (born March 5, 1952) served as the Italian minister of agriculture under Prime Minister Mario Monti from November 2011 to April 28, 2013.
Biography
Mario Catania was born on March 5, 1952, in Rome.
He was the head of department ...
, a former minister of Agriculture, member of the
Union of the Centre (UdC) and later of SC, left the group and joined the
Democratic Centre (CD), consistently with his "progressive culture" and values. In February the group was briefly joined by
Aniello Formisano, who had been elected for the CD in 2013 and would later join the left-wing
Article One.
As of February 2017, the political alignment of group members was however heterogeneous. While the group leadership was keen on an alliance with the Democrats and
Antimo Cesaro
Dimenhydrinate, also known as diphenhydramine/8-chlorotheophylline salt and sold under the brand names Dramamine and Gravol, among others, is an over-the-counter medication used to treat motion sickness and nausea. Dimenhydrinate is a theocla ...
was confirmed undersecretary of Culture by Gentiloni, an increasing number of deputies was turning against the government. For instance, in January Vargiu, who had been elected in representation of the centre-right
Sardinian Reformers
The Sardinian Reformers (, RS) is a regionalist and liberal-conservative political party in Sardinia, led by Michele Cossa. The party, which has always been part of the centre-right at the Sardinian regional level, is a keen supporter of the fr ...
, and Matarrese, a former president of SC, participated in the founding convention of
Direction Italy
Direction Italy (, DI) was a liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy.
The party was led by Raffaele Fitto, an Member of the European Parliament, MEP in the European Conservatives and ...
(DI), a conservative party launched by
Raffaele Fitto
Raffaele Fitto (; born 28 August 1969) is an Italian politician who has served as Vice-President of the European Commission, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Cohesion and Refo ...
and built on the experience of the
Conservatives and Reformists. Others (
Gianfranco Librandi,
Andrea Mazziotti
Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew.
Origin of the name
The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ref ...
and
Stefano Dambruoso) took part, along with
Mario Monti
Mario Monti (; born 19 March 1943) is an Italian politician, economist and academic who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a Technocratic government (Italy), technocratic government in the wake of the European sov ...
,
Francesco Rutelli
Francesco Rutelli (born 14 June 1954) is an Italian journalist and former politician, who is the president of National Association of Film and Audiovisual Industry, since October 2016 and re-elected for the 2020–2022 term, plus ANICA Servizi. ...
,
Emma Bonino
Emma Bonino (born 9 March 1948) is an Italian politician. She was a senator for Rome between 2008 and 2013, and again between 2018 and 2022. She also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2014. Previously, she was a Member of the Eu ...
and the
Italian Radicals
The Italian Radicals (, RI) are a liberal and libertarian political party in Italy. The party draws inspiration form 19th-century classical radicalism and the Radical Party. The RI are a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Eur ...
,
Carlo Scognamiglio
Carlo Scognamiglio Pasini (born 27 November 1944) is an Italian economist and politician. He is a university professor in applied economics, and was Chancellor of the LUISS University of Rome (1984–1992). He was President of the Italian Se ...
and
The Liberals, to a
pro-Europeanist event organised by
Benedetto Della Vedova
Benedetto Della Vedova (Sondrio, 3 April 1962) is an Italian politician.
A keen pro-Europeanist, Della Vedova is currently president of Forza Europa (FE) and has been secretary of More Europe (+EU), the latter comprising FE and the Italian Rad ...
(undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, former Radical and SC member) in February. From the event, titled ''Forza Europa!'' (Forward Europe!), Della Vedova would launch a movement and later a party named
Forza Europa
Forza Europa was a conservative political group that operated in the European Parliament between 1994 and 1995. Most of its MEPs were affiliated with the Forza Italia party of Silvio Berlusconi.
History
27 MEPs from the Italian centre-right pa ...
(FE).
Continuation as a sub-group
In June 2017
Giovanni Palladino, one of the group's left-wingers, left in order to join the PD, while right-wingers Vargiu and Matarrese switched to DI.
As a result, on 10 July the group was demoted to sub-group within the
Mixed Group
The mixed group (, GM) is a parliamentary group active in both houses of the Italian Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. ...
for lack of members.
Later in July, another left-leaning deputy, Librandi, left the CI in order to join the PD, reducing the sub-group's total to twelve deputies. Among its members, Menorello and Monchiero were increasingly involved with the centre-right
Energies for Italy
Energies for Italy (, EpI) was a political party in Italy, launched in November 2016 and officially established on 1 April 2017. Its leader is Stefano Parisi, a former director-general of Confindustria and CEO of Fastweb, who was an unsuccessfu ...
(EpI). As a result, in November the sub-group changed its name into "Civics and Innovators – Energies for Italy".
In December Menorello and Monchiero were appointed by EpI's president
Stefano Parisi
Stefano Parisi (born 12 November 1956) is an Italian businessman and politician. He was the general secretary of Confindustria for four years and founder of Energies for Italy, a political party member of the Centre-right coalition (Italy), centr ...
to the party's political secretariat.
While EpI members were close to the
centre-right coalition
The centre-right coalition () is a political alliance of political parties in Italy active under several forms and names since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed the party. It has mostly competed with the centre-left c ...
, the rest of the group, particularly those who joined to FE and subsequently formed
More Europe
More Europe ( or ''+Europa''; +E or +Eu) is a liberal and pro-European political party in Italy, part of the centre-left coalition and member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party.
History Foundation
More Europe was laun ...
(+Eu) with the
Italian Radicals
The Italian Radicals (, RI) are a liberal and libertarian political party in Italy. The party draws inspiration form 19th-century classical radicalism and the Radical Party. The RI are a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Eur ...
, part of 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 ...
led by
Matteo Renzi
Matteo Renzi (; born 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician who served as prime minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016. He has been a senator for Florence since 2018. Renzi has served as the leader of Italia Viva (IV) since 2019, having bee ...
and the PD in the
2018 general election. No CI member was elected.
Leadership
*Leader 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 ...
:
Giovanni Monchiero Giovanni may refer to:
* Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname
* Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data
* ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...
(2016–2018)
References
{{Italian political parties
2016 establishments in Italy
Parliamentary groups in Italy