Act! (Italy)

Act! (Italian: Fare!) is a centre-right political party in Italy, based in Veneto.

Act!

Fare!
SecretaryFlavio Tosi
CoordinatorFabio Venturi
Founded21 July 2015
Split fromLega Nord
HeadquartersVia delle Nazioni, 19
37135 Verona
Think tankRicostruiamo il Paese
IdeologyFederalism
Liberalism[1]
Political positionCentre-right[2]
National affiliationUs with Italy
Centre-right coalition
Colours    Yellow, black
Chamber of Deputies
0 / 630
Senate
0 / 315
European Parliament
0 / 73
Website
www.farecontosi.it

Its leader is Flavio Tosi, former mayor of Verona and former leader of Liga VenetaLega Nord (LV–LN), who was ejected from it in the run-up of the 2015 Venetian regional election, due to his opposition to Matteo Salvini's political line.[3]

History

Background

In the run-up of the 2015 regional election, after a long struggle with Lega Nord federal secretary Matteo Salvini, Flavio Tosi was ejected from the party and, consequently, removed from his office of national secretary of Liga Veneta, the largest party in Veneto and one of the largest "national" sections of Lega Nord.[4][5] Consequently, Tosi decided to run for President of Veneto, in competition with incumbent President Luca Zaia (official candidate of the party).[6]

Tosi was joined by three deputies (Matteo Bragantini, Roberto Caon, Emanuele Prataviera), three senators (Patrizia Bisinella, Raffaela Bellot, Emanuela Munerato),[7] and nine regional councillors of Veneto (Luca Baggio, Matteo Toscani, Francesco Piccolo, Daniele Stival, Giuseppe Stoppato, Diego Bottacin, Maurizio Conte, Andrea Bassi, Leonardo Padrin, Mauro Mainardi, Renzo Marangon and Moreno Teso). The latter came not just from Liga Veneta, but also other parties.

In the regional election, whose results were a large victory of Zaia and a historical high for Liga Veneta, Tosi won 11.9% of the vote as candidate for President and two lists close to him, the Tosi List for Veneto and Il Veneto del Fare con Tosi, obtained a combined 7.1% and four regional councillors (Bassi, Conte, Stefano Casali and Giovanna Negro).

Foundation and early years

In July 2015 Tosi re-organised his followers into a full-fledged party, named Act! (Fare!). Immediately, Michele Boldrin, leader of Act to Stop the Decline, sued Act! as the names of the two parties looked too similar,[8] but nothing consequential happened.

In September a fourth deputy joined the party: Marco Marcolin, also from Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.[9] Marcolin would switch to Civic Choice (SC) in October 2016.[10][11][12]

In October Act! became an occasional supporter of the centre-left government led by Matteo Renzi, whom Tosi held in high esteem, fueling rumors that the party might either enter in stable alliance with or join Renzi's Democratic Party (PD).[13] However, during the party's national convention in February 2016, Tosi rejected any notion of a stable alliance with Renzi, while expressing his interest for an agreement with centre-right forces.[14] In fact, Act! maintained its independence from the government, while occasionally supporting it and favouring the "yes" vote in the 2016 constitutional referendum, differently from the entire centre-right. The vote resulted in a huge defeat for Renzi, who resigned from Prime Minister and was replaced by Democrat Paolo Gentiloni, at the head of an alike centre-left government.

Since April 2016 Act! had formed a sub-group within the Mixed Group of the Chamber of Deputies in alliance with the Italian Republican Party (PRI), a minor liberal party which had no deputies, but had run in the 2013 general election and, as such, could form a sub-group under its name.[15]

Internal rifts and centrist alliances

In November 2016 Casali launched his bid for mayor of Verona in 2017 without Tosi's support,[16] in the following months formed a separate group from that of the Tosi List for Verona in the Municipal Council, while continuing to lead the Tosi List for Veneto in the Regional Council,[17][18] and finally chose to support the joint centre-right candidate for mayor, Federico Sboarina.[19] Bisinella was instead chosen as the party's official candidate for mayor.[20][21]

Contextually, at the national level, Tosi was planning a new liberal party with Civic Choice (SC), the support of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi and the endorsement of Guy Verhofstadt (leader of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament),[22] in the context of a broad centrist front, composed also by Popular Alternative (AP), the Centrists for Europe (CpE) and the Liberal Popular Alliance (ALA).[23][24][25] In May the liberal and pro-EU "Free Italy" was launched during a convention.[26]

In May 2017 Casali and Bassi finally left Act! and formed a separate group from LTV's in the Regional Council, the Venetian Centre-Right.[27][28] In doing this, they were joined by a third councillor, Fabiano Barbisan of Liga Veneta (but elected with the Zaia List), for technical reasons.

In June 2017 Bisinella came second with 23.5% in the municipal election of Verona, but, despite the external support of the PD,[29] she was defeated by Sboarina 41.9% to 58.1% in the run-off.[30] The Tosi List won 16.5% (with Tosi obtaining 3,000 preference votes)[31] and Act! 2.7%. Outside Verona, Tosiani obtained negligible results.

