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| Italy of Values | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| President | Antonio Di Pietro |
| Spokesman | Leoluca Orlando |
| Treasurer | Silvana Mura |
| Founded | 21 March 1998 |
| Headquarters | Via Principe Eugenio, 31 00185 Rome |
| Newspaper | Orizzonti Nuovi |
| Membership | unknown |
| Ideology | Populism, Centrism |
| Coalition | with the Democratic Party |
| International | none |
| European party | European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party |
| European Parliament Group | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| Website | http://www.italiadeivalori.it |
Italy of Values (Italia dei Valori, IdV) is a populist1234 and anti-corruption Italian political party, headed by former Mani Pulite magistrate Antonio Di Pietro. The party is a member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR).
Contents |
History
Early years
Antonio Di Pietro was Minister of Public Works in the Prodi I Cabinet from 1996 to 1997. In 1998 he was elected Senator in a by-election in a Democrats of the Left stronghold in Tuscany and set up his own Italy of Values party, alongside with Willer Bordon of the Democratic Union. In 1998 Di Pietro led it into The Democrats, a new party fouded by Romano Prodi with the goal of the transformation of The Olive Tree in a single "Democratic" party.
In the 1999 European Parliament election The Democrats scored 7.7% and Di Pietro was elected MEP. After having been organizational secretary and speaker in the Senate for the party, Di Pietro left it in April 2000 because of his opposition to the nomination of Giuliano Amato, a long-time member of the Italian Socialist Party (which was the principal subject of investigation of Di Pietro when magistrate) at the time close to the Democrats of the Left. Shortly afterwards Di Pietro set up again Italy of Values.
IdV fought the 2001 general election alone on a populist platform, comprising tough management of illegal immigration and protest against waste of public money. Anyway, the campaign focused principally against Silvio Berlusconi, who was Prime Minister candidate for the centre-right House of Freedoms. The party scored 3.9% in the election for the Chamber of Deputies and obtained no seats, while electing one Senator, Valerio Carrara, who soon left the party and switched to Forza Italia, Berlusconi's party.
The centre-left
In the 2004 European Parliamentary Elections he teamed up with one-time communist leader Achille Occhetto to run as Società Civile Di Pietro–Occhetto. The list gained 2.1% of the popular vote, and both men were elected MEPs; Occhetto immediately renounced to his seat in favour of the communist journalist Giulietto Chiesa.
In early 2006 Leoluca Orlando, former mayor of Palermo, some splinters from UDEUR Populars, including Pino Pisicchio and Egidio Pedrini, and former Democrats of the Left, such as Fabio Evangelisti, joined the party. In the 2006 general elections, IdV, this time member of the winning centre-left The Union, scored 2.1% and Di Pietro was sworn in as Minister for Infrastructures in Prodi II Cabinet.
2008 general election
After the fall of Prodi's government, Di Pietro formed an alliance with the Democratic Party for the 2008 general election. IdV made major gains but its coalition partner did not and they were drived into oppposition. With its 4.4% of the vote, 29 deputies and 14 senators, IdV became the fourth largest party in Parliament.
Following the election, IdV formed its own groups in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, instead of joining the Democrats in a joint group as promised, and started a competition with its allies. According to opinion polls the party is now around 7-8%5 and it is trying to surpass the Democrats in the regional election of Abruzzo, where IdV is running its own candidate, Carlo Costantini.67 In October 2008 Veltroni, who distanced from Di Pietro many times, declared that "on some issues he [Di Pietro] is distant from the democratic language of the centre-left"8, but anyway the PD decided to support Carlo Costantini in Abruzzo.9
Ideology
While the party is currently member of the centre-left coalition, its members had been very diverse ideologically, ranging from the far left (i.e. Franca Rame, former member of Soccorso Rosso, and Pancho Pardi, former activist of Potere Operaio) to the right-wing (at some extent Di Pietro himself), thanks to the populist message of the party. The party includes former Communists and former Leghisti, as well as former Missini and former Christian Democrats.
The party is a supporter of legality, law and order, the armed forces, first-past-the-post, constitutional reforms toward a two-party system, corporate reform, lowering the costs of politics, improving the efficiency of public services, fighting corruption, simplifying trials bureaucracy to achieve faster verdicts and regulating conflict of interest.
