Alternativa ( en, Alternative, A or Alt) is a

populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...

and Eurosceptic political party in Italy. It was established in February 2021 as a parliamentary sub-group of the

Mixed Group The mixed group ( it, Gruppo Misto, GM) is a parliamentary group active in both houses of the Italian Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The groups comprise all the deputies and the senators, respectively, who are not members of ...

named L'Alternativa c'è ( en, There is an Alternative). Its members are former deputies of the Five Star Movement who were expelled from the party for having voted against

Mario Draghi Mario Draghi (; born 3 September 1947) is an Italian economist, academic, banker and civil servant who served as prime minister of Italy from February 2021 to October 2022. Prior to his appointment as prime minister, he served as President of ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

. On 15 November 2021, Alternative became a full-fledged party and adopted its current name. The party's three senators sat in the

Constitution, Environment, Labour Constitution, Environment, Labour ( it, Costituzione, Ambiente, Lavoro, CAL), whose full name is United for the Constitution – C.A.L. (Constitution, Environment, Labour) – Alternative – PC – Italy Again – Project SMART – IdV ( it, Un ...

group.

History

Following the resignation of Prime Minister

Giuseppe Conte Giuseppe Conte (; born 8 August 1964) is an Italian jurist, academic, and politician who served as prime minister of Italy from June 2018 to February 2021. He has been the president of the Five Star Movement (M5S) since August 2021. Conte ...

, the Five Star Movement (M5S) asked its members to vote on the party's support to

. The party's members approved the online referendum with 59.3% of votes. During the investiture votes in the Parliament on 17–18 February 2021 for the

Draghi government The Draghi government was the 67th government of the Italian Republic, led by former President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi. It was in office between 13 February 2021 and 22 October 2022. The Draghi government was formed followin ...

, 15 senators and 16 deputies voted against the new cabinet, being immediately expelled by the M5S party's acting leader

Vito Crimi Vito Claudio Crimi (born 26 April 1972) is an Italian politician, member of the Five Star Movement, of which he was appointed acting leader on 22 January 2020. Since 2013, he has been a serving member of the Italian Senate. Biography Vito Crimi ...

. On 23 February, 12 former deputies of the M5S re-organised themselves in a new sub-group within the

, calling it ''L'Alternativa c'è''. As for the Senate, it is required by the rules of the Senate that a new group must be associated with one party that elected at least one senator, even in a joint list. Ignazio Messina, the secretary of

Italy of Values Italy of Values ( it, Italia dei Valori, IdV) is a populist and anti-corruption political party in Italy. The party was founded in 1998 by former ''Mani pulite'' prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, who entered politics in 1996 and finally left the par ...

(IdV) who ran in the

Popular Civic List The Popular Civic List ( it, Civica Popolare, CP) was a centrist coalition of political parties in Italy. Its leader is Beatrice Lorenzin, minister of Health from 2013 to 2018 and member of Popular Alternative. History CP participated in the 2 ...

back in 2018 general election, agreed to put its party symbol at the disposal of the new group. The agreements failed after the legal attorney of IdV stated that there were no longer any political conditions for the disposal of the symbol at the Senate, meaning that they could instead be able to form a sub-group only within the Mixed Group. In April 2022, a group named

was eventually launched with the participation of senators from Alternative, IdV and the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

, plus some non-party independents. In the 2022 local elections, Alternative's

Mattia Crucioli Mattia is an Italian given name for males and, less frequently, females. Also a surname, it may refer to: Given name * Mattia Altobelli (born 1983), professional Italian footballer * Mattia Battistini (1856–1928), Italian operatic baritone *Mat ...

ran for mayor in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, where he was supported by other parties composing CAL, as well as other populist and Eurosceptic parties including

Gianluigi Paragone Gianluigi Paragone (born 7 August 1971) is an Italian politician and journalist. Biography Paragone was born in Varese in 1971. After working as a journalist for a local newspaper and a local television network, Paragone became editor of ''La P ...

's Italexit, and obtained 3.7% of the vote. In the run-up of the 2022 general election, Alternative briefly joined forces with Italexit, while the Communist Party and Italy Again launched Sovereign and Popular Italy. Alternative dissolved the alliance due to allegations about the presence of neo-fascist candidates within Italexit's lists.

Ideology

According to their manifesto, the party is against public shares offering and

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

s, as they adhere to a doctrine of '' dirigisme'' and

economic interventionism Economic interventionism, sometimes also called state interventionism, is an economic policy position favouring government intervention in the market process with the intention of correcting market failures and promoting the general welfare of ...

, supporting abolition or redrafting of the

Maastricht criteria The euro convergence criteria (also known as the Maastricht criteria) are the criteria which European Union member states are required to meet to enter the third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and adopt the euro as their currenc ...

, the

Stability and Growth Pact The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) is an agreement, among all of the 27 member states of the European Union, to facilitate and maintain the stability of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Based primarily on Articles 121 and 126 of the Trea ...

, and the

European Fiscal Compact The Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union; also referred to as TSCG, or more plainly the Fiscal Stability Treaty is an intergovernmental treaty introduced as a new stricter version of the Stability ...

, rejecting the

European Stability Mechanism The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is an intergovernmental organization located in Luxembourg City, which operates under public international law for all eurozone member states having ratified a special ESM intergovernmental treaty. It was ...

, and opposing taking the loan part of the

Next Generation EU Next Generation EU (NGEU, also called the European Union Recovery Instrument) is a European Union (EU) economic recovery package to support the EU member states to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular those that have been particul ...

quota. As for

environmentalism Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seek ...

, they claim to be the one closer to the original M5S manifesto and are in favour of

green politics Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. Wall 2010. p. 12-13. It b ...

Symbols

Logo of the There is an Alternative.png, Old logo Alternativa logo.svg, New logo

References

{{Italian political parties 2021 establishments in Italy Eurosceptic parties in Italy Five Star Movement breakaway groups Italian Parliament Political parties established in 2021