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 Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...

political party in Italy. It was established in February 2021 as a parliamentary sub-group of the Mixed Group named L'Alternativa c'è ( en, There is an Alternative). Its members are former deputies of the

Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( it, Movimento 5 Stelle , M5S) is a political party in Italy. Its leader and president is Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy from 2018 until 2021. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian an ...

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 i ...

. 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 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. Cont ...

, the

(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 Mixed Group, 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 Ignazio Messina (born 24 July 1964) is an Italian lawyer and politician. He is the current leader of Italy of Values. Biography Ignazio Messina was born in Palermo on 24 July 1964, from a family of magistrates and University professors. In 199 ...

, 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 p ...

(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 ...

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 Constitution, Environment, Labour 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 Engel ...

, plus some non-party independents. In the 2022 local elections, Alternative's Mattia Crucioli ran for mayor in

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

, 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 The following elections are scheduled to occur in 2022. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2022 United Nations Security Council election * 2022 national electoral calendar * 2022 local ...

, 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 Dirigisme or dirigism () is an economic doctrine in which the state plays a strong directive (policies) role contrary to a merely regulatory interventionist role over a market economy. As an economic doctrine, dirigisme is the opposite of ''lai ...

'' 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 Tre ...

, and the European Fiscal Compact, 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 ...

, 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 of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment (biophysical), environment, par ...

, 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 be ...

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