Democratic Union for Consumers (, UDpC) 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 ...

Italian political party. The party supports

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

and

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

rights.

History

UD was founded on 11 September 2007 by two dissenting members of

Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy (, DL), commonly known simply as The Daisy (''La Margherita''), was a Centrism, centrist List of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. The party was formed from the merger of three parties with ...

(DL) who were opposed to the foundation of the Democratic Party (PD).

Willer Bordon Willer Bordon (16 January 1949 – 14 July 2015) was an Italian academic, businessman and politician who served in different cabinet posts at the end of the 1990s and 2000s. Early life Bordon was born in Muggia, Province of Trieste, on 16 Januar ...

(leader of the new party) and Roberto Manzione, and two leading consumer rights leaders, Elio Lanutti and

Bruno De Vita Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters * Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...

, leader of

United Consumers The United Consumers (''Consumatori Uniti'') was a political party in Italy led by Bruno De Vita. In the 2006 general election the party was affiliated to The Union, the centre-left coalition led by Romano Prodi. The United Consumers contested th ...

, were integrated in the new party. Bordon and Manzione were both members of the most ''Ulivista'' faction in DL, that one led by

Arturo Parisi Arturo Parisi (born 13 September 1940) is an Italian politician, leader of the Ulivist faction of the Democratic Party (Italy), Democratic Party and a four-time member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. He was also Italian Minister of Defence, ...

and decided to leave DL because in their opinion, PD was born as a bureaucratic union of apparatuses between DL and the

Democrats of the Left The Democrats of the Left (, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. Positioned on the centre-left, the DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger ...

and they were the "true Democrats". Bordon had been a strong supporter of the idea of a "Democratic Party" since 1992, when he left the

Democratic Party of the Left The Democratic Party of the Left (, PDS) was a democratic-socialist and social-democratic political party in Italy. Founded in February 1991 as the post-communist evolution of the Italian Communist Party, the party was the largest in the A ...

to form Democratic Alliance, forerunner of the first Democratic Union, The Democrats and Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy, respectively. All four parties were committed in uniting the whole Italian centre-left into a single party and Bordon was a keen supporter of this. On 27 November 2007 UD formed a joint group 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 ...

with Liberal Democrats of

Lamberto Dini Lamberto Dini (; born 1 March 1931) is an Italian politician and economist. He was the Director General of Bank of Italy from 1979 to 1994, Italian Minister of the Treasury, Minister of Treasury from 1994 to 1996, the 51st Prime Minister of Ital ...

.ALICE Notizie
/ref> The convergence between the two small parties, which retained their autonomy, is based on some key points (a

plurality voting system Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which the candidates in an electoral district who poll more than any other (that is, receive a plurality) are elected. Under single-winner plurality voting, and in systems based on single-member ...

, more powers for the

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 ...

fiscal conservatism In American political theory, fiscal conservatism or economic conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, ...

, tax cuts and

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

reform) and was open to all the senators. Both Bordon and Manzione, as also Dini and D'Amico, have a long record of dissenting votes from the majority. The group was predicted as likely to have much influence in the Senate, where the centre-left had only a narrow majority of two votes and where Liberal Democrats were the fourth force of the coalition, after the Democratic Party, the

Communist Refoundation Party The Communist Refoundation Party (, PRC) is a Communism, communist List of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy that emerged from a split of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1991. The party's secretary is Maurizio Acerbo, who r ...

and Democratic Left. For technical reasons, the two parties formed separate groups in the Senate in order to have more speaking time, whilst coordinating almost every position together and formed a joint group until the Liberal Democrats decided to withdraw support from

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 ...

's government and to join

The People of Freedom The People of Freedom (, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL launched by Silvio Berlusconi as an electoral list, including and National Alliance, on 27 February for the 2008 Italian general election. The list was later t ...

. In the 2008 general election, Democratic Union for Consumers failed to gain enough votes to enter Parliament. On 30 December 2017, the secretary Bruno de Vita died, and the party has effectively ceased its activities.

Leadership

* President:

(2007–2015) * Coordinator: Roberto Manzione (2007–present)

References

External links

Official website
{{Italian political parties Centrist parties in Italy Political parties established in 2007 2007 establishments in Italy Political parties established in 2017 Political parties disestablished in 2017 Defunct political parties in Italy