The Freedom Party of South Tyrol (german: Freiheitliche Partei Südtirols, FPS) was a regionalist national-liberal

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

History

It was launched in 1988 as the continuation of the Party of Independents by

Gerold Meraner Gerold Meraner (9 March 1940 – 26 August 2023) was an Italian politician. A member of the Party of Independents, the Freedom Party of South Tyrol, the Union for South Tyrol, and finally an independent, he served in the Landtag of South Tyrol f ...

. In the 1988 provincial election FPS took 1.4% and got Meraner elected to the Provincial Council. The party was soon merged with the

South Tyrolean Homeland Federation The South Tyrolean Homeland Federation (german: Südtiroler Heimatbund, SHB) was a political party active in South Tyrol. It was launched in 1983 as Election Association of Homeland Federation (''Wahlverband des Heimatbundes'', ''Heimatbund'') an ...

Eva Klotz Eva Klotz (born 4 June 1951) is an Italian politician. She was a member of the Landtag of South Tyrol for 31 years, from 1983 until 2014. She represented several parties during that time, latterly (from 2007) the South Tyrolean Freedom. Life ...

and conservative splinters from the

South Tyrolean People's Party The South Tyrolean People's Party (german: Südtiroler Volkspartei, SVP) is a regionalist and autonomist political party in South Tyrol, an autonomous province with a German-speaking majority in northern Italy. Founded on 8 May 1945, the SVP h ...

led by

Alfons Benedikter Alfons Benedikter (14 March 1918 – 3 November 2010) was a politician from South Tyrol, Italy. He was a member of the provincial parliament for 50 years and for 40 years he acted as a member of the regional government of the region Trentino-Alto ...

to form the

Union for South Tyrol The Citizens' Union for South Tyrol (german: BürgerUnion für Südtirol, BUfS), formerly Union for South Tyrol (''Union für Südtirol'', UfS), was a national conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in South Tyrol, politica ...

.
or In December 1992 a group of dissidents from the

led by

Christian Waldner Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...

founded ''

Die Freiheitlichen ''Die Freiheitlichen'' (), abbreviated dF, is a Regionalism (politics), regionalist, Separatism, separatist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in South Tyrol, political party in South Tyrol, Italy. The pa ...

''. They were joined by some former members of the FPS around

Martin Wenter Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

who left the Union for South Tyrol after internal conflicts in 1993. Gerold Meraner later identified ''Die Freiheitlichen'' as the legitimate heir of the FPS.

References

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in South Tyrol German nationalist political parties National liberal parties South Tyrolean nationalism