The Olive Tree ( it, L'Ulivo) was a denomination used for several successive
centre-left
Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...
political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
and
electoral alliance
An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political party, political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand ...
s of
Italian political parties from 1995 to 2007.
The historical leader and ideologue of these coalitions was
Romano Prodi
Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prim ...
, Professor of Economics and former
leftist
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
Christian Democrat
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
, who invented the name and the symbol of The Olive Tree with
Arturo Parisi
Arturo Parisi (born 13 September 1940) is an Italian politician, leader of the Ulivist faction of the Democratic Party and a four-time member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. He was also minister of defence in the cabinet of Prime Minister R ...
in 1995. For the
2006 general election The Olive Tree was largely supplanted by a wider Prodi-led alliance called
The Union, while The Olive Tree remained a smaller federation of parties which merged to form 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 ...
in October 2007, which continues to be the lead party of an unnamed
centre-left coalition
The centre-left coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-sinistra) is an alliance of political parties in Italy active, under several forms and names, since 1995 when The Olive Tree was formed under the leadership of Romano Prodi. The centre-left ...
.
History
The Olive Tree coalition
In government with Prodi (1996–1998)
On 21 April 1996, The Olive Tree won
1996 general election in alliance with the
Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), making
Romano Prodi
Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prim ...
the
Prime Minister of Italy
The Prime Minister of Italy, officially the President of the Council of Ministers ( it, link=no, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is ...
. It was the first time since 1946 that the
Communists
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
, now gathered in the
Democratic Party of the Left
The Democratic Party of the Left ( it, Partito Democratico della Sinistra, PDS) was a democratic socialist and social-democratic political party in Italy. Founded in February 1991 as the post-communist evolution of the Italian Communist Party, t ...
, took part in the government of the country and one of their leaders,
Walter Veltroni
Walter Veltroni (; born 3 July 1955) is an Italian writer, film director, journalist, and politician, who served as the first leader of the Democratic Party within the centre-left opposition, until his resignation on 17 February 2009. He serv ...
, who ran in ticket with Prodi in a long electoral campaign, was Deputy Prime Minister.
In 1996 the coalition was formed by the following parties:
Besides the external support of PRC, the coalition received the support also of some minor parties: the
Italian Republican Party
The Italian Republican Party ( it, Partito Repubblicano Italiano, PRI) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Italy. Founded in 1895, the PRI is the oldest political party still active in Italy.
The PRI has old roots and a long histo ...
(PRI, social-liberal),
The Network
The Network was an American six-piece new wave band. they released their debut album ''Money Money 2020'' on Adeline Records on September 30, 2003. After a 15-year hiatus, the band became active again in 2020, releasing a follow-up album titl ...
(social-liberal), 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 ...
(
regionalist) and some other minor parties which later merged with PDS.
From D'Alema to Rutelli (1998–2004)
On 9 October 1998, the
Prodi I Cabinet
The first Prodi government was the 53rd government of Italy. It held office from 18 May 1996 until 21 October 1998.
Formation
On 21 April 1996, the Olive Tree won 1996 general election in alliance with the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), ...
fell when PRC left the alliance. Since 21 October 1998 The Olive Tree was the core of the governments led by
Massimo D'Alema
Massimo D'Alema (; born 20 April 1949) is an Italian politician and journalist who was the 53rd prime minister of Italy from 1998 to 2000. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008. D'Alema also serv ...
(
I and
II Cabinet, 1998–2000) and by
Giuliano Amato
Giuliano Amato (; born 13 May 1938) is an Italian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 1992 to 1993 and again from 2000 to 2001.
Later, he was Vice President of the Convention on the Future of Europe that drafted t ...
(
II Cabinet, 2000–2001). When D'Alema became Prime Minister, it was the first time ever in Italy and in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
that an heir of the
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
tradition came to lead a government.
On 13 May 2001, led by
Francesco Rutelli
Francesco Rutelli (born 14 June 1954) is an Italian journalist and former politician, who is the president of ''Anica'', National Association of Film and Audiovisual Industry, since October 2016.
He also chairs the "Centro per un Futuro Sostenib ...
, who ran in ticket with
Piero Fassino
Piero Franco Rodolfo Fassino (born 7 October 1949) is an Italian politician with the Democratic Party. He was Mayor of Turin from 2011 until 2016 and is a former national secretary of the Democrats of the Left party. , the coalition lost the general elections against
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...
and his
House of Freedoms
The House of Freedoms ( it, Casa delle Libertà, CdL) was a major centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, led by Silvio Berlusconi.
