Federalists and Liberal Democrats

The Federalists and Liberal Democrats ("Federalisti e Liberaldemocratici", FLD) was a federalist and liberal Italian political party.

History

The party was founded on 16 December 1994 as a parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies by twelve dissident members of Lega Nord, four members of Forza Italia, two members of the Liberal Democratic Foundation, Raffaele Costa (leader of the Union of the Centre and Minister of Health) and Pietro Cerullo (representative of the Southern Action League). [ [http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1994/dicembre/17/Michelini_fonda_FLD_con_gli_co_0_94121715526.shtml Michelini fonda " FLD " con gli ex lumbard ] ] Indeed twenty members were needed to form a group in the Chamber. The group acted as a close ally of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia.

Following the decision of Umberto Bossi, leader of Lega Nord, to bring down Berlusconi I Cabinet on 22 December, many "Leghisti" who wanted to continue that alliance joined the party. These included Franco Rocchetta (founder and long-standing leader of Liga Veneta), Marilena Marin (secretary of Liga Veneta from 1984 to 1994), Lucio Malan, Furio Gubetti and Gualberto Niccolini (President of Lega Nord Toscana from 1988). At the point of its maximum strength, after the merger of the Federalist Italian League (LIF) on 20 December, another splinter group of Lega Nord, FLD had more than 50 MPs. [ [http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1995/dicembre/21/Sottoscritto_appello_co_0_95122113382.shtml Sottoscritto un appello ] ]

In the 1996 general election, when Lega Nord, despite the several splits had its best result ever (10.1% nationally), none of the ex-"Leghisti" of FLD, but Luigi Negri, who came from LIF, was re-elected and the party was merged into Forza Italia. Anyway, in the 2001 general election, both Lucio Malan and Furio Gubetti were elected to the Senate and since then Malan is one of the leaders of Forza Italia in Piedmont.

References