Italexit, whose complete name is Italexit for Italy ( it, Italexit per l'Italia), is a

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 reform ...

political party in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, which advocates the country's exit from the

eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU policies ...

and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. Its founder and current leader is

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 ...

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and former TV journalist, who has defined himself as a "

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

", and presented Italexit as a "conservative party". da Paragone opposes Italy's membership in the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

alliance.

History

In January 2020,

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 ...

(M5S) senator and former

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

Paragone has been editor of

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official n ...

's newspaper ''

La Padania ''La Padania'' was an Italian daily newspaper, and the official press organ of the political party Lega Nord. History and profile ''La Padania'' was the official newspaper of Northern League of Umberto Bossi founded in 1997 by Davide Caparini an ...

,'' deputy editor of the '' Libero'' newspaper, and host of several

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

s on

Rai 2 Rai 2 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting ''TG2'' news bulletins, talk ...

and

La7 La7 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned by Cairo Communication. Until 2013 it was a pay-per-view channel owned by Telecom Italia Media and operated by Telecom Italia. Signal overspill means that parts of Albania, Croatia, Swi ...

, known for his

stance, was expelled from the party after he abstained in the

vote of confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

for the

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 ...

, which was supported by M5S and the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, and had also voted against the 2022 budget. In the following months, Paragone was speaking about a new party, talking about the "need for courage...and money." In July 2020, a few weeks after meeting with

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was List of UK Independence Party leaders, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Brexit Party#Leaders, Lea ...

, a key figure of the

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

movement, Paragone launched Italexit with the stated goal of taking Italy out of the European Union. Two M5S senators, Carlo Martelli and Mario Giarrusso, defected to Italexit in 2021, while, in 2022,

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

senator William De Vecchis and deputy Jessica Costanzo, who had been already expelled from the M5S, also joined. Gianluigi Paragone datisenato 2018

Between 2021 and 2022, the party was critical towards the policies of

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 ...

national unity government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...

applied in order to contain the

COVID-19 pandemic in Italy The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 31 January 2020, when t ...

. Italexit strongly opposed the

EU Digital COVID Certificate The EU Digital COVID Certificate (EUDCC), known in Italy as the Green Pass, and in France as the Sanitary Pass or Health Pass (''passe sanitaire''), was a COVID-19 vaccine passport created by the European Union (EU), that is valid in all Member ...

, also known as "Green Pass", which, from October 2021 onwards, became mandatory to work and travel in the country. Paragone labeled the vaccination certificate an "obligation of infamy," stated that he was not vaccinated, and described his opposition to mandatory vaccination as a "

religious war A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war ( la, sanctum bellum), is a war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to wh ...

". In the

2021 Milan municipal election Municipal elections took place in Milan, Italy, on 3 and 4 October 2021 to elect the Mayor and the 48 members of the City Council, as well as the nine presidents and 270 councillors of the nine administrative zones (''municipi'') in which the m ...

, Paragone obtained 2.99% of the vote and came in third behind

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

mayor

Giuseppe Sala Giuseppe "Beppe" Sala (born 28 May 1958) is an Italian manager and politician, currently mayor of Milan. He was CEO of Expo 2015 in Milan from 2010 to 2015. He became mayor of Milan in 2016, supported by the centre-left coalition, and he was con ...

of the

centre-left coalition The centre-left coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-sinistra) is an political alliance, alliance of list of political parties in Italy, political parties in Italy active, under several forms and names, since 1995 when The Olive Tree (Italy), Th ...

and Luca Bernardo of the

centre-right coalition The centre-right coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-destra) is an alliance of political parties in Italy, active—under several forms and names—since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed his Forza Italia party. Despite ...

. Because he did not surpass the 3 percent electoral threshold he did not get elected to the municipal council. Elsewhere, in the 2021 local elections, Italexit's candidates scored from 0.8% of the vote in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, to 2.0% in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

. In the

2022 Italian local elections The 2022 Italian local elections were held in various Italian local communities on 12 June 2022, with a run-off round on 26 June. Local elections in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol were held on 15 May, with a second ballot on 29 May, while local ele ...