History
The CdL was the successor of the Pole of Freedoms/Pole of Good Government and the Pole fo ...
centre-right coalition. In the
2001 general election, the coalition was composed of six parties:
The Olive Tree list and federation
On 12 June 2004, The Olive Tree, as United in the Olive Tree (''Uniti nell'Ulivo''), ran in the
European Parliament election
Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's.
Unti ...
gaining 31.1% of popular votes. The Olive Tree of 2004 was a tighter alliance of only four parties:
On 13 September 2004, The Olive Tree was transformed in the Federation of The Olive Tree, consisting of same four parties that campaigned together in the European elections that summer. Romano Prodi, who came back to politics in that year, after five years of President of the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
, was elected President of the federation, which was to become the core of a larger centre-left coalition.
On 10 February 2005, the name and logo of that larger electoral coalition was presented. Its name was
The Union (''L'Unione''). It comprised the Federation of The Olive Tree, the
Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), the
Party of Italian Communists
The Party of Italian Communists ( it, Partito dei Comunisti Italiani, PdCI) was a communist party in Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located i ...
(PdCI),
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 par ...
(IdV), the
Federation of the Greens
The Federation of the Greens ( it, Federazione dei Verdi, FdV), frequently referred to as Greens (''Verdi''), was a green political party in Italy. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the Federation of Green Lists and the Rainbow Greens.
T ...
and other minor parties.
Democratic Party
The
Democrats of the Left
The Democrats of the Left ( it, Democratici di Sinistra, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy.
The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger of th ...
(DS),
Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy
Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy ( it, Democrazia è Libertà – La Margherita, DL), commonly known simply as The Daisy (''La Margherita''), was a centrist political party in Italy. The party was formed from the merger of three parties within ...
(DL) and the
European Republicans Movement (MRE) decided to form a joint electoral list for the
2006 Italian general election. Also the
Italian Democratic Socialist Party
The Italian Democratic Socialist Party (, PSDI), also known as Italian Social Democratic Party, was a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. The longest serving partner in government for Christian Democracy, the PSDI had been an ...
(a different party from SDI) and
The Italian Socialists
The Italian Socialists (''I Socialisti Italiani'') was a minor social-democratic political party in Italy.
History
The party was founded on 7 February 2006 as the result of a split from the New Italian Socialist Party (NPSI) by the wing favoura ...
had candidates in the list. The
Italian Democratic Socialists
The Italian Democratic Socialists ( it, Socialisti Democratici Italiani, SDI) were a social-democratic political party in Italy. The party was the direct continuation of the Italian Socialists, the legal successor of the historical Italian Soci ...
(SDI), which were part of the federation and fight the 2004 European and the 2005 regional elections within it, decided not to take part of the joint electoral list for the 2006 general election and, otherwise, to form a common list with the
Italian Radicals called
Rose in the Fist
The Rose in the Fist ( it, Rosa nel Pugno, RnP) was a political alliance of parties in Italy.
The RnP was composed of the Italian Democratic Socialists (SDI; a social-democratic party led by Enrico Boselli and Roberto Villetti), the Italian ...
within The Union coalition.
DS and DL were heavily involved in the foundation of a new unitary centre-left party, 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 ...
, a project strongly supported by Romano Prodi since his entrance into politics in 1995. This party was founded on 14 October 2007 and
Walter Veltroni
Walter Veltroni (; born 3 July 1955) is an Italian writer, film director, journalist, and politician, who served as the first leader of the Democratic Party within the centre-left opposition, until his resignation on 17 February 2009. He serv ...
was elected party leader by voters in an
open primary
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...
.
Electoral results
Italian Parliament
European Parliament
Symbols
Image:Logo Ulivo 2006.png, 1996 & 2006
File:L'ULIVO (2001).jpg, 2001
File:UNITI NELL'ULIVO (2004).jpg, 2004
File:UNITI NELL'ULIVO (2005).jpg, 2005
Further reading
*
See also
*
Centre-left coalition
The centre-left coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-sinistra) is an alliance of political parties in Italy active, under several forms and names, since 1995 when The Olive Tree was formed under the leadership of Romano Prodi. The centre-left ...
References
External links
*
''Italy's Olive Tree'' (1996), article by The Nation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olive Tree
1995 establishments in Italy
2007 disestablishments in Italy
Defunct political party alliances in Italy
History of the Communist Refoundation Party
Political parties established in 1995
Political parties disestablished in 2007
Romano Prodi