| Citizens' Union | |
|---|---|
| President | Andreas Pöder |
| Founded | 2 October 1989 |
| Headquarters | via Garibaldi, 6 39100 Bolzano |
| Newspaper | Zukunft Heimat |
| Membership | unknown |
| Ideology | National conservatism, Separatism[1] |
| International affiliation | none |
| European affiliation | none |
| European Parliament Group | no MEPs |
| Chamber of Deputies |
0 / 630
|
| Senate |
0 / 315
|
| European Parliament |
0 / 72
|
| Provincial Council |
1 / 35
|
| Website | |
| http://www.buergerunion.st/ | |
| Politics of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Political parties Elections |
|
The Citizens' Union (German: BürgerUnion, BU; formerly Union for South Tyrol, German: Union für Südtirol, UfS) is a separatist, nationalist and conservative political party active in South Tyrol committed to the German-speaking minority and its right to self-determination. Its current leader is Andreas Pöder.
The BU, once a member of the European Free Alliance, was expelled from that organization in 2008 after it refused to condemn islamophobia and insisted upon the defense of "European Christian values".
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The UfS 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 liberal-conservative Freedom Party of South Tyrol led by Gerold Meraner and right-wing splinters from the South Tyrolean People's Party led by Alfons Benedikter.[2]
In the 1993 provincial election the party won 4.8% of the vote and gained 2 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 South Tyrolean People's Party had formed an alliance with some Italian parties.[3]
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 and power within the party, which was unofficially led by Klotz.[4]
In the 2003 provincial election, the UfS won 6.8% of the vote and gained 2 seats in the Provincial Council. After a power struggle, especially with Pöder, who was elected party president with 76 votes in favour and 70 against in a party congress, in May 2007 the historic party leader Klotz left the party and founded a new strict separatist movement named South Tyrolean Freedom (STF).
In the 2008 general election, severely damaged by the split and by the competition of The Libertarians (9.4%), the UfS gained only 4.2% of the vote in the Province.[5] In the 2008 provincial election the party got only 2.3% of the vote and one elect in the Provincial Council, while STF and The Libertarians won the 14.3% and the 4.9% of the vote, respectively.
It renamed itself from UfS to BU on 12 May 2011.[6]
Since the exit of Eva Klotz, the UfS has tried to renew its image and to present itself as a centrist-conservative party. The party program includes defense of family values, protection of the environment and a moderately liberal economic policy, anlong with the historic goal of separating South Tyrol from Italy in order to re-unify it with the Austrian state of Tyrol.
If The Libertarians have for a long-time a pact with the Freedom Party of Austria, although the relations between the two parties have become much more colder in the last years, Union for South Tyrol has formed an alliance with the Alliance for the Future of Austria.[7][8]
The electoral results of the UfS in the Province of Bolzano since 1992 are shown in the table below.
| 1992 general | 1993 provinc. | 1994 general | 1994 European | 1996 general | 1998 provinc. | 1999 European | 2001 general | 2003 provinc. | 2004 European | 2006 general | 2008 general | 2008 provinc. | 2009 European |
| 3.7 | 4.8 | - | 4.6 | 7.7[9] | 5.5 | 6.4 | - | 6.8 | 6.3 | - | 4.2 | 2.3 | - |