President Giorgia Meloni Split from The People of Freedom Youth wing Gioventù Nazionale | Founded 17 December 2012 Newspaper La Gazzetta Tricolore | |
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Headquarters Via di San Teodoro, 20
00186 Rome | ||
Brothers of Italy (Italian: Fratelli d'Italia, FdI), whose complete name is Brothers of Italy – National Alliance (Fratelli d'Italia – Alleanza Nazionale, FdI–AN) is a national-conservative political party in Italy.
Contents
Background and foundation
In November 2012 Ignazio La Russa and Maurizio Gasparri, leaders of the Protagonist Right, a faction within The People of Freedom (PdL), announced their support for Angelino Alfano in the party primary scheduled for December. The subsequent cancellation of the primary was not agreed with by La Russa and many others in the party.
On 16 December Giorgia Meloni and Fabio Rampelli, Guido Crosetto and Giuseppe Cossiga organised in Rome the so-called "Primaries of Ideas", in which they openly criticised Silvio Berlusconi's leadership and any possible prospect of an electoral alliance with Prime Minister Mario Monti, proposed by some leading factions of the party (Liberamente, Network Italy, Reformism and Freedom, Liberal Populars, New Italy, FareItalia, etc.).
On 17 December La Russa, one of the three national coordinators of the PdL, announced he was leaving the party in order to form "National Centre-right", including not just right-wingers, but also Christian democrats and liberals from Forza Italia (FI) like Crosetto and Cossiga. The split from the PdL was agreed with Berlusconi in order to better represent the Italian right and present an appealing choice to right-wing voters. Simultaneously, Crosetto and Meloni announced the formation of "Brothers of Italy", whose name was taken from the first line of the national anthem. On 21 December the two groups, formed mainly by former members of National Alliance (La Russa, Meloni, Rampelli, Massimo Corsaro, Viviana Beccalossi, Alfredo Mantica, etc.) joined forces as "Brothers of Italy – National Centre-right", usually shortened to "Brothers of Italy" (FdI).
La Russa's followers soon formed their own groups in most regional councils, starting with the Regional Council of Lombardy on 18 December (under the leadership of La Russa's brother), and the Senate. Two MEPs, Carlo Fidanza and Marco Scurria, both members of the Group of the European People's Party, joined the party too.
2013 general election
In the 2013 general election, held in February, the party obtained 2.0% of the vote and nine seats in the Chamber of Deputies. On 5 March 2013 the party's executive board appointed La Russa president, Crosetto coordinator and Meloni leader in the Chamber.
During 2013 presidential election's fourth ballot, FdI decided to support Franco Marini, a Democrat supported also by the PdL and Lega Nord. Following the unsuccessful outcome of the vote, FdI started voting for colonel Sergio De Caprio, known for having arrested Mafia boss Totò Riina. On 29 April 2013 Meloni announced in the Chamber of Deputies the party's vote of no confidence for Enrico Letta's government of Enrico Letta, supported by the Democrats, the PdL and Civic Choice.
In the May and June 2013 local elections FdI increased its electoral support, especially in Central and Southern Italy.
The new National Alliance
In September 2013 FdI launched "Workshop for Italy" (Officina per l'Italia, OpI), a political initiative aimed at broadening the party's base. The newly formed OpI's political committee, led by Cossiga, included, among others, former minister of Foreign Affairs Giulio Terzi di Sant'Agata, former members of National Alliance (notably including Gianni Alemanno, Mario Landolfi, Sergio Berlato, Adolfo Urso and Souad Sbai), former members of FI (including former Socialists like Giulio Tremonti and Antonio Guidi, and former Christian Democrats like Fabio Garagnani), former members of the Union of the Centre (Magdi Allam and Luciano Ciocchetti), and a former member of Lega Nord (Oreste Rossi). Alemanno's Italy First and Urso's FareItalia were to join FdI by February 2014.
In December 2013 the "National Alliance Foundation", the association in charge of administering the assets of the defunct party, authorized FdI, supported by Alemanno and Urso, to use the logo of AN in the 2014 European Parliament election, despite opposition from an alternative front composed of The Right, Future and Freedom, Tricolour Flame, I South, New Alliance, etc. let alone the former members of AN who were active in FI like Maurizio Gasparri and Altero Matteoli. In February 2014 the party organised a "primary" in which party members and supporters agreed to change the party's name to Brothers of Italy – National Alliance, chose the new symbol and voted Meloni for president. In March, during its first party congress, the FdI ratified the primary's outcome and Meloni was proclaimed president.
In the EP election the FdI obtained 3.7% of the vote and no seats. The party did particularly well in Lazio (5.6%) and, more generally, in Central and Southern Italy.
Toward Our Land
In October 2015, during an assembly of the National Alliance Foundation, the representatives of FdI, supported by former AN heavyweights who had remained in the PdL, won a decisive vote over a front led by Alemanno, who had left FdI earlier, joined forces with former allies of Gianfranco Fini and wanted to form a larger party (including FdI). FdI thus retained the use of AN's name and symbol, while Alemanno announced that he would create a "Movement for the United Right".
In November 2015 it was announced that the party would undergo a new process of enlargement and that a new party, named Our Land (TN), would be launched by January 2016. TN would comprise FdI, along with other right-wing politicians, notably including Alberto Giorgetti (a deputy of FI, who was long a member of AN), Giuseppe Cossiga (former deputy of FI and founding member of FdI) and Walter Rizzetto (deputy of Free Alternative, originally elected with the Five Star Movement).
In March 2016 Rizzetto officially joined FdI and, contextually, it was announced that the party's group in the Chamber will be renamed "Brothers of Italy–Our Land". As of May 2016, the name change has not happened yet, but, in the meantime, two deputies have switched from FI.
In the 2016 municipal election in Rome Meloni ran for mayor with the support of Us with Salvini, but in opposition to the candidate supported by FI. Meloni won 20.6% of the vote, almost twice than FI's candidate, but did not qualify for the run-off, while FdI obtained a convincing 12.3%.
Ideology and factions
FdI traces its roots in the history and values of the Italian Social Movement and National Alliance. The party's main ideological trends are Italian nationalism and conservatism, but its ideology includes also an Eurosceptic sentiment (mainly against the treaty of Lisbon) and economic liberalism.
The FdI has included several internal factions, notably including:
Alemanno and Poli Bortone left FdI, along with their factions, in December 2014 and April 2015, respectively.