Veneto First (''Prima il Veneto'', PiV) was a
Venetist and
separatist 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 ideological or p ...
active in
Veneto
it, Veneto (man) it, Veneta (woman)
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.
The party was formed in August 2013 as a faction within
Liga Veneta
Liga Veneta ( vec, Łiga Vèneta; en, Venetian League; abbr. LV), whose complete name is ( en, Venetian League for Salvini Premier), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto.
The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and ...
–
Lega Nord (LV–LN) by some Venetists and old-guard ''
Bossiani'' who opposed
Flavio Tosi
Flavio Tosi (born 18 June 1969) is an Italian politician who served as the mayor of Verona from 2007 to 2017.
He has been a long-time member of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.
Political career
Having joined Liga Veneta (LV) in 1991, Tosi was elected ...
's leadership of the party and disagreed with his support for a united
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 ...
. Those notably included two former deputies (
Corrado Callegari and
Paola Goisis), two regional councillors (
Giovanni Furlanetto and
Santino Bozza), a provincial minister of
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
and the former LV–LN provincial secretary of Venice (
Paolo Pizzolato).
All five but Callegari had been ejected from the party by Tosi in April, even though Furlanetto had been later reintegrated. The
President of Veneto
The president of Veneto is the supreme authority of Veneto, a region of Italy.
Election
Originally appointed by the Regional Council of Veneto, since 1995 ''de facto'' and 2000 ''de jure'', the president is elected by popular vote every five yea ...
,
Luca Zaia
Luca Zaia (born 27 March 1968) is a Venetian and Venetist politician, who has been President of Veneto since 2010.
Prior to that, Zaia was President of the Province of Treviso from 1998 to 2005, Vice President of Veneto from 2005 to 2008 and ...
, usually close to Venetists, took distance from the initiative and criticized the use of "Veneto First", which had been his campaign slogan during the
2010 regional election.
In January 2014 it was announced that Veneto First had become a separate party, which would form alliances with other separatist parties. Furlanetto, who had been a member of Liga Veneta (LV) since 1987, left the party's group in the Regional Council and re-joined Bozza in the Mixed Group.
In February 2015
Vittorino Cenci left the group of the LV in the Council, citing disagreements with Tosi, the new federal leader
Matteo Salvini
Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been Federal Secretary of Italy's Lega Nord (Northern League) party s ...
and the latter's lurch to the right, and, while remaining loyal to the party and Zaia, decided to join Veneto First, which became a full-fledged group in the Council.
In April Bozza announced that he would stand for re-election in the
2015 regional election as a candidate of "Autonomous Veneto Project", a Venetist list in support of
Alessandra Moretti
Alessandra Moretti (born 24 June 1973 in Vicenza) is an Italian politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019.
Early life and education
Moretti graduated in law at the University of Urbino and has worked as a ...
of 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 ...
. Otherwise, in May Furlanetto endorsed
Alessio Morosin
Alessio Morosin (born 20 June 1955 in Noale) is an Italian lawyer and politician.
He joined Liga Veneta– Lega Nord in the early 1990s and was elected to the Regional Council of Veneto at the 1995 regional election.
He made his name in Venetis ...
of
Venetian Independence
Venetian Independence ( it, Indipendenza Veneta, vec, Independensa Vèneta, IV) is a Venetist, liberal and, to some extent, libertarian political party active in Veneto. The party seeks to achieve full political independence for the former ter ...
.
In January 2016 Del Zotto was elected secretary, replacing Callegari. In September the party, along with Morosin, opened its new headquarters in
Mestre
Mestre () is a borough of the ''comune'' (municipality) of Venice, on the mainland opposite the historical island city in the region of Veneto, Italy.
Administratively, Mestre forms (together with the nearby Carpenedo) the ''Municipalità di ...
.
In the
2017 local elections PiV's Pizzolato ran for mayor of
Mira
Mira (), designation Omicron Ceti (ο Ceti, abbreviated Omicron Cet, ο Cet), is a red-giant star estimated to be 200–400 light-years from the Sun in the constellation Cetus.
ο Ceti is a binary stellar system, consisting of a vari ...
and obtained 2.8% of the vote.
Leadership
*Secretary:
Corrado Callegari (2013–2016),
Pierangelo Del Zotto (2016–present)
*Leader in the
Regional Council:
Giovanni Furlanetto (2014–2015),
Vittorino Cenci (2015)
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official website
Political parties in Veneto
Venetian nationalism
Political parties established in 2013
2013 establishments in Italy
Separatism in Italy
Regionalist parties in Italy