Union of Christian and Centre Democrats
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Union of Christian and Centre Democrats | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Leader | Pier Ferdinando Casini |
| Secretary | Lorenzo Cesa |
| President | Rocco Buttiglione |
| Founded | 6 December 2002 |
| Headquarters | Via Due Macelli, 66 00187 Rome |
| Newspaper | none |
| Membership (2006) | 231,000 |
| Ideology | Christian democracy, Social conservatism |
| Coalition | Union of the Centre |
| International | Centrist Democrat International |
| European party | European People's Party |
| European Parliament Group | European People's Party–European Democrats |
| Website | http://www.udc-italia.it |
The Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (Unione dei Democratici Cristiani e di Centro, UDC) is a christian-democratic Italian political party. It is formally led by Lorenzo Cesa, although its most popular figure and practical leader is Pier Ferdinando Casini.
UDC is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and of the Centrist Democrat International (CDI), of which Pier Ferdinando Casini is currently President.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Foundation
The party was founded in 2002 by the merger of the former Christian Democratic Centre (CCD, led by Pier Ferdinando Casini from 1994 to 2001, then by Marco Follini), the United Christian Democrats (CDU, a split of Italian People's Party, led by Rocco Buttiglione since 1995) and European Democracy (DE, founded by Sergio D'Antoni). The new party was led by Marco Follini, national secretary, and by Rocco Buttiglione, president.
[edit] Early years
In the 2004 European Parliament election UDC had to show its electoral weight for the first time. Winning 5.9% of the vote and returning 5 MEPs, the result was better than predicted. In the 2001 Italian general election the three parties had scored 5.6% (sum of 3.2%, result of CCD and CDU, and 2.4%, result of DE). UDC was since the European Parliament election the third largest party in the House of Freedoms, surpassing Lega Nord. Follini became Vice-President of the Council wanting to strengthen the government by dimishing the influence of Lega Nord in the executive.
In the 2005 regional elections UDC and the House of Freedoms faced a severe defeat by winning only 2 out of 14 regions. Follini asked Silvio Berlusconi to resign and form a new executive. In the new executive Rocco Buttiglione became minister with portfolio but Follini declined the post of Vice-President of the Council, wanting to dedicate himself to the party.
On 15 October 2005 Marco Follini suddenly resigned as secretary and was replaced on 27 October by Lorenzo Cesa.
[edit] 2006 general election
The party took part in the 2006 general election with a new logo, characterized by the inclusion of the name of Casini, by far the most prominent member of the UDC. Casini himself was the leading candidate in many of the electoral constituencies. Despite the defeat of the House of Freedoms, the UDC improved its electoral performance gaining 6.8% of the vote and electing 39 deputies.
In October 2006, Senator Marco Follini finally left the party to form his own grouping, called Middle-of-the-Road Italy, which merged into the centre-left Democratic Party one year later. This was the fourth split suffered by UDC in two years, after three much bigger scissions led by Sergio D'Antoni, who led numbers of the former European Democracy, to Democracy is Freedom – Daisy, in 2004, that of Gianfranco Rotondi and Mauro Cutrufo to form the Christian Democracy for the Autonomies in 2005, and that of Raffaele Lombardo and many Southern party members which formed the Movement for Autonomy later that year.
[edit] Recent events
A fifth major split happened at the end of January 2008, when Bruno Tabacci and Mario Baccini left the party in strife with the political line of the party to enter in an alliance with Forza Italia and Alleanza nazionale. Despite having supported a new electoral law on German model during the past two years, after the fall of Prodi II Cabinet decided to follow Berlusconi and the other leaders of the centre-right in their request of a fresh election as soon as possible. The new party of Tabacci and Baccini, the White Rose, will seek the leadership of former trade-unionist Savino Pezzotta and will fight as the core of a new centrist pole, which Antonio Di Pietro's Italy of Values is expected to join.[1][2][3]
At the beginning of February the departure of Tabacci and Baccini was followed by the joining of two leading members of Forza Italia, Ferdinando Adornato and Angelo Sanza.[4] In the same days UDC lost another bit when Carlo Giovanardi, Emerenzio Barbieri and their faction Liberal Populars finally left the party to join the new People of Freedom (PdL) of Berlusconi, citing that the 72% of UDC voters wants to join the PdL.[5]
On 16 February UDC leader Casini announced that the party will fight the upcoming general election outside the House of Freedoms coalition. This decision came after that UDC refused to join the new party launched by Berlusconi. In disagreement with Casini many leading members, including Vito Bonsignore, Tomaso Zanoletti, Giuseppe Galati and Alfredo Meocci, of the party are leaving it in order to join the PdL and thus the chances of success of the party seems uncertain. In order to surpass the thresholds for entering the Parliament, UDC may join forces with the White Rose.
