The Association of Italians of Romania – RO.AS.IT. ( ro, Asociația Italienilor din România – RO.AS.IT.; it, Associazione degli Italiani di Romania – RO.AS.IT.) is an ethnic minority political party in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

representing the Italian community of the country. The main objective of the organisation is to preserve the traditions and customs of the Italian community and promote the

Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about ...

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

, and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

. It is supported by the Department of Interethnic Relations and the Italian Embassy in Bucharest. In 2014, it joined 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. François Bayrou is the President of the party. All ...

(EDP).

History

The party was established in 1993 in

Suceava Suceava () is the largest urban settlement and the seat town ( ro, oraș reședință de județ) of Suceava County, situated in the historical region of Bukovina, northeastern Romania, and at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. Klaus Pet ...

, Suceava County, Bukovina. It contested the 1996 general elections, but was beaten by the

Italian Community of Romania The Italian Community of Romania ( ro, Comunitatea Italiana din Romania, CIR) was an ethnic minority political party in Romania representing the Italian community. History The CIR contested the 1992 general elections, and despite receiving ...

(CIR), which retained the seat reserved for the Italian community in the Chamber of Deputies under the electoral law allowing political parties representing ethnic minority groups to be exempt from the

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

only applied as long as they received 10% of the vote required for a single seat in the Chamber of Deputies. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1585 The party contested the

2000 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2000. Africa * 2000 Ethiopian general election * 2000 Ghanaian presidential election * 1999–2000 Guinea-Bissau general election * 2000–01 Ivorian parliamentary election * 2000 Ivorian preside ...

as part of the

,Case of Grosaru v. Romania, no. 78039/01, ECtHR (Third Section), Judgment (Merits and Just Satisfaction) of 02.03.2010, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 2010
Eurocases but ran separately in the 2004 elections and beat the CIR by 987 votes to win the Italian seat, with

Mircea Grosaru Mircea Grosaru (June 30, 1952 – February 3, 2014) was a Romanian politician, MP (2000–2014), and lawyer. Born in Buhuși, he was a 1974 graduate in mathematics and physics from the Pedagogical Institute of Bacău He earned a law degree from ...

becoming the party's MP. It has retained it in every election since. Following Grosaru's death in 2014, his son Andi-Gabriel became the party's MP.

Electoral history

References

External links

Official website
{{Romanian political parties Non-registered political parties in Romania 1993 establishments in Romania Political parties established in 1993 Political parties of minorities in Romania European Democratic Party