European Choice ( it, Scelta Europea, SE) was a pro-European and primarily liberal electoral alliance of

political parties in Italy This article contains a list of political parties in Italy since Italian unification in 1861. Throughout history, numerous political parties have been operating in Italy, and since World War II no party has ever gained enough support to govern a ...

formed to contest the

2014 European election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded cand ...

on a platform influenced heavily by the Belgian

MEP MEP may refer to: Organisations and politics * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1956), a former political alliance in Sri Lanka * Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre ...

Guy Verhofstadt Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (; ; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian politician who was the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe from 2009 to 2019, and has been a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium ...

History

The list was supported by

Civic Choice Civic Choice ( it, Scelta Civica; 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 polit ...

(SC), Democratic Centre (CD), Act to Stop the Decline (FFD), the Italian Liberal Party (PLI), the Italian Republican Party (PRI), the

Liberal Democratic Alliance for Italy The Liberal Democratic Alliance for Italy (''Alleanza Liberaldemocratica per l'Italia'', ALI) is a liberal political party in Italy. ALI was launched in November 2013 by some leading members of Act to Stop the Decline (FFD), who disagreed with t ...

(ALI), the Conservatives and Social Reformers (CSR), the

European Federalist Party The European Federalist Party (abbreviated as PFE in French, EFP in English) is a European political party founded on 6 November 2011 in Paris. The EFP is one of the first European-oriented political parties that openly defends European federal ...

(PFE) and miscellaneous minor movements. In early March 2014 the list received support from

, former

Prime Minister of Belgium german: Premierminister von Belgien , insignia = State Coat of Arms of Belgium.svg , insigniasize = 100px , insigniacaption = Coat of arms , insigniaalt = , flag = Government ...

and candidate of the

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE; french: Alliance des Démocrates et des Libéraux pour l'Europe, ADLE) is a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Euro ...

(ALDE) and the European Democratic Party for

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...

, and the endorsement of Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy, former President of the European Commission and former president of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. Later, on 19 March, CD, FFD and other groups agreed to go forward with the creation of the list without SC whose members criticised the deal and Verhofstadt himself. In particular, senator Pietro Ichino explained that his party could not be part of a grouping so heterogeneous to include groups as diverse as the Conservatives and Social Reformers, whose

Cristiana Muscardini, a "nationalist", sat in the

European Conservatives and Reformists The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is a soft Eurosceptic, anti- federalist political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party) European pol ...

Group, or MEP Sonia Alfano, a left-winger who had previously tried to join The Other Europe, a "far-left" anti-austerity list. However, the list went ahead with the participation of SC (as originally planned) and the exclusion of Italy of Values, the main Italian member of the ALDE Party, and controversial candidates, including Muscardini and Alfano. In the election SE received 0.7% of the vote, being stronger in the South (CD's heartland), and failed to return any MEPs.

Composition

Electoral results

European Parliament

References

External links

* {{Historical Italian political parties Defunct political party alliances in Italy