On 28 February the White Rose announced that it will present joint-lists with UDC for the general election and it was hinted that Casini would be the joint-candidate for Prime Minister.[6] The two parties, united in the Union of the Centre for the election, will finally merge in a single entity.
[edit] Ideology
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Although it is the most vocal supporter of social conservatism in Italy (opposition to abortion, gay rights and euthanasia are some of its main concerns) and can be easily connected with the Christian right, UDC is usually identified with the political centre in Italy, thanks to its Christian Democratic roots, and was an independent-minded and often reluctant member of the House of Freedoms coalition.
However The Economist describes it as a right-wing, sometimes reactionary party, which "stretches a long way from the centre". Moreover, it wrote that many UDC members are "diehard corporatists who [...] get most of their votes from the south, where many households depend either on welfare or on public-sector employment"[7]. Indeed the party is stronger in the South and especially in Sicily, where public-sector employment is widely spread.
The party's leading figure, Pier Ferdinando Casini, is critical of the leadership of Silvio Berlusconi over the Italian centre-right and presents himself as a moderate alternative to populism, which, in his view, denotes Forza Italia, National Alliance and Lega Nord. The party's strategy is very similar to that of the Union for French Democracy, which held an uneasy alliance with a much bigger partner, the Union for a Popular Movement, as UDC with Forza Italia, and believes as well in a government beyond the left-right divide. The dream of reassembling the remnants of the old Christian Democracy (DC) party in order to control Italian politics from the centre is a longstanding one and Casini's followers are trying to form the nucleus of a third force in Italian politics, hoping to enlist someday centrist members of the Democratic Party, especially those coming from Democracy is Freedom – Daisy (DL), a centre-left outfit, in which many former Christian Democrats were gathered.
It is difficult to say how much chances of success this "centrist option" has; indeed there are at least three problems with it. First, UDC is a much lesser force compared to Berlusconi's Forza Italia, which draws much support from former Christian Democratic voters. Second, Italians like confrontational politics based on two alternative coalitions and many among them dream a two-party system, in place of the current fragmented political spectrum in which as many as twenty parties are represented in Parliament[8]. Third, it is difficult to unite progressive Democracy is Freedom – Daisy with the conservative UDC, and history does not always repeat itself: many political scientists think that the return of Christian Democracy is all but likely as political unity of Catholics (the core idea on which DC was based) is not repeatable because it will be anti-historical trying to unite free-market liberals and economic interventionists, social-conservatives and social-liberals, into a single party.
It is true that Democracy is Freedom – Daisy had many conservative Catholics in its ranks but they are mostly social-democratic in position on other political issues. UDC is likely to attract some of them but until it can draw support from Forza Italia its chances of growth are very few. Although Casini and his followers are keen on presenting themeselves as moderates, their staunchly social-conservative stance will harm their prospects, as Forza Italia is popular also among secularized middle-class voters and, accordingly to the most recent opinion polls[9], it outnumbers UDC by 20-25%.
On the other issues, it is remarkable that UDC and its leader Casini are the main supporters of nuclear energy in the Italian political arena.[10]
[edit] Factions
There are mainly four factions within the party.
- Casiniani. It is the majority faction led by Pier Ferdinando Casini, Lorenzo Cesa and Rocco Buttiglione, who contest the leadership of Silvio Berlusconi over the centre-right and propose an autonomous and independent path for the party, the loosening (if not the end) of the alliance with Forza Italia and suspicion for the Lega Nord. The Casiniani, who include Erminia Mazzoni, Mario Tassone (who is co-leader with Buttiglione of a sub-group composed of former members of the CDU, which controls more than 15% of party delegates[11]), Michele Vietti, Luca Volontè, Francesco D'Onofrio, Maurizio Ronconi, Francesco Bosi, Francesco Pionati and Antonio De Poli, have the support of at least 45% of party members.