During the Prodi II Cabinet IdV was the most centrist party in the centre-left coalition and sometimes, despite its harsh criticism of Berlusconi, it switched sides in Parliament on some key issues. Di Pietro, after he was refused entry the Democratic Party, and before several clashes with Clemente Mastella, even proposed an electoral list between its party, the UDEUR Populars and the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, ruling out any future alliance with the far left (Federation of the Greens, Party of Italian Communists and Communist Refoundation Party).
The fact that IdV is member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) does not mean that it is a liberal party. It can better be seen as a centrist-populist party. In fact, notwithstanding its European affiliation, the party is rarely regarded as liberal in Italy, due to its justicialist and populist123 tendencies. On the left Di Pietro is described as a right-wing populist by Fausto Bertinotti10, as well as by some political commentators.1112 The reason of these bitter comments by Bertinotti is that Di Pietro is very able to steal votes to the parties of the far left, as well of the right, and this could prevent a resurgence of those parties which were drived out of Parliament in the 2008 general election, while Veltroni used similar arguments when he broke the alliance with Di Pietro.
Popular support
The electoral results of Italy of Values in the 10 most populated Regions of Italy plus Abruzzo and Molise (party strongholds) are shown in the table below. IdV is particularly strong in Abruzzo and Molise because Antonio Di Pietro hails from Molise and Abruzzo is a neighbouring region.
| 2001 general | 2004 European | 2005 regional | 2006 general | 2008 general | |
| Piedmont | 4.1 | 2.4 | 1.5 | 2.6 | 5.0 |
| Lombardy | 3.9 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 4.0 |
| Veneto | 4.6 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 2.2 | 4.3 |
| Emilia-Romagna | 3.5 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 4.2 |
| Tuscany | 2.5 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 3.5 |
| Lazio | 2.8 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 4.1 |
| Abruzzo | 6.3 | 3.9 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 7.0 |
| Molise | 14.3 | 7.8 | 8.8 (2006) | 8.1 | 27.7 |
| Campania | 3.8 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 4.7 |
| Apulia | 5.1 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 4.6 |
| Calabria | 3.6 | 2.3 | - | 2.2 | 3.6 |
| Sicily | 3.9 | 2.7 | - (2006) | 4.4 | 3.4 |
| ITALY | 3.9 | 2.1 | - | 2.3 | 4.4 |
Leadership
- President: Antonio Di Pietro (2000–...)
- Spokesman: Elio Veltri (2000–2002), Giorgio Calò (2002–2005), Aniello Formisano (2005–2006), Leoluca Orlando (2006–...)
- Organization Coordinator: Felice Belisario (2005–2008), Ivan Rota (2008–...)
- Treasurer: Silvana Mura (2000–...)
References
- ^ a b Jonathan Mann (2006-04-10). "INSIGHT". CNN.com Transcripts. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
- ^ a b Ian Limbarch (2006-08-12). "MARKETS WEEK WORLD: Italy must clear merger logjam". Financial Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
- ^ a b Rory Carroll (2000-08-30). "Italy's feuding left gives Berlusconi free run". The Guardian. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
- ^ Christophe Aguiton (2001). "WHY GENOA IS IMPORTANT, FOR ITALY AND FOR THE WORLD". Focusweb.org. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
- ^ http://www.sondaggipoliticoelettorali.it/asp/visualizza_sondaggi.asp?ordine=data
- ^ http://www.clandestinoweb.com/number-news/08/10/08/pd-in-abruzzo-saltano-intese-e-lidv-punta-al-sorpasso-2.html
- ^ http://www.ilfoglio.it/soloqui/1169
- ^ http://www.corriere.it/politica/08_ottobre_19/veltroni_fine_alleanza_dipietro_fc8b7390-9dfb-11dd-b589-00144f02aabc.shtml
- ^ http://www.asca.it/moddettnews.php?idnews=786879&canale=ORA&articolo=ABRUZZO/ELEZIONI:%20IL%20CENTROSINISTRA%20PUNTA%20TUTTO%20SU%20COSTANTINI%20(IDV)
- ^ http://www.quiretelibera.org/node/163
- ^ http://www.clandestinoweb.com/le-opinioni-di-luigi-crespi/voto-08-veltroni-dipietro-lapparentamento-della-vergogna.-di-l.c.html
- ^ http://www.regione.sardegna.it/documenti/1_60_20081020103028.pdf
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