Union of the Centre (1993)

The Union of the Centre (Italian: Unione di Centro, UdC) was a minor liberal political party in Italy. The party was a successor of the Italian Liberal Party.[1]

For the current party with the same name, see Union of the Centre (2002).

Union of the Centre

Unione di Centro
PresidentRaffaele Costa
Founded27 May 1993 (1993-05-27)
Dissolved30 November 1998 (1998-11-30)
Split fromItalian Liberal Party
Merged intoForza Italia
HeadquartersRome
IdeologyLiberalism
Political positionCentre-right
National affiliationPole of Freedoms/Pole of Good Government (1994–96)
Pole for Freedoms (1996–98)
European Parliament groupForza Europa (1994–95)

History

The party was founded on 27 May 1993 as a "Giscardian rassemblement" by Raffaele Costa, leader of the Italian Liberal Party (PLI). The UdC included Liberals (Alfredo Biondi, Stefano De Luca, Giacomo Paire, Valentino Martelli, etc.), members of the Italian Republican Party (Guglielmo Castagnetti, Vincenzo Garaffa, Gaetano Gorgoni, etc.), members of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party (as Maurizio Pagani) and even Christian Democrats (as Eugenio Tarabini).[2][3][4]

In February 1994 the PLI was dissolved into the Federation of Liberals (FdL),[5] which elected Raffaello Morelli secretary and Biondi president.[6] Costa refused to join the new party and led the UdC into the coalitions formed around Forza Italia (FI), the Pole of Freedoms in the North and the Pole of Good Government in the South.

At the 1994 general election the UdC elected some candidates with FI: Biondi (who was still president of the FdL, which sided with the Segni Pact), Costa, Biondi, Enrico Nan and Enzo Savarese to the Chamber of Deputies, Livio Caputo and Carlo Scognamiglio to the Senate.[7] The latter was elected President of the Senate, while Biondi was justice minister and Costa health minister in Silvio Berlusconi's first government (1994–1995).[8] In the 1994 European Parliament election two members of the UdC, de Luca and Luigi Florio, were elected to the European Parliament.[9][10] In the 1996 general election the UdC had three deputies (Biondi, Costa, Nan and Savarese) and two senators (Scognamiglio and Jas Gawronski) elected.[7]

In 1998 the UdC was merged into FI.[11] The activity of the UdC continued through the Liberal Union of the Centre, a political association,[9] and Popular Liberalism, a faction within FI.[12] Both Biondi[13] and Costa later left FI/PdL.

gollark: With eye technology.
gollark: You can just see they are struggling to walk down the staircase.
gollark: Although I suppose the decision to be in an alleyway with a knife and hood is under your control.
gollark: It's prejudice against hooded armeed figures.
gollark: No, prejudice is making decisions based on some characteristic or other in place of actual good information.

References
  1. Luciano Bardi; Piero Ignazi (1998). "The Italian Party System: The Effective Magnitude of an Earthquake". In Piero Ignazi; Colette Ysmal (eds.). The Organization of Political Parties in Southern Europe. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-275-95612-7.
  3. "COSTA PROMUOVE L' UNIONE DI CENTRO - la Repubblica.it". Archivio - la Repubblica.it (in Italian). Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  4. "LETTERE - la Repubblica.it". Archivio - la Repubblica.it (in Italian). Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  5. "ANCHE IL PLI SI SCIOGLIE - la Repubblica.it". Archivio - la Repubblica.it (in Italian). Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  6. "IL NUOVO PARTITO LIBERALE MORELLI ELETTO SEGRETARIO - la Repubblica.it". Archivio - la Repubblica.it (in Italian). Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  7. de Boissieu, Laurent. "Unione di Centro (UDC) 1994 — L'Europe politique" (in French). Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Congresso dell'Unione di Centro". Radio Radicale (in Italian). 4 June 1994. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  10. "EUROPEE: DE LUCA AL PARLAMENTO". Adnkronos. 13 June 1994. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  13. "Biondi si dimette dal Pdl "Il partito ha visione feudale" - Genova - Repubblica.it". La Repubblica. 26 October 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
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