Everything about National Alliance Italy totally explained
National Alliance (
Alleanza Nazionale, AN) is a
conservative Italian political party.
Gianfranco Fini has been the leader of the party since its foundation in
1995.
History
Foundation
National Alliance was formed by current secretary
Gianfranco Fini from the
Italian Social Movement (MSI), the ex-
neo-fascist party, which was declared dissolved in
January 1995, and conservative elements of the former
Christian Democracy, which had disbanded in
1994 after two years of scandals and various splits due to
corruption at its highest levels, exposed by the
Mani Pulite investigation, and the
Italian Liberal Party, disbanded in the same year. Former MSI members were however still the bulk of the new party.
The logo followed a template very similar to the
Democratic Party of the Left, with the previous logo in a small circle (as a means of legally preventing others from using it). The name was suggested by an article on the Italian newspaper
Il Tempo written in
1992 by
Domenico Fisichella, a prominent conservative academic. In January 1995, as officially Gianfranco Fini proclaimed MSI's dissolution, and the foundation of the AN, he announced the abandonment MSI's ideological stances, symbols, gestures and salutes that had closely identified it with the Mussolinian past.
Government participation
The party was part of all three
House of Freedoms coalition governments led by
Silvio Berlusconi. Gianfranco Fini was notably nominated Deputy Prime Minister after the
2001 general election and was Foreign Minister from
November 2004 to
May 2006.
When Gianfranco Fini visited
Israel in late
November 2003 in the function of Italian Deputy Prime Minister, he labeled the
racial laws issued by the fascist regime in
1938 as "infamous". He also referred to the
RSI as belonging to the most shameful pages of the past, and considered fascism part of an era of "absolute evil". As a result,
Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of the former fascist dictator
Benito Mussolini, and some hardliners left the party and formed
Social Action.
In occasion of the
2006 general election, AN ran within the House of Freedoms (with new allies). Surprisingly the centre-right lost by just 24,000 votes in favor of the centre-left
The Union. Individually AN received nearly 5 million votes, amounting to 12.3%. The party won 41 out of 315
senators and 71 out of 630
deputies. On
27 July 2007, a group of splinters, led by
Francesco Storace, formed
The Right party, which was officially founded on
10 November. Seven MPs of AN, including
Teodoro Buontempo and
Daniela Santanchè, joined the new party.
Road to a new party
On
18 November, after that
Forza Italia collected the signatures of more than 7 million Italians (including
Umberto Bossi) against the
Romano Prodi's government and in order to ask to the
President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano to call a fresh election,
Silvio Berlusconi announced that Forza Italia would have soon merged or transformed into the
The People of Freedom party.
After the sudden fall of
Prodi II Cabinet on
24 January, the break up of
The Union coalition and the subsequent political crisis which lead to a fresh
general election, Berlusconi hinted on
25 January that Forza Italia would have probably contested its last election and the new party will be officially founded only after that election. In an atmosphere of reconciliation with Gianfranco Fini, Berlusconi also stated that the new party could see the participation of other parties. Finally, on
8 February, Berlusconi and Fini agreed to form a joint list under the banner of the "The People of Freedom", allied with Lega Nord.
Ideology
National Alliance's political program emphasizes:
Distinguishing itself from the MSI, the party has distanced itself from
Benito Mussolini and
Fascism and made efforts to improve relations with
Jewish groups. With most hardliners leaving the party, it seeks to present itself as a respectable
conservative party and to join forces with
Forza Italia in the
European People's Party and, eventually, in a united party of the centre-right.
Nearly two-thirds of the party's supporters approve of the
capitalist system and hold favourable views on the
privatisation of
state industries, however AN is more to the left from Forza Italia on economic issues and sometimes supports
statist policies.
Gianfranco Fini, a modernizer, has impressed an ambitious political line to the party, combining the pillars of conservative ideology like security, family values and patriotism with a progressive approach in other areas such as
stem-cell research and supporting voting rights for legal aliens. Anyway some of these positions are not shared by many members of the party, most of whom staunchly oppose stem-cell research and
artificial insemination.
Factions
National Alliance is a heterogeneous political party and within it members are divided in different factions, some of them very organized:
Protagonist Right (Destra Protagonista), headed by Maurizio Gasparri and Ignazio La Russa, is the bigger faction and the closest to Forza Italia, due to its liberal-conservative stances.
New Alliance (Nuova Alleanza), formerly called Right and Freedom (Destra e Libertà), headed by Altero Matteoli and Adolfo Urso, is formed by the staunchest supporters of Gianfranco Fini within the party and supports a liberal political agenda.
Social Right (Destra Sociale), led by Gianni Alemanno, advocates a more "social" approach to economic policy and is considered at the right of the party. It has close ties with the General Union of Labour.
Christian Reformists (Cristiano Riformisti), led by Antonio Mazzochi (ex-DC) and Pietro Armani (ex-PRI), is a new Christian-democratic faction within the party, which campaigns for Catholic values and for the admission of the party into the European People's Party.
