The Citizens' Union for South Tyrol (german: BürgerUnion für Südtirol, BUfS), formerly Union for South Tyrol (''Union für Südtirol'', UfS), was a

national-conservative National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, ...

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 ...

active in

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

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 ...

. The party was committed to the German-speaking minority and its right to

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

. Recently, the party re-branded itself as a

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...

party and distanced from the

separatism Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...

of other German-speaking parties. Its long-time leader has been Andreas Pöder.

History

The Union for South Tyrol was founded on 2 October 1989 by the merger of the nationalist

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 ...

(2.3% in the 1988 provincial election), the national-liberal

Freedom Party of South Tyrol The Freedom Party of South Tyrol (german: Freiheitliche Partei Südtirols, FPS) was a regionalist national-liberal political party in South Tyrol. History It was launched in 1988 as the continuation of the Party of Independents by Gerold Merane ...

led 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 ...

and right-wing 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 ha ...

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 ...

.
or In the 1993 provincial election the party won 4.8% of the vote and gained two seats in the Provincial Council, one for Klotz and one for Benedikter. In the 1996 general election the party had its best result ever (7.7% for party list and 19.2% in single-seat constituencies), because the

had formed an alliance with some Italian parties. In the 1998 provincial election the UfS won 5.5% and Andreas Pöder, party secretary since 1994, was elected for the first time to the Council, along with Klotz. This was a turning point for the party as Pöder started to gain influence over Klotz. In the 2003 provincial election, the UfS won 6.8% of the vote and gained two seats in the Provincial Council. In May 2007, during a heated party congress, Pöder was re-elected party president with 76 votes in favour and 70 against. This led to a split led by Kloz, who launched a new strictly separatist movement named

South Tyrolean Freedom South Tyrolean Freedom (german: Süd-Tiroler Freiheit, STF) is a regionalist, separatist and national-conservative political party in South Tyrol, Italy. The party, which is part of the South Tyrolean independence movement, seeks to represent th ...

(STF). In the 2008 general election, severely damaged by the split and by the competition of

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 ...

(9.4%), the UfS gained only 4.2% of the vote in the Province. In the 2008 provincial election the party got only 2.3% of the vote and one elect in the Provincial Council, while STF and Die Freiheitlichen won the 14.3% and the 4.9% of the vote, respectively. The UfS renamed itself to Citizens' Union for South Tyrol (BUfS) on 12 May 2011. In the forthcoming 2013 provincial election the BUfS will run as part of a three-party list, along with

Ladins Dolomites Ladins Dolomites is a minor political party representing the Ladin-speaking minority in South Tyrol. History The party, whose original name was Ladins Political Movement ( lld, Moviment Politich Ladins, MPL), was founded in the early 1990s by Ca ...

, a centre-left outfit, and We South Tyroleans, a left-wing split from Die Freiheitlichen. The joint list won 2.1% of the vote and Pöder was re-elected to the Provincial Council. In the 2018 general election was

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 ...

supported by BUfS. In the 2018 provincial election the party won barely 1.3% and no seats. Thus, Pöder was not elected to the Provincial Council, after 20 consecutive years of elective service. The BUfS was rarely active after 2018. It did not field any lists in the 2020 municipal elections: three municipal councillors were candidates for the Die Freiheitlichen, while another one ran with STF. The party was dissolved in 2020.

Ideology

Since the exit of

, the UfS tried to renew its image and to present itself 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 ...

party. The

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

party programme included defense of

family values Family values, sometimes referred to as familial values, are traditional or cultural values that pertain to the family's structure, function, roles, beliefs, attitudes, and ideals. In the social sciences and U.S. political discourse, the conventi ...

, protection of the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

, and a moderately

liberal economic Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalis ...

policy, along with the historic goal of separating South Tyrol from Italy in order to re-unify it with old historic Tyrol composed from South, North and East Tyrol, founding the '' Europaregion Tirol'' (North-and East-Tyrol are actually parts of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

). More recently, the party re-branded itself as a

, to some extent

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 c ...

, party and distanced from its original

and the parties of the "German right". In 2011 Pöder said that, were he a German citizen, he would be a

Social Democrat Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

and in 2013 declared: "Don't call us German right, we are a centrist movement".

Popular support

The electoral results of the UfS in the Province of Bolzano since 1992 are shown in the table below.

Notes

Leadership

*President/Secretary:

(1989–1991),

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 ...

(1991–1993), Karl Augusten (1993–1994), Andreas Pöder (1994–2020)

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 1989 establishments in Italy Conservative parties in Italy German nationalist political parties National conservative parties Political parties established in 1989 Political parties in South Tyrol Political parties of minorities Separatism in Italy South Tyrolean nationalism Social conservative parties Right-wing populist parties