Popular Apulia (''Puglia Popolare'') is a political party active in

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

History

The party was founded in July 2017 by

Massimo Cassano Massimo Cassano (born 3 February 1965) is an Italian politician and entrepreneur. Background and early life He is a graduate in Political Science at the University of Bari and has been a chartered accountant since 1994. Member of the Bari-Casam ...

, former undersecretary for Labor and Social Policies in the Renzi and

Gentiloni Cabinet The Gentiloni government was the 64th government of the Italian Republic, in office from 12 December 2016 to 1 June 2018. The government was headed by Paolo Gentiloni, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Renzi government. The government ...

s (in NCD/ AP share). The new party was also joined by the Apulian regional councilors Giovanni Stea and Luigi Morgante (members of the

Popular Area Popular Area ( it, Area Popolare, AP) was a centre-right and mainly Christian-democratic coalition, which included two parliamentary groups active in each house of the Italian Parliament: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. "Popular" was a re ...

group and was initially located in the centre-right coalition. The party then joined the centre-left coalition and on the basis of this alliance, in 2018, Stea was appointed was appointed Assessor for the Environment in the regional government led by Michele Emiliano, while on 7 January 2019 Cassano was appointed extraordinary commissioner of the Regional agency for active employment policies (ARPAL). Since 2019, the party has participated in the Apulian municipal elections in support of centre-left candidates for mayor, electing several municipal councilors. On the occasion of the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...

, Cassano reached an agreement with

Bruno Tabacci Bruno Tabacci (born 27 August 1946) is an Italian politician and member of the Chamber of Deputies. He is the president of the Democratic Centre. In the past, he was member of Christian Democracy and served as the president of Lombardy from 1 ...

, the national President of

More Europe More Europe ( it, Più Europa or ''+Europa''; +E or +Eu) is a liberal and pro-Europeanist political party in Italy, part of the centre-left coalition and member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party. Its leaders are Emma B ...

, to include a candidate from Popular Apulia in the party lists for the southern constituency. At the

2020 Apulian regional election The 2020 Apulian regional election took place in Apulia, Italy, on 20 and 21 September. It was originally scheduled to take place on May 31, 2020, but it was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic in Italy. Electoral system The electoral law ...

the party presented its candidates in the "Populars with Emiliano" list, together with exponents of the Democratic Centre and former members of AP and of UDC. The list scored 5.9% of the votes and got 7 regional councilors. Furthermore, Stea reconfirmed his role as assessor in the regional government. In August 2021 there was a political break between Cassano and Stea, which led Popular Apulia to split from the Populars (meanwhile structured as a full-fledged party and led by former senator

Salvatore Ruggeri Salvatore may refer to: * Salvatore (name), a given name and surname, including a list of people with the name * "Salvatore" (song), by Lana Del Rey, 2015 * Salvatore (band), a Norwegian instrumental rock band * '' Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams' ...

). On February 28, the component headed by Cassano (including Sergio Clemente, member of Popular Apulia) left the group of the Populars in the regional council to join a new group, named "For Apulia", remaining in the majority supporting Michele Emiliano. In occasion of 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 ...

, Popular Apulia joined the

Action – Italia Viva Action – Italia Viva ( it, Azione – Italia Viva; A–IV), informally known as the Third Pole ( it, Terzo Polo), is a liberal, pro-Europeanist and centrist parliamentary group and electoral list which ran in the 2022 Italian general election. ...

list and Cassano was one of its candidates to the Chamber of Deputies in Apulia, without being elected. In February 2023 Cassano announced the merger of Popular Apulia into the Union of the Centre and his return to 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 ...

References

{{Reflist Political parties in Apulia Political parties established in 2017 Christian democratic parties in Italy