Populars for Italy ( it, Popolari per l'Italia, PpI) is a

Christian-democratic 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 ...

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 ...

led by Mario Mauro,

minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

Letta Cabinet The Letta government was the 62nd government of the Italian Republic. In office from 28 April 2013 to 22 January 2014, it comprised ministers of the Democratic Party (PD), The People of Freedom (PdL), Civic Choice (SC), the Union of the Centr ...

and, previously, long-serving MEP for

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 ...

History

The party was launched in November 2013 by splinters from

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 pol ...

(SC) led by Mario Mauro and Lorenzo Dellai, who wanted to continue supporting

Enrico Letta Enrico Letta (; born 20 August 1966) is an Italian politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy from April 2013 to February 2014, leading a grand coalition of centre-left and centre-right parties. Since March 2021, Letta has been secretary ...

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 i ...

(in which Mauro served as minister of Defence), but disagreed with SC's perceived liberal outlook. Soon after, the PpI formed joint parliamentary groups, named

For Italy For Italy ( it, Per l'Italia, PI) was the name of two centrist and mainly Christian-democratic parliamentary groups active in each house of the Italian Parliament: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The groups were launched on 12 December 20 ...

, with the Union of the Centre (UdC). According to its leaders, the party would soon merge with the UdC into a new "centrist" party. The party was officially founded on 28 January 2014. In the meantime, Mauro was appointed president. In February 2014 Mauro was not confirmed as minister of Defence in Matteo Renzi's

, but the PpI joined the government with one deputy minister (

Andrea Olivero Andrea Olivero (born 24 February 1970) is the Italian Vice Minister for Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies and a senator of the Italian Republic. He has been President of the Christian Associations of Italian Workers from 2006 to 2012. B ...

at Agriculture) and three undersecretaries. In the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

the party endorsed the New Centre-Right – Union of the Centre joint list. In July 2014 the PpI suffered the defection of its left-wing faction (composed by the majority of the party's MPs: eight deputies out of twelve and two senators out of eight), led by Dellai, Olivero,

Mario Marazziti Mario Marazziti (born 24 April 1952 in Rome) is an Italian journalist, executive, and politician. Currently a deputy in the Italian parliament, he is also an executive at RAI, an opinion writer at Corriere della Sera, and a representative of the ...

Mario Giro Mario Giro (born 29 July 1958, in Rome) is an Italian trade-unionist, and since 1990 a mediator for peace in the Community of Sant'Egidio. Biography Born in Rome on 29 July 1958, he earned his degree in mathematics and in 1984 graduated in to ...

and

Lucio Romano Lucio is an Italian and Spanish male given name derived from the Latin name ''Lucius''. In Portuguese, the given name is accented Lúcio. Lucio is also an Italian surname. Given name * Lúcio (Lucimar Ferreira da Silva) (born 1978), Brazilian f ...

, who launched

Solidary Democracy Solidary Democracy ( it, Democrazia Solidale, DemoS) is a Christian-leftist political party in Italy. The party's early leader, Lorenzo Dellai has described it as a " Christian-social" party. DemoS is led by Paolo Ciani; several party members, ...

(Demo.S). The new party re-affirmed the strategic alliance with Renzi's Democratic Party and its support for the government, while the PpI considered it just temporary as the party's declared goal was to restructure the centre-right camp instead. By November the PpI were reduced to two deputies and three senators. On 11 September 2014 the PpI were officially accepted into the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily ...

(EPP). In November 2014, in an interview to ''

Il Giornale ''il Giornale'' ( en, The Newspaper) is an Italian language daily newspaper published in Milan, Italy. History and profile The newspaper was founded in 1974 by the journalist Indro Montanelli, together with the colleagues Enzo Bettiza, Ferenc ...

'', Mauro hinted that the party might leave the Renzi Cabinet and explained that its goal was that of dissolving Italy's EPP-member parties (the new

, the New Centre-Right, the UdC and the PpI) in a joint centre-right party. Consequently, the three PpI senators left For Italy in order to join

Great Autonomies and Freedom Great Autonomies and Freedom ( it, Grandi Autonomie e Libertà, GAL) was a miscellaneous and highly heterogeneous, mainly centre-right, regionalist and Christian-democratic, parliamentary group active in the Italian Senate. The group was formed ...

, a centre-right miscellaneous group, but the PpI continued to participate in the government with two undersecretaries, Domenico Rossi (Defense) and

Angela D'Onghia Angela may refer to: Places * Angela, Montana * Angela Lake, in Volusia County, Florida * Lake Angela, in Lyon Township, Oakland County, Michigan * Lake Angela, the reservoir impounded by the source dam of the South Yuba River Fiction * Ang ...

(Education). Eventually, after the 2015 regional elections, which the party contested with its own list only in

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

(obtaining a mere 0.4% of the vote), the PpI decided to end their support to the Renzi Cabinet. As a consequence, three MPs left the party: Rossi and D'Onghia in order to continue to be part of the government, and

Tito Di Maggio Tito may refer to: People Mononyms *Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), commonly known mononymously as Tito, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman *Roberto Arias (1918–1989), aka Tito, Panamanian international lawyer, diplomat, and journal ...

to join the Conservatives and Reformists, a group of splinters from the new Forza Italia, led by

Raffaele Fitto Raffaele Fitto (born 28 August 1969) is an Italian politician and a member of the European Parliament. He is serving as the minister of European affairs in the Meloni Cabinet since 2022. Career Born in Maglie, Fitto was elected in 1999 at Europ ...

. Finally, in January 2016 Mario Caruso left the party and formed

Popular Civil Italy Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group. Popular may also refer to: In sociology * Popular culture * Popular fiction * Popular music * Popular science * Populace, the total ...

, leaving senator Mauro as the only remaining member of Parliament of the party. In March 2017 the PpI made an alliance agreement with Forza Italia, therefore Mauro joined that party's group in the Senate. In 2018 the party participated in the Molise regional election within 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 ...

, gaining 7.1% of vote and 2 seats.

Electoral results

European Parliament

Regional Councils

Leadership

*President: Mario Mauro (2014–) **Vice President: Potito Salatto (2014–2016), Isabella Poldrugo (2014–), Vincenzo Niro (2014–)

References

External links

* {{European People's Party Christian democratic parties in Italy Catholic political parties Member parties of the European People's Party 2014 establishments in Italy Political parties established in 2014