The Clover () 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 ...

coalition of Italian political parties. It was launched on 27 October 1999 and led by

Francesco Cossiga Francesco Maurizio Cossiga (; , ; 1928 – 2010)
. was an Italian politician who served as President of ...

, who supported the

D'Alema I Cabinet The first D'Alema government was the Politics of Italy, government of Italy from 21 October 1998 to 22 December 1999. The first Prodi government fell in 1998 when the Communist Refoundation Party withdrew its support to Prodi. This led to the fo ...

since its formation via his

Democratic Union for the Republic The Democratic Union for the Republic (, UDR) was a short-lived Christian-democratic and centrist political party in Italy. It was founded in February 1998 by Francesco Cossiga (former Prime Minister and President) in order to provide a majority ...

(UDR). The idea of The Clover was to unify those political forces within the majority which felt marginalised. The coalition was composed of three parties: *the

Italian Democratic Socialists The Italian Democratic Socialists (, SDI) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. The party was the direct continuation of the Italian Socialists, the legal successor of the historical Italian Socialist Party. The Italian Democrati ...

(SDI,

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

, leader:

Enrico Boselli Enrico Boselli (born 7 January 1957) is an Italian politician. He has been Vice President of Alliance for Italy, and is the former leader of the Italian Democratic Socialists and the modern-day Socialist Party, and former president of Emilia ...

) *the Union for the Republic (UpR,

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 ...

, leader:

Francesco Cossiga Francesco Maurizio Cossiga (; , ; 1928 – 2010)
. was an Italian politician who served as President of ...

) *the

Italian Republican Party The Italian Republican Party (, PRI) is a political party in Italy established in 1895, which makes it the oldest political party still active in the country. The PRI identifies with 19th-century classical radicalism, as well as Mazzinianism, a ...

(PRI,

, leader:

Giorgio La Malfa Giorgio La Malfa (born 13 October 1939 in Milan) is an Italian politician. Biography La Malfa was born in Milan, the son of Ugo La Malfa, a long-time Italian political leader and government minister. He read law at the University of Pavia and th ...

) The coalition was responsible of bringing down the D'Alema I Cabinet (

Massimo D'Alema Massimo D'Alema (; born 20 April 1949) is an Italian politician and journalist who was the 53rd prime minister of Italy from 1998 to 2000. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008. D'Alema ...

resigned on 18 December) and decided not to enter into the

D'Alema II Cabinet The second D'Alema government was the government of Italy from 22 December 1999 to 26 April 2000. Following the exit from the majority of the United Christian Democrats led by Rocco Buttiglione and of the Union for the Republic led by Francesco ...

. At that point The Clover had 18

deputies A legislator, or lawmaker, is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people, but they can be appointed, or hereditary. Legislatures may be supra-nati ...

, eight senators and two ministers:

Carlo Scognamiglio Pasini Carlo Scognamiglio Pasini (born 27 November 1944) is an Italian economist and politician. He is a university professor in applied economics, and was Chancellor of the LUISS University of Rome (1984–1992). He was President of the Italian Sen ...

(UpR, Defence) and Angelo Piazza (SDI, Public Administration). On 8 February 2000, after Cossiga had hinted at the possibility of making an alliance with the centre-right

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 ...

, SDI left the coalition, while some of its members, including

Claudio Martelli Claudio Martelli (born 24 September 1943) is an Italian former politician and journalist. He is the editor-in-chief of the former Italian Socialist Party (PSI) newspaper ''Avanti!'' The right-hand man of Bettino Craxi, the PSI leader and Prime M ...

and

Bobo Craxi Vittorio Michele Craxi, commonly known as Bobo Craxi (born 6 August 1964), is an Italian politician, son of the former Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi and brother of Stefania Craxi. Biography Formerly a prominent member of the Italian S ...

, formed the Socialist League, which replaced SDI as third component of The Clover. Since then, the coalition was loosened and each party started to take autonomous decisions, but by the 2001 general election all the three groups had joined the centre-right

House of Freedoms The House of Freedoms (, CdL) was a major centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, led by Silvio Berlusconi. History The CdL was the successor of the Pole of Freedoms/ Pole of Good Government and the Pole for Freedoms. The former ...

coalition led by

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 ...

in different ways: the Socialist League took part to the foundation of the

New Italian Socialist Party The New Italian Socialist Party or New PSI ( or ''Nuovo PSI'', NPSI), more recently styled as Liberal Socialists – NPSI, is a List of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy which professes a Social democracy, social-democratic ideol ...

, PRI signed an electoral pact with

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 ...

and UpR merged into that party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clover 1999 establishments in Italy Defunct political party alliances in Italy Centrist parties in Italy