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

national-conservative National conservatism is a nationalism, nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding National identity, national and cultural identity, communitarianism and the public role of religion. It shares aspects of traditionalist c ...

and, at times, right-wing populist

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area'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 South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

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

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

. Recently, the party re-branded itself as a centrist party and distanced from the

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

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

History

The Union for South Tyrol was founded on 2 October 1989 by the merger of the nationalist South Tyrolean Homeland Federation of Eva Klotz (2.3% in the 1988 provincial election), the national-liberal Freedom Party of South Tyrol led by Gerold Meraner and right-wing splinters from the

South Tyrolean People's Party The South Tyrolean People's Party (, SVP) is a regionalism (politics), regionalist and mostly Christian democracy, Christian-democratic list of political parties in South Tyrol, political party in South Tyrol, an Autonomous administrative divisio ...

led by Alfons Benedikter.
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 (STF). In the 2008 general election, severely damaged by the split and by the competition of Die Freiheitlichen (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, 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 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. Pöder retired from politics and the party was dissolved by 2020.

Ideology

Since the exit of Eva Klotz, the UfS tried to renew its image and to present itself as a centrist-

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

party. The

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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. Additionally, the concept of family values may be understood ...

, protection of the environment, and a moderately liberal economic 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, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

). More recently, the party re-branded itself as a centrist, to some extent

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

, 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 Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

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: Alfons Benedikter (1989–1991), Martin Wenter (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 Defunct nationalist parties in Italy German nationalist political parties National conservative parties Political parties established in 1989 Political parties in South Tyrol Separatism in Italy South Tyrolean nationalism Socially conservative parties Right-wing populist parties