The Federalists and Liberal Democrats (, FLD) was a liberal and

federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters call themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of deep ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, founded in 1994 as 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 ...

. The bulk of FLD was renamed Liberal Federalists (''Federalisti Liberali'', FL) in 1996.

History

Foundation

The FLD was founded on 19 December 1994 as a parliamentary group within the Chamber of Deputies by twelve dissident members from the Northern League (LN), four members of

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 ...

(FI), two members of the Liberal Democratic Foundation (

Alberto Michelini Alberto Michelini (born 25 July 1941) is an Italian journalist and politician, former Deputy and Member of the European Parliament. Biography Michelini began his journalistic career in the late 1970s as a host and special correspondent for the ...

and Giuseppe Siciliani), Raffaele Costa (leader of the Union of the Centre and

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

) and Pietro Cerullo (a member of the Southern Action League). The group was launched in order to continue to support

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 ...

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 ...

, which was would be brought down by Northern League leader

Umberto Bossi Umberto Bossi (born 19 September 1941) is an Italian politician and former leader of (Northern League), a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padania. He is married to the Sicilian Manuela Marrone, and has four sons, ...

three days after. A group of LN dissidents wanted to continue the alliance with FI. They included

Franco Rocchetta Franco Rocchetta (born Venice, 12 April 1947) is an Italian politician, entrepreneur, philologist and history populariser, who is usually described as the "father" of present-day Venetian nationalism and independentism. Early life and politi ...

(founder and long-standing leader of the Venetian League, LV),

Marilena Marin Marilena Marin (born 24 July 1947) is an Italian Venetian nationalism, Venetist politician. A native of Conegliano, she was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980 and, after a party purge in 1984, she was elected national secretary of th ...

(secretary of the LV from 1984 to 1994),

Lucio Malan Lucio Malan (born 30 July 1960) is an Italian politician. Biography Malan was born in Luserna San Giovanni, Turin. In 1983 he graduated in Literature at the University of Turin. Lucio Malan is member of the People of Freedom Party. From 1994 t ...

Furio Gubetti Furio may refer to: * Furio (given name), including a list of people with the name * Furio (surname), including a list of people with the name * Falcomposite Furio, a kit-plane See also

* Furios (disambiguation) * Furiosa (disambiguation) * ...

and

Gualberto Niccolini Gualberto is a given name and surname of Italian origin. Notable people with this name include: Surname * Flávio Gualberto (born 1993), Brazilian volleyball player * João Bosco Gualberto de Freitas, also known Biro-Biro (footballer, born 1974) * ...

(president of the Northern League Tuscany from 1988). In February 1995 Michelini left FLD and lead his party, the "Liberal Catholics", into FI.

Further organisation

On 31 May 1995 FLD's assembly approved a "programmatic political manifesto" through which the group structured itself. FLD, whose main ideologies were

federalism Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g., provinces, State (sub-national), states, Canton (administrative division), ca ...

and

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

, aimed at transforming Italy into a federal presidential republic and the adoption of an electoral system based on

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

. Gubetti handed to Costa the role of party leader in the Chamber and took the formal leadership of the party. In the same year FLD participated in some

local elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

together with the Federalist Italian League (formed by LN dissidents led by Sergio Cappelli) and the Federalist Union (launched by Gianfranco Miglio, formerly LN "ideologue") under the "Federalists" banner, in coalition with the

Pole for Freedoms The Pole for Freedoms () was a centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, which was active from 1996 to 2000. It included Forza Italia (FI), the National Alliance (AN), Union of the Centre (UdC), Christian Democratic Centre (CCD), ...

. In July 1995 Gubetti left FLD to join FI, citing disagreements over FLD's slight distancing from the Pole.

Liberal Federalists

At the end of 1995 it was announced that the FLD would be transformed into a full-fledged political party, the Union for the New Republic (UNR); finally, in February 1996, the FLD leading members established the Liberal Federalists (FL). The new party, allied with the FI-led Pole, had the elephant as a symbol, referring to the Republican Party. Costa, Cerullo and Luigi Negri were respectively appointed secretary, president and coordinator of the new party. In the

1996 Italian general election The 1996 Italian general election was held on 21 April 1996 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left The Olive Tree, won the election, narrowly defeating Silvio Berl ...

(Chamber of Deputies) the FL obtained 6,475 votes (0.02%) among party lists (having fielded a list only in the Sicily 1 constituency) and 11,563 votes (0.03%) for first-past-the-post candidates (having fielded only three candidates in three constituencies of Sicily 1). However, some outgoing members were re-elected in first-past-the-post constituencies for the Pole and joined FI parliamentary groups: Costa, Negri, Malan, Gubbetti, Niccolini, Umberto Giovine, Paolo Mammola, Mario Masiero and Giuseppe Rossetto. During the 1995–2000 legislature of the Regional Council of

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

the FL had two members, who were also affiliated to National Alliance (AN).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Federalists And Liberal Democrats 1994 establishments in Italy 1996 disestablishments in Italy Defunct political parties in Italy Federalist parties in Italy Liberal parties in Italy Political parties disestablished in 1996 Political parties established in 1994 Regionalist parties in Italy