- Tabaccini. This group, which says of having the support of the 30% of party members[12], is basically the left-wing of the party, including leading politicians such as Bruno Tabacci, Mario Baccini, Armando Dionisi and Giuseppe Galati, who were formerly followers of Marco Follini. They propose to start a cooperation with the future Democratic Party and would support a centre-left alliace with the Communist left out and UDC in. They staunchly support the political line of Casini-Cesa and are the hardliners of it and propose the creation of a centrist party open to Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Mario Monti, Savino Pezzotta and Antonio Di Pietro, the so-called "white thing". After the exit of Tabacci and Baccini from the party in late January 2008 to form the White Rose, the future of the faction is unclear.
- Cuffariani. The third group consists in the Southern-based faction of Salvatore Cuffaro, president of Sicily (UDC's stronghold), which sometimes criticizes the centralist-styled leadership of the party. This group, which includes Calogero Mannino, Francesco Saverio Romano, Giuseppe Naro and Giuseppe Drago, holds the 10% of the party and, in the III national congress, supported the line of Casini-Cesa[13], although its members are more friendly with Forza Italia's leader Silvio Berlusconi.
- Giovanardiani. It is the group led by Carlo Giovanardi and Emerenzio Barbieri, who want closer ties with Forza Italia and the other parties of the House of Freedoms coalition, including Lega Nord. In the III national congress the candidacy of Giovanardi for the leadership was supported by the 13.8% of delegates[14]. Giovanardi and Barbieri recently set up association within UDC named Liberal Populars, whose principal aim is to work for the construction of a "Freedom Party" of all the centre-right. The faction left UDC in February 2008 to join the People of Freedom of Berlusconi.
The three main schisms suffered by the party between 2004 and 2006, Middle-of-the-Road Italy (IdM), Movement for Autonomy (MpA) and Christian Democracy for the Autonomies (DCA), were led by the most vocal supporters of each of the last three factions mentioned above, respectively Marco Follini, Raffaele Lombardo and Gianfranco Rotondi. Gianfranco Rotondi left UDC over disagreements on the relationship with Forza Italia, which he wanted to be closer, and founded the DCA as a small party with strong ties with Silvio Berlusconi's one. Raffaele Lombardo, UDC Sicilian leader until 2005, thought that the party was too much Rome-centred and launched his Movement for Autonomy, which soon started to collaborate with Lega Nord in order to form a network of autonomist parties from throughout Italy. Marco Follini, now leader of Middle-of-the-Road Italy and supporter of the Prodi II Cabinet, was secretary of UDC until 2005 and was the chief-opposer of Silvio Berlusconi's leadership within the centre-right.
[edit] Popular support
The party is historically stronger in the South than in other part of the country. In the 2008 general election it won 9.4% in Sicily, 8.2% in Calabria and 7.9% in Apulia, while 3.8% in Liguria, 4.3% in Lombardy and 5.2% in Piedmont. In the North the party is better placed in the North-East: 5.6% in Veneto and 6.0% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
[edit] Electoral results
The electoral results of the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats in the 10 most populated Regions of Italy are shown in the table below. As UDC was founded in 2002, the electoral results from 1994 to 2001 refer to the combined result of the precursor parties.
The Christian Democratic Centre (CCD), founded in 1994, and the United Christian Democrats (CDU), founded in 1995, formed joint lists with Forza Italia respectively in 1994 (general) and 1995 (regional). The results of 1995 (regional) refer to CCD alone, those of 1996 (general) to the CCD-CDU joint-list, those of 1996 (Sicilian regional), 1999 (European) and 2000 (regional) to the combined result of CCD and CDU, those of 2001 (general) to the combined result of the CCD-CDU joint-list and of European Democracy (DE), which formed a separate list, that of 2001 (Sicilian regional) to the combined results of CCD, CDU and DE.
