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More Europe ( or ''+Europa''; +E or +Eu) is a liberal and
pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...
political party in Italy, part of the centre-left coalition and member of the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) is a European political party composed of 76 national-level parties from across Europe, mainly active in the European Union. The ALDE Party is affiliated with Liberal Interna ...
.


History


Foundation

More Europe was launched in November 2017, seeking to participate in the 2018 general election within the centre-left coalition centred on the Democratic Party (PD). The founding members were two liberal and distinctively pro-Europeanist parties: 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 ...
(RI), whose leading members included
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 ...
(a former minister of International Commerce and Foreign Affairs), Riccardo Magi and
Marco Cappato Marco Cappato (; born 25 May 1971) is an Italian activist and politician. Cappato was an Italian Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2009. He represented the Bonino List within the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe parlia ...
, and Forza Europa (FE), led by Benedetto Della Vedova, a former Radical elected in
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
with
Future and Freedom Future and Freedom (), whose full name was Future and Freedom for Italy (''Futuro e Libertà per l'Italia'', abbreviated to FLI), was a list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy, comprising both liberal conservatism, liberal an ...
(FLI) and later transitated through Civic Choice (SC). The RI and FE were joined by individual members of the Civics and Innovators (CI) sub-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 ...
, formed by former SC members (two CI deputies, Andrea Mazziotti and Stefano Dambruoso, were already involved with FE).
Angelo Bonelli Angelo Bonelli (born 30 July 1962) is an Italian politician. He is the spokesperson of Green Europe. In 1990 he became councillor for the XIII district of the City of Rome and from 1993 to 1994 he was president of this district. He was also Reg ...
, coordinator of the
Federation of the Greens The Federation of the Greens (, FdV), frequently referred to as Greens (''Verdi''), was a green political party in Italy. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the Federation of Green Lists and the Rainbow Greens. The FdV was part of the Eur ...
, had earlier proposed to the Radicals a joint list together with Progressive Camp (CP), a would-be party launched by Giuliano Pisapia, named "Ecology, Europe, Rights". However, Pisapia announced that he would not participate in the election and declared CP's experience over, while the Radicals organised +E and the Greens would form an alternative list named
Together ''ToGetHer'' (, aka Superstar Express) is a 2009 Taiwanese drama starring Jiro Wang of Fahrenheit, Rainie Yang and George Hu. It was produced by Comic International Productions ( 可米國際影視事業股份有限公司) and directed by Linzi ...
.


2018 general election

In early January 2018, Bonino and Della Vedova announced that +E would run as a stand-alone list, due to technical reasons associated with the new electoral laws. While the PD leadership was trying to find a solution to those problems, on 4 January,
Bruno Tabacci Bruno Tabacci (born 27 August 1946) is an Italian politician and member of the Chamber of Deputies. He is the president of the Democratic Centre. In the past, he was a member of Christian Democracy and served as the president of Lombardy from 19 ...
, leader of the
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 ...
, mostly
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 also pro-Europeanist Democratic Centre (CD), announced that his party would join the coalition +E, in alliance with the PD, to overcome those issues. Later in January, +E was enlarged also to the Progressive Area (AP), a small left-wing party emerged from the dissolution of the aforementioned CP. The list won 2.6% of the vote in the election, falling short of the 3% threshold, but had three elects in single-seat constituencies (Bonino to the Senate, Magi and Tabacci to the Chamber) and one among Italians abroad ( Alessandro Fusacchia, a Radical, in the European constituency). After the election, +E was part of the opposition to
Giuseppe Conte Giuseppe Conte (; born 8 August 1964) is an Italian jurist, academic, and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy, prime minister of Italy from June 2018 to February 2021. He has been the president of the Five Star Movement (M5S) sin ...
's first government, composed of a coalition 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 ...
(M5S) and the League. In the regional elections held on the same day of the general election, +E won one seat in Lombardy and one in Lazio.


Political party

In July 2018, +E started to organise itself as a full-fledged party. It was decided that a committee, presided by Gianfranco Spadaccia (a long-time Radical), would lead +E until the founding congress, scheduled for January 2019. The newly formed committee appointed Della Vedova as coordinator. In January 2019, at the congress, Della Vedova was elected secretary of +E with 55.7% of the vote, defeating
Marco Cappato Marco Cappato (; born 25 May 1971) is an Italian activist and politician. Cappato was an Italian Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2009. He represented the Bonino List within the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe parlia ...
 (30.2%) and Alessandro Fusacchia (14.1%). In February 2019, the party was admitted into the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) is a European political party composed of 76 national-level parties from across Europe, mainly active in the European Union. The ALDE Party is affiliated with Liberal Interna ...
. In the run-up to the
2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 23 and 26 May 2019. It was the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) we ...
+E was joined by: Italia in Comune (IiC), a green and progressive party led by Federico Pizzarotti; the
Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Social democracy, social democratic and Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parti ...
(PSI), a minor social-democratic party, member of the
Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...
(PES); the Italian Republican Party (PRI); the Italian section of the
European Democratic Party The European Democratic Party (EDP; French: ''Parti démocrate européen'', PDE), also known as the European Democrats, is a centrist European political party in favour of European integration. Within the European Parliament, its MEPs form th ...
(EDP/PDE), led by
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. ...
; and, in the North-East, Team Köllensperger (TK), a liberal party from
South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...
, observer member of the ALDE Party. The slates included, along with Bonino and Della Vedova: David Borrelli and Daniela Aiuto, two MEPs both originally elected with the M5S; Federica Sabbati, a former secretary-general of the ALDE Party; and art critic Philippe Daverio. In the election, the party obtained 3.1% of the vote, falling short of the 4% threshold – thus, no MEPs.