, Italexit scored from 0.9% of the vote in

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

to 2.6% in

Alessandria Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin. Alessandria ...

. In June 2022, Italexit 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 ...

its first

congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

, at the end of which, on the 26th, its

organizational chart An organizational chart, also called organigram, organogram, or organizational breakdown structure (OBS) is a diagram that shows the structure of an organization and the relationships and relative ranks of its parts and positions/jobs. The term ...

and

political platform A political party platform (US English), party program, or party manifesto (preferential term in British & often Commonwealth English) is a formal set of principle goals which are supported by a political party or individual candidate, in order ...

were approved, while Gianluigi Paragone was unanimously elected party secretary. On 31 July, Paragone announced the formation of a joint list of candidates for the

2022 Italian general election The 2022 Italian general election was a snap election held in Italy on 25 September 2022. After the fall of the Draghi government, which led to a parliamentary impasse, President of Italy, President Sergio Mattarella dissolved the parliament on 2 ...

with Alternativa, a party supportive 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 ...

, established in November 2021 by former Five Star Movement members. After five days, on 5 August 2022, ''Alternativa'' announced the dissolution of the electoral alliance with Italexit, on the grounds that

neofascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration se ...

s were ostensibly present within Italexit's lists of candidates. Paragone responded by accusing ''Alternativa'' of attempting to "use talexitas a taxi to the Parliament." Paragone has stated that he wants Italy to exit from the

alliance, as well as to cease sanctions against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

,See

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. sanctions which, he declared, "are causing damage to

he country's He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

economy."

Ideology

As declared in the program for

, the party proposes a return of Italian

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

(especially fiscal and monetary) in contrast to the influence of

, with the orientation being strongly

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 reform ...

and critical of part of the same Italian political and bureaucratic establishment. In this sense, it suggests policies such as the

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of the

Bank of Italy The Bank of Italy (Italian: ''Banca d'Italia'', informally referred to as ''Bankitalia''), (), is the central bank of Italy and part of the European System of Central Banks. It is located in Palazzo Koch, via Nazionale, Rome. The bank's curre ...

and other strategic assets (energy, roads, communications and water) and a social

public expenditure Public expenditure is spending made by the government of a country on collective needs and wants, such as pension, provisions, security, infrastructure, etc. Until the 19th century, public expenditure was limited as laissez faire philosophies be ...

. Regarding

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Italexit is against social limitations and

, and proposes public compensations for victims of

adverse effects An adverse effect is an undesired harmful effect resulting from a medication or other intervention, such as surgery. An adverse effect may be termed a "side effect", when judged to be secondary to a main or therapeutic effect. The term complica ...

COVID-19 vaccines A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19). Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an est ...

and a

public inquiry A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal ...

about the Italian management of

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Italexit welcomed some dissidents from the

neo-fascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration sent ...

social movement

CasaPound CasaPound Italia (abbr. CPI; "House of Ezra Pound") is an Italian neo-fascist movement and formerly a political party born as a network of far-right social centres arising from the occupation of a state-owned building by squatters in the neighbo ...

in 2022, leading several members to resign amid accusations that the party had fallen to the far-right of the political spectrum. According to ''la'' ''Repubblica'', ''

Fanpage.it Fanpage.it is an online newspaper based in Naples belonging to the publishing group ''Ciaopeople ''media group and directed by Francesco Cancellato.'' '' History Fanpage.it was born in January 2010 on the initiative of the ''Ciaopeople'' publ ...

'' and ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', the party fell under the control of far-right militants and was used by CasaPound to enter the parliament.

Electoral results

Italian Parliament

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{Italian political parties 2020 establishments in Italy Eurosceptic parties in Italy Single-issue parties in Italy Political parties established in 2020 Five Star Movement breakaway groups Withdrawal from the European Union Opposition to NATO Far-right politics in Italy