The Liberal Popular Alliance, whose full name was Liberal Popular Alliance – Autonomies ( it, Alleanza Liberalpopolare – Autonomie, ALA), was 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 ...

and

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

political party in Italy This article contains a list of political parties in Italy since Italian unification in 1861. Throughout history, numerous political parties have been operating in Italy, and since World War II no party has ever gained enough support to govern ...

. ALA members were known as ''Verdiniani'', from the name of their leader

Denis Verdini Denis Verdini (born 8 May 1951) is an Italian politician, banker, and convicted felon. Biography Born in Fivizzano, he graduated in Political Sciences and later became president of the local cooperative bank Credito Cooperativo Fiorentino. A ...

, who was formerly a long-time member and national coordinator of three successive centre-right parties led by

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 ...

(

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

The People of Freedom The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia a ...

and again

) until July 2015, when he broke with Berlusconi in order to support 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 ...

led by

Matteo Renzi Matteo Renzi (; born 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician who served as prime minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016. He has been a senator for Florence since 2018. Renzi has served as the leader of Italia Viva (IV) since 2019, having been ...

, leader of the centre-left

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 ...

. Verdini aimed at launching the "Moderates for Renzi", that would eventually include the other centrist parties supporting the government. After Renzi's resignation as Prime Minister in December 2016 the party lost relevance and after the 2018 general election it was deprived of its parliamentary representation.

History

The Liberal Popular Alliance emerged in July 2015 from a split from

(FI), led by

, who wanted to support the reforms put forward by the

Renzi Cabinet The Renzi government was the 63rd government of the Italian Republic, in office from February 2014 to December 2016. It was led by Matteo Renzi, secretary and leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD). The government was composed of membe ...

, and was joined by senators coming from different centre-right groups, including

Great Autonomies and Freedom Great Autonomies and Freedom ( it, Grandi Autonomie e Libertà, GAL) was a miscellaneous and highly heterogeneous, mainly centre-right politics, centre-right, regionalism (politics), regionalist and Christian democracy, Christian-democratic, parl ...

(GAL), Conservatives and Reformists (CoR) and

New Centre-Right New Centre-Right ( it, Nuovo Centrodestra, NCD) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The party was launched on 15 November 2013 by a group of dissidents of The People of Freedom (PdL) who opposed the party's transformation into Forza Ita ...

(NCD). Lucio Barani, who until then was the secretary of the

New Italian Socialist Party The New Italian Socialist Party or New PSI ( it, Nuovo Partito Socialista Italiano or ''Nuovo PSI'', NPSI), more recently styled as Liberal Socialists – NPSI, is a political party in Italy which professes a social-democratic ideology and claims t ...

(NPSI), was elected president of the senatorial group. "Autonomies" was possibly added to "Liberal Popular Alliance" because of the presence of two senators of the

Movement for the Autonomies The Movement for Autonomy ( it, Movimento per l'Autonomia, MpA) is a regionalism (politics), regionalist, Christian democracy, Christian-democratic list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy, based in Sicily. The MpA, whose found ...

–

Party of Sicilians The Party of Sicilians ( it, Partito dei Siciliani, PdS) was a regionalist and Christian-democratic political party in Sicily. It was the Sicilian regional section of the Movement for the Autonomies (MpA). History In August 2012 it was announced ...

(MpA–PdS) in the group. Other than Barani, who continued to be a member of the NPSI, and the two MpA senators, the group included non-party independents. Between September and October 2015, four senators and seven deputies left FI and joined Verdini; the deputies formed a joint sub-group with the

Associative Movement Italians Abroad The Associative Movement of Italians Abroad ( it, Movimento Associativo Italiani all'Estero, MAIE) is an Italian political party representing Italians abroad. Based in Argentina and active mainly in South America, the MAIE is a centrist party. Hi ...

(MAIE) named "Liberal Popular Alliance – Autonomies – MAIE. Between December and January 2016, the party was joined by five more senators, including

Sandro Bondi Sandro Bondi (born 14 May 1959) is an Italian politician. He served as minister of culture from 2008 to 2011, in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet. Biography Bondi was born in Fivizzano, province of Massa-Carrara, Italy. He first attended school at Lau ...

, another former FI national coordinator. Also in January, three ALA members were elected deputy chairpersons of three Senate committees. A twentieth senator and an eight deputy joined in May. However, Bondi left as early as in June. In April 2016 the presence of two senators of the MpA, who had broken ties with FI while joining the ALA as direct members, was marked by a new name of the group in the Senate: "Liberal Popular Alliance – Autonomies (

)". The ALA fielded some lists for the 2016 local elections, especially in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and usually in support of candidates of the

(PD). In

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, the largest city in which the party was present, the ALA obtained a mere 1.4% of the vote. Denis Verdini datisenato 2013

Between July and December 2016, the party formed joint groups with

Civic Choice Civic Choice ( it, Scelta Civica; SC) was a centrist and liberal political party in Italy founded by Mario Monti. The party was formed in the run-up of the 2013 general election to support the outgoing Prime Minister Monti and continue his polit ...

(SC), which were renamed "ALA – Civic Choice for the Liberal and Popular Constituent Assembly", and attracted two intellectual leaders from the liberal wing of the old FI:

Marcello Pera Marcello Pera (; born 28 January 1943
.) is an Italian

, a former

President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for e ...

, and Giuliano Urbani, a former minister of Culture in

Berlusconi II Cabinet The second Berlusconi government was the 57th government of the Italian Republic and the first government of the XIV Legislature. It took office following the 2001 Italian general election, 2001 elections, and held office from 11 June 2001 until ...

. The ALA, SC, Pera and Urbani campaigned heavily for the "Yes" in the 2016 constitutional referendum, which resulted in a defeat for the "Yes" camp and the subsequent resignation of Renzi. The ALA did not join and support the new

led by

Paolo Gentiloni Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019. He previously served as prime minister of Italy from December ...

. In February 2017 two senators left and joined Union of the Centre (UDC), in April one deputy joined

Popular Alternative Popular Alternative ( it, Alternativa Popolare, AP) is a Christian democracy, Christian-democratic list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy that was founded on 18 March 2017 after the dissolution of New Centre-Right (NCD), one ...

(AP), successor of the NCD, in June two senators re-joined FI, and in July another deputy joined AP. In November the party was further reduced to 4 deputies and 12 senators as the two deputies associated with

Cantiere Popolare Cantiere Popolare (translatable into ''Popular construction site'') is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy, based in Sicily. The party's leader is Francesco Saverio Romano, a former Sicilian leader of the Union of the Centre and, lat ...

(CP) and the two senators of the MpA left (the CP and the MpA had participated together in the

2017 Sicilian regional election The 2017 Sicilian regional election for the renewal of the Sicilian Regional Assembly and the election of the President of Sicily was held on 5 November 2017. Incumbent President Rosario Crocetta was not his party's candidate due to his low popu ...

). In January 2018 the party formed an alliance with 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), of which Verdini had been a member until 1994. Under the ALA–PRI alliance, ALA's senatorial group was re-named "Liberal Popular Alliance – Italian Republican Party". In the 2018 general election the list, which actually included only Republican candidates, obtained a mere 0.1% of the vote. Verdini himself did not vote for the list, but voted FI for the Chamber and the PD for the Senate. The party has since become inactive.

Electoral results

Italian Parliament

External links

Senate group's official website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberal Popular Alliance - Autonomies Defunct political parties in Italy 2015 establishments in Italy 2018 disestablishments in Italy Political parties established in 2015 Political parties disestablished in 2018