Splits and new alliances

In August 2019, tensions grew within the coalition supporting the government, leading to the issuing of a motion of no-confidence by the League. During the following government crisis, the M5S and the PD agreed to form a new cabinet together, under outgoing Prime Minister Conte. In September, +E decided not to support the newly formed
Conte II Cabinet The second Conte government was the 66th government of the Italian Republic and the second government led by Giuseppe Conte. The government was sworn in on 5 September 2019 to 13 February 2021. The government was supported by the anti-establis ...
, despite opposition by Tabacci, Magi and Fusacchia. The three voted in favour of the government in the Chamber, while Bonino voted against in the Senate. Consequently, Tabacci led CD, which had continued to be active as an associate party, out of the party. However, some leading members of CD, notably including Fabrizio Ferrandelli, chose to stay within +E. Della Vedova reassured that the party would continue activity also after CD's departure. In October, also Fusacchia announced he was leaving the party, which was left with only one deputy, Magi, who remained despited his early support of the government. In the 2020 regional elections, +E won a seat in Campania, falling short in other places, notably in Veneto, Tuscany and Apulia. In November 2020, Magi and Bonino formed joint sub-groups in the Mixed Groups of the Chamber and the Senate, respectively, with the deputies and senators affiliated with Action (A), a political party led by Carlo Calenda. The sub-group in the Chamber counted four deputies, the one in the Senate three senators. In February 2021, Della Vedova was appointed undersecretary of Foreign Affairs in
Mario Draghi Mario Draghi (; born 3 September 1947) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, banker, statesman, and civil servant, who served as the prime minister of Italy from 13 February 2021 to 22 October 2022. Prior to his appointment as prime mi ...
's
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 ...
. In March 2021, Carlo Cottarelli, a former director of the
International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...
, was chosen by +E, Action, the PRI, the Liberal Democratic Alliance for Italy (ALI) and The Liberals to head of a scientific committee designed to elaborate of a joint political program. During a national assembly in March, treasurer Valerio Federico suffered a motion of no confidence and Bonino left the party in protest. The motion was supported by Magi, Igor Boni, Silvja Manzi, Piercamillo Falasca and Carmelo Palma, the first three leading members of Italian Radicals and the latter two formerly close associates of Della Vedova. Subsequently, Della Vedova resigned as secretary. As a result, a congress should have been held within three months. Subsequently, Palma replaced Federico as treasurer. In late May Michele Usuelli was appointed new treasurer and the congress was rescheduled for July. During the party's second congress in July, Bonino returned into the party's fold, and Della Vedova, Magi and Maria Saeli were elected secretary, president and treasurer, respectively. Della Vedova received 77% of the vote by delegates and Magi 60%, while Saeli was unopposed. In January 2022, the party formed a federation with Action.


