Italian Left

Italian Left Sinistra Italiana
Secretary	Nicola Fratoianni
President	Laura Lauri
Founded	19 February 2017 (2017-02-19)
Merger of	Left Ecology Freedom Future to the Left minor groups
Headquarters	Via Arenula, 29 00186 Rome
Newspaper	Left
Membership (2017)	19,346[1]
Ideology	Democratic socialism Green politics Eco-socialism
Political position	Left-wing
European affiliation	Party of European Left (observer)
International affiliation	none
European Parliament group	GUE/NGL (1) S&D (1)
Colours	Red
Chamber of Deputies	13 / 630
Senate	7 / 315
European Parliament	2 / 73
Regional Government	0 / 20
Website
www.sinistraitaliana.si
Politics of Italy Political parties Elections

Italian Left (Italian: Sinistra Italiana, SI) is a left-wing political party in Italy.

SI was launched in November 2015 as a parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies (full name: Italian Left – Left Ecology Freedom), mainly including Left Ecology Freedom (SEL), dissidents from the Democratic Party (see Future to the Left) and splinters from the Five Star Movement.^[2] At its launch, SI included 32 deputies,^[3] soon followed by 8 senators (sub-group in the Mixed Group of the Senate formed in February 2016) and 2 MEPs. SI was officially founded as a full-fledged party in February 2017, after that SEL chose to dissolve into it in December 2016.

The party is led by Nicola Fratoianni. Notable members include Nichi Vendola (former leader of SEL), Loredana De Petris, Stefano Fassina, and Sergio Cofferati. In the aftermath of its founding congress, 18 deputies left the party, leaving it with 13 deputies, 8 senators and 2 MEPs: 17 deputies, led by former group leader Arturo Scotto, joined the brand-new Democrats and Progressives party, while Laura Boldrini (President of the Chamber of Deputies) defected to the Mixed Group.

History

Background

In June 2015 Stefano Fassina, a former deputy minister, left the Democratic Party (PD) over disagreements with Matteo Renzi, PD leader and Prime Minister.^[4] In doing this, he was followed by his long-time ally Monica Gregori.^[5]

In July, during a convention, Fassina launched Future to the Left, an incubator of a new left-leaning party, with other movements and breakaway groups, such as Possible, and Left Ecology Freedom (SEL).

In November one senator (Corradino Mineo)^[6] and three more deputies (Alfredo D'Attorre, Carlo Galli and Vincenzo Folino)^[7][8] left the party in protest at Renzi. D'Attorre, who holds a doctorate in philosophy from the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies,^[9] wrote a manifesto for a new "labour" party, which was signed also by the other five MPs and, among other things, read: "The genetic mutation of the PD, born as central force of the Italian centre-left, is unfortunately already completed. The Renzi experience and the introduced mutations won't be a parenthesis. They have already altered in a irreversible way the perception of the PD and its function in the collective imagination".^[10] Subsequently, a parliamentary group under the banner of Italian Left was formed in the Chamber of Deputies, whose core was formed by SEL.^[11][12]

Road to the new party

Italian Left rally during the campaign for 2016 constitutional referendum.

In February 2016 SI held its constituent assembly in Rome.^[13][14][15] Consequently, SI was established as a sub-group within the Mixed Group in the Senate: five senators of SEL, two dissidents from the Five Star Movement (Fabrizio Bocchino and Francesco Campanella) and one former Democrat (Mineo) joined,^[16] while two SEL senators (including Sardinian nationalist Luciano Uras)^[17] refused to join and left their party altogether.^[18]

Several lists named after SI participated in the 2016 local elections. The party did particularly well in Sesto Fiorentino, a medium-sized city in the metropolitan area of Florence, where it won 17.5% of the vote and its candidate for mayor was elected in the run-off with 65.5%, by beating his Democratic opponent.^[19][20]

In December 2016 SEL was dissolved, in order to merge it into SI in early 2017.^[21]

Founding congress

In February 2017 SI was officially founded and Nicola Fratoianni was elected as its first secretary.^[22][23][24]

Contextually, SI leader in the Chamber of Deputies Arturo Scotto, who was originally a candidate for the leadership,^[25] Massimiliano Smeriglio, D'Attorre, Galli and Folino led a splinter group into the Democrats and Progressives, a party founded by left-wing splinters of the PD.^[26][27][28]

In March 2017 SI welcomed the four deputies of Possible in its group in the Chamber.^[29][30][31] In April Campanella left the party,^[32] leaving it with 7 senators.

On 24 June 2017 SI was accepted into the Party of the European Left as an observer member.^[33]

Composition

The party's founding members were:

Along these, some youth organisations (including ACT! Agire Costruire Trasformare^[37] and TILT^[38]), local groups and individuals have joined SI.

The latter include Sergio Cofferati MEP, Alfredo D'Attorre, Corradino Mineo, Andrea Ranieri and others from the Democratic Party; Fabrizio Bocchino from the Five Star Movement; Luca Casarini, Luciana Castellina, Maurizio Landini and Curzio Maltese MEP.

Ideology

SI's ideology is a mix of democratic socialism, social democracy and anti-austerity issues.

In his manifesto, D'Attorre wrote that the new party will need to "go beyond the separation between reformists and radicals" and later explained that SI will be Keynesian and opposed to neoliberalism. The coalition's economics adviser is Joseph Stiglitz, a well-known American economist and winner of the Nobel prize in economics, who had already been involved with the Greek Syriza, the Spanish Podemos and the British Labour Party.^[39]

Fassina has also proposed a "controlled disintegration of the Eurozone".^[40]

Regional Councils

Leadership

• Secretary: Nicola Fratoianni (2017–present)
• President: Laura Lauri (2017–present)
• Party Leader in the Chamber of Deputies: Arturo Scotto (2015–2017), Giulio Marcon (2017–present)
• Party Leader in the Senate: Loredana De Petris (2016–present)

Symbols

• 
  2015–2016
• 
  2016–2017
• 
  2017–present

References

External links

• Official website
• Parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies – official website
• Website of SI's constituent assembly, Cosmopolitica
• Complete recording of the first day of Cosmopolitica from Radio Radicale
• Complete recording of the third day of Cosmopolitica from Radio Radicale