Christian Democrats for Freedom ( it, Cristiani Democratici per la Libertà, CDL) was a small christian-democratic

political party in Italy This article contains a list of political parties in Italy since Italian unification in 1861. Throughout history, numerous political parties have been operating in Italy, and since World War II no party has ever gained enough support to govern ...

History

The party was founded following a split from the

United Christian Democrats The United Christian Democrats ( it, Cristiani Democratici Uniti, CDU) was a minor Christian democratic political party in Italy. The CDU was a member of the European People's Party from 1995 until 2002. History The party was started in 1995 by ...

Rocco Buttiglione Rocco Buttiglione (; born 6 June 1948) is an Italian Union of Christian and Centre Democrats politician and an academic. Buttiglione's nomination for a post as European Commissioner with a portfolio that was to include civil liberties, resulted ...

, who intended to abandon the centre-right alliance to join the

Democratic Union for the Republic The Democratic Union for the Republic ( it, Unione Democratica per la Repubblica, 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 ...

, conceived by

Francesco Cossiga Francesco Maurizio Cossiga (; sc, Frantziscu Maurìtziu Còssiga, ; 1928 – 2010)
. was an Italian pol ...

. The political line pursued by Buttiglione, however, was harshly opposed by leading members of the CDU: the Lombard president

Roberto Formigoni Roberto Formigoni (born 30 March 1947) is a former Italian politician born in Lecco, Italy. He was the President of Lombardy from 1995 to 2013. He is the former unofficial political spokesperson of the Communion and Liberation movement. On 21 Fe ...

and the Apulian exponent

Raffaele Fitto Raffaele Fitto (born 28 August 1969) is an Italian politician and a member of the European Parliament. He is serving as the minister of European affairs in the Meloni Cabinet since 2022. Career Born in Maglie, Fitto was elected in 1999 at Europe ...

.CDU: FORMIGONI DENUNCIA, BUTTIGLIONE VIOLA LO STATUTO
/ref> On 4 April 1998 the assembly of centrists was held in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, promoted by Fitto and Formigoni. It was on this occasion that Fitto and Formigoni announced the birth of the CdL. Three senators joined the new party: Rosario Giorgio Costa,

Tomaso Zanoletti Tomaso is a given name, being the Italian form of the name Thomas. Notable people with the name include: * Tomaso, variant of name Tommaso * Tomaso Albinoni, 18th-century Italian composer * Rico Tomaso, American illustrator and painter * De Tomaso ...

and Ida Maria Dentamaro. The CdL approached the

Christian Democratic Centre The Christian Democratic Centre ( it, Centro Cristiano Democratico, CCD) was a Christian-democratic political party in Italy from 1994 to 2002. Formed from a right-wing split from Christian Democracy, the party joined the centre-right coalition, a ...

Pier Ferdinando Casini Pier Ferdinando Casini (; born 3 December 1955) is an Italian politician. He served as President of the Chamber of Deputies from 2001 to 2006. Casini is the honorary president of the Centrist Democrat International and the Inter-Parliamentary ...

and the two parties made an agreement in view of the administrative elections of 1998. In 2001 CdL merged with

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

References

{{Historical Italian political parties Defunct political parties in Italy Christian democratic parties in Italy Defunct Christian political parties Catholic political parties 1998 establishments in Italy 2001 disestablishments in Italy Political parties established in 1998 Political parties disestablished in 2001