In the party there's also a group named Ethic-Religious Council, whose board members include Gaetano Rebecchini (Founder, ex-DC), Riccardo Pedrizzi (President), Franco Tofoni (Vice President), Luigi Gagliardi (General Secretary), Alfredo Mantovano, Antonio Mazzocchi and Riccardo Migliori. This isn't a faction but an official organism within the party and express the official position of the party on ethical and religious matters. Sometimes the group criticizes Gianfranco Fini for his liberal views on abortion, artificial insemination and stem-cell research, which led some notable ex-DC members as Publio Fiori to leave the party. Some members of the Council, such as Pedrizzi and Mantovano are described as members of an unofficial Catholic Right faction.
Popular support
The party has roughly 10-15% support across Italy, having it stongholds in central and southern Italy (Lazio 18.6%, Umbria 15.2%, Marche 14.3%, Abruzzo 14.3%, Puglia 13.2%, Sardinia 12.9%, Tuscany 12.6% and Campania 12.6% in the last general election), scoring badly in Lombardy (10.2%) and Sicily (10.9%), while competing in the North-East (Friuli-Venezia Giulia 15.5% and Veneto 11.3%) with the Lega Nord, its ally in the centre-right House of Freedoms coalition. The relationship of AN with the Northern League can be tense at times, especially about issues of national unity, but the two parties share views on other issues such as immigration; AN's views are normally slightly more moderate than Lega Nord's.
The party had a good showing in the first general election contested (13.5% in 1994) and reached 15.7% in 1996, when Fini tried for the first time to replace Silvio Berlusconi as leader of the centre-right. From that moment the party suffered an electoral decline, but remains the third force of Italian politics.
In 1998, it had a membership of 485,657 in 11,539 branches, 89 deputies and 41 senators in the Italian Parliament and nine members of the European Parliament.
In the Italian general election, 2006 May 2001 general election AN obtained 96 seats out of 630 in the Chamber of Deputies and 46 seats out of 324 in the Senate. The party lost a few key seats in the 2003 local elections such as the Province of Rome, but its position remained firm. The party obtained 11.5% of the vote and 9 seats in the June 2004 European Parliament elections. In the 2005 regional elections AN lost almost all the remaining key seats, such as the Region of Lazio.
For the April 2006 general election, the party presented a new logo, which includes the name of Fini in it. In the Lower chamber, AN received 4,703,256 votes (12.3%), thus securing 71 seats. In Senate, where Berlsuconi's coalition managed to retain majority, the National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale) got 4,234,693 votes (12.4%) and thus 41 seats.
The electoral results of National Alliance in the 10 most populated Regions of Italy are shown in the table below.
| |
1994 general |
1995 regional |
1996 general |
1999 European |
2000 regional |
2001 general |
2004 European |
2005 regional |
2006 general |
| Piedmont |
8.3 |
11.2 |
12.1 |
7.5 |
11.9 |
9.2 |
8.8 |
9.5 |
11.8 |
| Lombardy |
5.8 |
10.0 |
9.0 |
6.0 |
9.7 |
8.6 |
7.2 |
8.7 |
10.2 |
| Veneto |
7.7 |
10.7 |
11.7 |
8.3 |
9.8 |
8.5 |
9.0 |
8.1 |
11.3 |
| Emilia-Romagna |
9.0 |
10.3 |
11.5 |
8.6 |
11.4 |
9.7 |
8.4 |
8.9 |
10.2 |
| Tuscany |
10.9 |
13.1 |
15.8 |
10.9 |
14.9 |
13.0 |
10.9 |
10.9 |
12.6 |
| Lazio |
25.3 |
24.5 |
28.9 |
20.3 |
23.1 |
20.4 |
18.4 |
23.9 |
18.6 |
| Campania |
20.3 |
18.3 |
18.7 |
10.7 |
11.2 |
13.1 |
13.2 |
10.6 |
12.6 |
| Apulia |
27.5 |
20.4 |
17.9 |
12.7 |
15.5 |
15.3 |
16.0 |
12.1 |
13.2 |
| Calabria |
17.2 |
16.3 |
23.4 |
10.2 |
10.4 |
15.2 |
15.5 |
9.9 |
11.0 |
| Sicily |
14.0 |
14.1 (1996) |
16.4 |
12.1 |
11.3 (2001) |
10.7 |
14.5 |
10.6 (2006) |
10.9 |
| ITALY |
13.5 |
- |
15.7 |
10.3 |
- |
12.0 |
11.3 |
- |
12.3 |
Leadership
President: Gianfranco Fini (1995–2008), Ignazio La Russa (regent, 2008–...)
President of National Assembly: Domenico Fisichella (1995–2005), Marcello Perina (2005–2006), Francesco Servello (2006–...)
Organizational Coordinator: Giuseppe Tatarella (1995–1998), Altero Matteoli (1998–2002), Donato Lamorte (2002–2004), Italo Bocchino (2004–2005), Marco Martinelli (2005–...)
Party Leader at the Chamber of Deputies: Raffaele Valesinese (1994–1996), Giuseppe Tatarella (1996–1998), Gustavo Selva (1998–2001), Ignazio La Russa (2001–2003), Gian Franco Anedda (2003–2004), Iganzio La Russa (2004–2008), Italo Bocchino (deputy-leader of PdL's group, 2008–...)
Party Leader at the Senate: Giulio Maceratini (1994–2001), Domenico Nania (2001–2006), Altero Matteoli (2006-2008), Maurizio Gasparri (leader of PdL's group, 2008–...)
Party Leader at the European Parliament: Cristiana Muscardini (1994–2004), Roberta Angelilli (2004–...)Further Information
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