Conservatives and Reformists Conservatori e Riformisti | |
|---|---|
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| President | Raffaele Fitto |
| Founded | May 2015(launch) 3 June 2015(foundation) |
| Dissolved | 28 January 2017 |
| Split from | Forza Italia |
| Succeeded by | Direction Italy |
| Headquarters | Via Torre dell'Astrologo 44,Manfredonia |
| Ideology | Conservatism Liberal conservatism Liberalism Soft euroscepticism |
| Political position | Centre-right |
| European affiliation | Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe |
| European Parliament group | European Conservatives and Reformists |
| Colours | Blue |
| Website | |
| conservatorieriformisti | |
| Part ofa series on |
| Conservatism in Italy |
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Literature |
TheConservatives and Reformists (Italian:Conservatori e Riformisti,CR orCoR) was a broadlyconservative[1][2] and, to some extent,[3][4]Christian-democratic andliberal[3][4]political party inItaly, led byRaffaele Fitto.
The CoR emerged in May 2015 from a split fromForza Italia (FI), and is modelled on the BritishConservative Party andDavid Cameron's brand ofliberal conservatism, vision and leadership (in the run-up to the2015 UK general election Fitto, Capezzone and other 28 MPs of their faction within FI had publicly endorsed Cameron in a letter toThe Telegraph)[5] and named after theEuropean Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the group in theEuropean Parliament in which the Conservatives and Fitto sit. The CoR joined theAlliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR) on 13 November 2015.[6]
Since January 2017 the CoR have been part of a new party namedDirection Italy (DI), also led by Fitto.
In November 2013The People of Freedom, the centre-right party led bySilvio Berlusconi, was transformed intoForza Italia (FI), a reference to adefunct party with the same name.[7] Among the strongest supporters of the return to FI, the so-called "hawks"[8] and self-proclaimed "loyalists",[9] a leading role was played byRaffaele Fitto.[10][11] At the2014 European Parliament election Fitto was FI's most voted candidate and was elected to theEuropean Parliament in theSouth.[12]
Fitto, the strongest backer of Berlusconi's leadership in late 2013, became his main internal challenger by mid 2014. After months of bickering with Berlusconi over the so-called "Nazareno pact" withMatteo Renzi, leader of theDemocratic Party andPrime Minister, in February 2015 Fitto launched his own faction, named "Rebuilders".[13] Fitto's allies included Capezzone,Maurizio Bianconi,Rocco Palese,Saverio Romano,Cinzia Bonfrisco,Augusto Minzolini and most Apulian MPs.[14]
In the run-up of the2015 regional elections Berlusconi and Fitto did not find an agreement on the composition of the slates inApulia, where the party's two wings fielded two opposing candidates for president.[15][16][17] At the2015 Apulian regional election a list named after Fitto ("Beyond with Fitto") won 9.3% of the vote and its candidate for president,Francesco Schittulli (Schittulli Political Movement), won 18.3% of the president's vote (won byMichele Emiliano, aDemocrat), compared to 10.8% for FI and 14.4% for FI's official candidate and former member of theBrothers of Italy (FdI),Adriana Poli Bortone.[18]
Two weeks before the regional elections, Fitto left theEuropean People's Party Group in the European Parliament in order to join theEuropean Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).[19] He also left FI altogether and launched theConservatives and Reformists (CoR).[20]
At its launch, the CoR included ninedeputies (eight sitting with FI and one with the FdI)[21][22] and twelvesenators (ten from FI and two fromGreat Autonomies and Freedom, GAL), organised in an official group;[23] two senators later defected to theLiberal Popular Alliance (ALA),[24][25] but the remaining ten senators were enough to keep the senatorial group alive. In early July the CoR were joined by an additional MEP,Remo Sernagiotto, who had defected from FI and the EPP to ECR.[26]
The CoR were established as a full-fledged political party on 16 July 2015.[27][28]
In November the CoR joined theAlliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR),[6] and started a sub-group within theMixed Group in the Chamber of Deputies with eleven deputies, ten from FI and one from FdI.[29][30] CR's deputies and senators may soon join forces withGaetano Quagliariello'sIdentity and Action (split from theNew Centre-Right), an earlier FI's spin-off, andFlavio Tosi'sAct! (split fromLega Nord); such an alliance could boast more than 20 deputies and 15 senators.[31]
In January 2016 another CoR senator switched to ALA,[32] leaving the party with only nine senators. Being ten the minimum required number to form a group in the Senate, the party risked losing that privilege,[33] butLuigi Compagna, a senator from Quagliariello'sIdentity and Action (IdeA) and theGreat Autonomies and Freedom group, joined the CoR group in order to keep it alive, in a move that might be a prelude for a broader alliance between the two parties.[34][35][36] In May history repeated itself: after one more senator had switched to ALA, another IdeA senator,Andrea Augello, joined forces with the CoR group in order to keep it alive.
In the2016 local elections the CoR ran its lists especially in Apulia: the party won 6.2% inBrindisi and had its candidate for mayor (Angela Carluccio) elected in the run-off,[37] 7.2% inFasano,[38] 5.6% inGallipoli,[39] 13.2% inNardò,[40] 11.6% inRuvo di Puglia,[41] and 7.2% inSan Giovanni Rotondo.[42]
In December 2016Cinzia Bonfrisco left the party and joined theItalian Liberal Party (PLI), giving it representation in the Senate.[43] In January 2017 Fitto launched a new party, namedDirection Italy (DI), including the CoR and other minor parties.[44][45] After the dissolution of the CoR group for lack of members, in May the seven senators of CR–DI joined the GAL group,[46] composed primarily of minor centre-right parties, while the CoR sub-group in the Chamber maintained its name for some time.
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