Democrats in Network (Democratici in Rete, DiR) were asocial-democratic faction within theDemocratic Party (PD), apolitical party in Italy.
After the departure of Veltroni from party leadership in February 2009,Veltroniani talked about organizing their faction,[1][2] but finally there was a split between the staunch supporters of the new leaderDario Franceschini and those who soon started to criticize him. The latter, led byGoffredo Bettini andMichele Meta, who were mainly social democrats coming from theItalian Communist Party launched Democrats in Network.[3][4]
In the2009 Democratic Party leadership election the faction supportedIgnazio Marino, whose campaign was coordinated by Meta,[5] differently from Veltroni himself and mostVeltroniani who supportedDario Franceschini.[6][7] Some time after the election, the faction was disbanded. By 2011 Meta and others joinedChange Italy, a new association led by Marino, while Bettini launchedBeyond the Parties and became very close toNicola Zingaretti instead.[8]
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