2022 general election and aftermath

In the run-up of the 2022 general election, +E broke up with Action, as the latter decided not to align with the centre-left coalition led by the PD, but to form a stand-alone list with
Italia Viva Italia Viva (, IV) is a Liberalism, liberal list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy founded in September 2019. The party is led by Matteo Renzi, a former Prime Minister of Italy and former secretary of the Democratic Party ( ...
(IV). Also, the Italian Radicals disaligned from +E and offered a generic support to the centre-left, without endorsing a specific list. Nevertheless, some of the most senior members the Italian Radicals, like Bonino, Magi, Manzi, Lorenzo Strik Lievers, Manuela Zambrano, Valerio Federico and several others, continued to be active in +E as well and are running as candidates for the party, which chose to add "Bonino" to its symbol. +E's electoral lists included also some newcomers and/or independents, such as Marco Bentivogli (a reformist trade unionist), Dorina Bianchi (a social-conservative), Gianfranco Librandi ( L'Italia c'è and ex-IV), Enzo Peluso (ex- PRI) and Franz Ploner ( Team K). In the election, the party obtained 2.8% of the vote, falling short of the 3% threshold. Della Vedova and Magi were elected to the Chamber from single-seat constituencies, while Bonino was defeated in her Senate constituency. Following the election, the two +E elected deputies and Luca Pastorino of èViva formed a joint sub-group within the Mixed Group. In December 2022, treasurer Saeli and Fabrizio Ferrandelli, both leading members in
Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
, switched to Action. In February 2023, the party held its third congress. Della Vedova chose not to run again for secretary. Magi, a long-time Radical, was elected secretary and Pizzarotti, a former mayor of Parma for the M5S turned independent who had recently joined the party, was appointed president. Originally, Magi and Pizzarotti were rivals for secretary, but a deal was brokered by Bonino. By the way, Pizzarotti's list was the most voted by delegates and will have more representatives in the party's assembly. In March 2024, in the run-up of the
2024 European Parliament election The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...
, the party gave birth to a broad, liberal and pro-Europeanist list named " United States of Europe", along with the Italian Radicals,
Italia Viva Italia Viva (, IV) is a Liberalism, liberal list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy founded in September 2019. The party is led by Matteo Renzi, a former Prime Minister of Italy and former secretary of the Democratic Party ( ...
, the
Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Social democracy, social democratic and Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parti ...
, the European Liberal Democrats and Volt Italy, in order to overcome the 4% electoral threshold. Pizzarotti, who was closer to Action, initially opposed the agreement, but the party's assembly finally approved it, with no formal objections. However, Pizzarotti and deputy secretary Falasca chose to leave the party and join Action instead. In late April the electoral list was joined also by L'Italia c'è. In July 2024, the party's assembly elected Bonino as president of the party. In February 2025, the party held its fourth congress. Magi was re-elected secretary with 74.0% of the delegates' vote, despite being unopposed, while Matteo Hallissey, president of the Italian Radicals, was elected president with 69.5% of the vote, by defeating former leader Della Vedova, who obtained 30.5%.


Composition


Founding members


Current associate parties


Former associate parties


Election results


Italian Parliament


European Parliament


Regional Councils


Leadership


Federation

*Coordinator: Benedetto Della Vedova (2018–2019) **Deputy Coordinator:
Bruno Tabacci Bruno Tabacci (born 27 August 1946) is an Italian politician and member of the Chamber of Deputies. He is the president of the Democratic Centre. In the past, he was a member of Christian Democracy and served as the president of Lombardy from 19 ...
(2018–2019), Massimiliano Iervolino (2018–2019) *Administrator: Silvja Manzi (2018–2019) *President: Gianfranco Spadaccia (2018–2019)


Political party

*Secretary: Benedetto Della Vedova (2019–2021, 2021–2023), Riccardo Magi (2023–present) **Deputy Secretary: Piercamillo Falasca (2019–2020), Costanza Hermanin (2019–2020), Piercamillo Falasca (2023–2024) **Coordinator: Giordano Masini (2019–2021, 2021–2023), Nicolò Scibelli (2023–2025) *President:
Bruno Tabacci Bruno Tabacci (born 27 August 1946) is an Italian politician and member of the Chamber of Deputies. He is the president of the Democratic Centre. In the past, he was a member of Christian Democracy and served as the president of Lombardy from 19 ...
(2019), Simona Viola (2019–2021), Riccardo Magi (2021–2023), Federico Pizzarotti (2023–2024), Manuela Zambrano (acting, 2024),
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 ...
(2024–2025), Matteo Hallissey (2025–present) *President of the Assembly:
Bruno Tabacci Bruno Tabacci (born 27 August 1946) is an Italian politician and member of the Chamber of Deputies. He is the president of the Democratic Centre. In the past, he was a member of Christian Democracy and served as the president of Lombardy from 19 ...
(2019), Simona Viola (2019–2021), Fabrizio Ferrandelli (2021–2022), Giulio Del Balzo (2023), Manuela Zambrano (2023–2025), Agnese Balducci (2025–present) **Vice President of the Assembly: Alessandra Senatore (2019–2021), Nicoletta Parisi (2021–2023), Carla Taibi (2021–2023), Bruno Gambardella (2023–2025), Cristina Bagnoli (2023–2025), Michele Di Lorenzo (2025–present), Debora Striani (2025–present) *Treasurer: Silvja Manzi (2019), Valerio Federico (2019–2021), Carmelo Palma (2021), Michele Usuelli (2021), Maria Saeli (2021–2022), Alfonso Maria Gallo (2022–2023), Carla Taibi (2023–present)


Symbols

Più Europa wordmark.svg, Official logo Più Europa logo.png, 2018 general election Più Europa 2019 logo.jpg, 2019 European election Più Europa con Emma Bonino.png, 2022 general election


References


External links

* {{Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party 2017 establishments in Italy Political parties established in 2017 Radical parties in Italy Liberal parties in Italy Federalist parties in Italy Pro-European political parties in Italy