The Liberal Democratic Foundation (''Fondazione Liberaldemocratica'', FLD) was 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 ...

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 ...

Italian political party. It was founded on 28 April 1994 by splinters from Patto Segni led by

Giulio Tremonti Giulio Tremonti (; born 18 August 1947) is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finance under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 200 ...

(an ex-

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

) and

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 ...

(an ex-

Christian-Democrat 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 ...

).Segni sempre piu' solo: lo lasciano altri quattro
/ref> They acknowledged the defeat of their party (which won 4.7% of the votes and got elected only 13 deputies in the 1994 general election, in coalition with the Italian People's Party) and, after that they understood that

Mario Segni Mariotto Segni (born 16 May 1939) is a retired Italian politician and professor of civil law. He founded several parties, which focused on fighting for electoral reform through referendums. He is the son of the politician Antonio Segni, one-time ...

would have led it into an alliance with the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

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 ...

(that happened for the 1995 regional elections through the

Pact of Democrats The Pact of Democrats () was a short-lived electoral alliance of political parties in Italy. It was launched for the 1995 regional elections by the Segni Pact, the Italian Socialists and Democratic Alliance. After the election, in which the Pact o ...

), they decided to join forces with the

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

Pole of Freedoms The Pole of Freedoms () was a centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, launched at the 1994 general election by Silvio Berlusconi. Its counterpart in central and southern Italy was the Pole of Good Government, both forming the f ...

and to support

Berlusconi I Cabinet The first Berlusconi government was the 51st government of the Italian Republic. It was the first right-wing and non-Christian Democracy (Italy), Christian Democrats government since World War II. Berlusconi resigned on 22 December 1994. Histo ...

(Tremonti even became Finance Minister). Some of the members of FLD took part to the foundation of the

Federalists and Liberal Democrats The Federalists and Liberal Democrats (, FLD) was a liberal and federalist political party in Italy, founded in 1994 as a parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies. The bulk of FLD was renamed Liberal Federalists (''Federalisti Liberali'', ...

group 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 ...

along with disgruntled members of

Lega Nord Lega Nord (LN; ), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing politics, right-wing, federalism, federalist, populism, populist and conservatism, conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. In the run-up to the 201 ...

on 16 December and, by the 1996 general election, all of them had joined

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 ...

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 ...

References

Liberal parties in Italy Political parties established in 1994 1994 establishments in Italy {{italy-party-stub