Centrists for Europe Centristi per l'Europa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Pier Ferdinando Casini |
| Coordinator | Gianpiero D'Alia |
| Founded | 6 December 2016; 8 years ago (2016-12-06) (launched) 11 February 2017; 8 years ago (2017-02-11) (founded) |
| Split from | Union of the Centre |
| Ideology | Christian democracy Pro-Europeanism |
| Political position | Centre |
| National affiliation | Centre-left coalition |
| Senate[a] | 1 / 206 |
Centrists for Europe (Italian:Centristi per l'Europa;CpE) is aChristian-democraticpolitical party in Italy. The party was launched, asCentrists for Italy (Italian:Centristi per l'Italia;CpI), by splinters from theUnion of the Centre in December 2016 and officially founded, with its final name, in February 2017.[1]Pier Ferdinando Casini is the incumbent leader of the party.[2]
In the run-up of the2016 Italian constitutional referendum, theUnion of the Centre (UdC) chose to campaign for "No", while theNew Centre-Right, the UdC's counterpart inPopular Area (AP), was among the keenest supporters of "Yes".[3]
After the referendum, which saw a huge defeat of the "Yes" side, the UdC left AP altogether. However, some UdC splinters, notably includingPier Ferdinando Casini,Gianpiero D'Alia (who had previously launchedCentrists for Sicily) and ministerGian Luca Galletti, launched "Centrists for Italy" and confirmed their alliance with the NCD within Popular Area.[4][5][6]
The party was officially founded, with the current name, in February 2017.[7][8] At the time the CpE included one minister (Galletti, who had been confirmed in theGentiloni Cabinet in December), two deputies (D'Alia andFerdinando Adornato) and three senators (Casini,Aldo Di Biagio andLuigi Marino).[9] Also former ministerFrancesco D'Onofrio joined the party.
In December 2017, the CpE launched thePopular Civic List (CP), within thecentre-left coalition, along withPopular Alternative (AP),Italy of Values (IdV),Solidary Democracy (DemoS), theUnion for Trentino (UpT),Italy Is Popular (IP) and minor parties/groups. The new leader of AP,Beatrice Lorenzin, was chosen as leader of the list too.[10][11][12]
In the2018 Italian general election, CP obtained a mere 0.5% of the vote,[13] far below the electoral thresholds, but Casini was re-elected to the Senate from a single-seat constituency inBologna, thanks to the decisive support of theDemocratic Party and the centre-left coalition.[14] After the election, Casini sat with the heterogenousFor the Autonomies group.[15]
After not taking part in the2018 regional elections in Molise and those inFriuli-Venezia Giulia, the party presented itself in the2019 regional elections in Abruzzo with its own list in support of the centre-left candidateGiovanni Legnini, receiving 1.53% and no seats. In the2019 Lucanian elections, CpE presented itself in a united list withCentro Democratico in support of the centre-left candidate Carlo Trerotola, collecting 3.30% without electing any councillors.
However, the party didn't ran in the2019 European parliamentary elections but Casini declared his support for thePartito Democratico-Siamo Europei list.
During the2022 election, the party entered theDemocratic Party – Democratic and Progressive Italy list, part of the centre-left coalition with Casini who was re-elected in the single-member constituency of Bologna.
| Chamber of Deputies | ||||||
| Election year | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Leader | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | intoCP | 0.54 | 0 / 630 | – | ||
| Senate of the Republic | ||||||
| Election year | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Leader | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | intoCP | 0.52 | 1 / 315 | – | ||
| Region | Election year | Votes | % | Seats | +/− |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sicily | 2017 | 80,366 (10th)[b] | 4.2 | 0 / 70 | – |
| Abruzzo | 2019 | 7,839 (13th) | 1.3 | 0 / 31 | – |