From 2004 (European), the results refer to UDC. The 2006 (Sicilian regional) refers to the combined result of UDC (13.05) and of L'Aquilone–Lista del Presidente (5.7%), personal list of UDC regional leader Salvatore Cuffaro. The elected members of this list were all UDC members.
| 1994 general | 1995 regional | 1996 general | 1999 European | 2000 regional | 2001 general | 2004 European | 2005 regional | 2006 general | 2008 general | |
| Piedmont | with FI | 3.0 | 4.4 | 3.3 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 5.0 | 4.6 | 6.2 | 5.2 |
| Lombardy | with FI | 2.2 | 4.6 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 5.9 | 4.3 |
| Veneto | with FI | 3.6 | 5.4 | 5.4 | 6.8 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 6.4 | 7.8 | 5.6 |
| Emilia-Romagna | with FI | 4.8 | 4.8 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 2.8 | 3.9 | 5.8 | 4.3 |
| Tuscany | with FI | 2.5 | 4.8 | 3.2 | 4.2 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.7 | 5.9 | 4.2 |
| Lazio | with FI | 4.2 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 6.7 | 4.8 | 7.1 | 7.8 | 6.9 | 4.8 |
| Campania | with FI | 9.7 | 8.0 | 6.8 | 8.5 | 7.5 | 7.0 | 6.7 | 6.8 | 6.5 |
| Apulia | with FI | 5.6 | 7.6 | 6.0 | 6.2 | 6.8 | 8.1 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 7.9 |
| Calabria | with FI | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.4 | 13.3 | 9.5 | 9.6 | 10.4 | 7.7 | 8.2 |
| Sicily | with FI | 19.0 (1996) | 8.1 | 7.9 | 24.3 (2001) | 14.4 | 14.0 | 18.7 (2006) | 10.0 | 9.4 |
| ITALY | - | - | 5.8 | 4.8 | - | 5.6 | 5.9 | - | 6.8 | 5.6 |
[edit] Leadership
- Secretary: Marco Follini (2002–2005), Lorenzo Cesa (2005–...)
- Deputy Secretary: Sergio D'Antoni (2002–2004), Mario Tassone (2004–...), Erminia Mazzoni (2005–2007), Salvatore Cuffaro (2005–...), Armando Dionisi (2007–2008), Michele Vietti (2007–...)
- Head of Political Secretariat: Lorenzo Cesa (2002–2005), Armando Dionisi (2005–2007), Antonio De Poli (2007–...)
- Spokesman: Michele Vietti (2006–2007), Francesco Pionati (2007–...)
- President: Rocco Buttiglione (2002–...)
- Party Leader in the Chamber of Deputies: Luca Volontè (2001–...)
- Party Leader in the Senate: Francesco D'Onofrio (2001–...)
- Party Leader in the European Parliament: Vito Bonsignore (2004–...)
[edit] References
- ^ Tabacci e Baccini lasciano l'Udc Corriere della Sera
- ^ Baccini e Tabacci lasciano l'Udc al Centro nasce la Rosa Bianca - Politica - Repubblica.it
- ^ La Repubblica.it » Politica » News
- ^ http://www.repubblica.it/news/ired/ultimora/2006/rep_nazionale_n_2877255.html?ref=hpsbdx4
- ^ Giovanardi lascia l'Udc per il Pdl Corriere della Sera
- ^ Elezioni: accordo tra Rosa Bianca e Udc Corriere della Sera
- ^ Prodi resurrected—for now, The Economist, 1 March 2007.
- ^ A plague on both your houses, The Economist, 7 December 2006.
- ^ http://www.sondaggipoliticoelettorali.it/asp/visualizza_sondaggi.asp?ordine=data
- ^ <?REF%20type:page;src:giornale;par:rubrica=9%territorio=%idarticolo=5740%container=no;?>
- ^ Nel puzzle Udc si agita anche il Cdu, L'Indipendente, 5 April 2007.
- ^ Nel puzzle Udc si agita anche il Cdu, L'Indipendente, 5 April 2007.
- ^ NoiPress.it 2007-04-12 19:31 – Congresso nazionale: la nota di Cuffaro ai delegati siciliani
- ^ ANSA 2007-04-15 20:35 – UDC: Cesa confermato segretario, Giovanardi 13,8%