Back to the centre-right

After the defeat in Verona, Tosi started a rapproachment with the centre-right, especially with Silvio Berlusconi and his Forza Italia (FI) party.[32][33][34] Despite this, the party suffered another centre-right split in Veneto, where Conte launched Veneto for Autonomy,[35][36][37] effectively disbanding the LTV. Along with Conte, the two most leading founding members of the new party were Baggio, a former regional councillor and national president of Liga Veneta, and Caon, a deputy. Subsequently, Caon left the party's sub-group and joined the group of FI, while the remaining two Act! deputies joined forces with AP splinter Enrico Costa, under the new name "Act!–PRI–Liberals".[38]

In December 2017 Act! was a founding member of Us with Italy (NcI), a pro-Berlusconi centrist list within the centre-right coalition for the 2018 general election, along with SC, splinters of AP (two groups, one led by Costa and the other by Maurizio Lupi), Direction Italy (DI), Popular Construction (CP) and the Movement for the Autonomies (MpA).[39][40][41] NcI was later enlarged to the Union of the Centre (UdC)[42][43][44] and Identity and Action (IdeA),[45][46] with the goal of reaching 3%, required to win seats from proportional lists under a new electoral law.

Ideology

Act! adopts a moderate approach, supporting social conservatism on public security, social liberalism on social themes (even though some of its elects are quite conservative on those issues), economic liberalism and federalism. Here are some of the positions held by the party:

Electoral results

Regional elections

Region Latest election # of
overall votes
% of
overall vote
# of
overall seats won
Veneto 2015 131,955 (#5) 7.1
4 / 51

Leadership

  • Secretary: Flavio Tosi (2015–present)
  • Coordinator: Fabio Venturi (2015–present)

References

  1. "Ecco il partito di Tosi". L'Intraprendente. 21 July 2015.
  2. Claudio Peri (21 July 2015). "Il partito di Flavio Tosi: "Fare!"". Panorama.
  3. "Il partito di Flavio Tosi: "Fare!" – Panorama". Panorama.it. 2015-07-21. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  4. "Caso Tosi, Salvini: "Prendo atto della sua decadenza da segretario veneto"". Corriere della Sera. 10 March 2015.
  5. "Archivio Corriere della Sera". archivio.corriere.it.
  6. "Tosi si candida in Veneto e attacca Salvini: "Nemmeno Renzi si sarebbe comportato così"". LaStampa.it.
  7. "Partito di Tosi prossimo al lancio: martedì 21 luglio a Roma alla Camera dei Deputati". VeronaSera.
  8. "Flavio Tosi nei guai: "Fare per farmare il declino" gli fa causa". www.liberoquotidiano.it.
  9. Michele Muro (September 2015). "E la Lega restò senza parlamentari veneti". L'Intraprendente.
  10. "Scelta Civica, Zanetti vince la battaglia sul nome e Verdini entra in maggioranza". l'Espresso. 12 October 2016.
  11. "Taglio stipendi parlamentari, l'ex leghista entrato in maggioranza: "Raddoppiamo i nostri emolumenti, basta demagogia"". Il Fatto Quotidiano. 25 October 2016.
  12. Vvox (25 October 2016). "Marcolin (Scelta Civica): "raddoppiare stipendi parlamentari"".
  13. Alberto Maggi (12 October 2015). "Renzi-Tosi, patto segreto. Eccolo". Affari Italiani.
  14. "Tosi: "Noi i veri moderati Renzi non ha rivali e vince"". Il Mattino di Padova. 29 February 2016.
  15. Aldegheri, Lillo (3 May 2016). ""Flavio Tosi è il nuovo La Malfa" E Fare! ingloba il (moribondo) Pri". Corriere del Veneto.
  16. "Amministrative 2017. Casali si candida a sindaco. Pd: "Noi alternativi a Tosi"". VeronaSera.
  17. S.p.A, Società Editrice Athesis. "Tosiani spaccati, nasce il gruppo di Stefano Casali". L'Arena.it.
  18. Castagna, Matteo (8 April 2017). "Verona, Tosi senza maggioranza: sopravvivenza neo-democristiana".
  19. "Verona Domani lancia Sboarina. Casali: "Il nostro centrodestra è un modello"". VeronaSera.
  20. Aldegheri, Lillo (22 April 2017). "E' il giorno di Patrizia Bisinella La fidanzata aspirante sindaco". Corriere del Veneto.
  21. "Ora è ufficiale: nel solco della continuità, Bisinella è candidata sindaco". VeronaSera.
  22. "Enrico Zanetti: "Nascerà un soggetto liberale ed europeista" – Scelta Civica". www.sceltacivica.it.
  23. Scarano, Angelo. "Alfano & Co. lanciano le primarie aperte: "Fuori gli estremisti"". ilGiornale.it.
  24. "Da Alfano a Casini, a Tosi e a Zanetti, centristi lanciano il partito dei moderati: in autunno le primarie". Agorà24. 8 April 2017.
  25. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-04-12. Retrieved 2017-04-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  26. Radicale, Radio (6 May 2017). "Liberaitalia – Europa Fisco Giustizia. Idee per liberare l'Italia da populismo statalismo giustizialismo". Radio Radicale.
  27. "Stefano Casali e Andrea Bassi non sono più tosiani. Venturi: "Traditori"". VeronaSera.
  28. "Casali e Bassi creano nuovo gruppo in regione". TGVerona.it.
  29. "Il Pd ha deciso di non decidere per gli elettori: "Andate a votare con libertà di scelta"". VeronaSera.
  30. "Comune di Verona – Veneto – Elezioni Comunali Italia – Risultati – 11–25 giugno 2017 – la Repubblica.it". Repubblica.it.
  31. S.p.A, Società Editrice Athesis. "Tosi oltre 3mila Solo tre candidati sopra i mille voti". L'Arena.it.
  32. "La rete di Berlusconi per la "Lega azzurra". C'è l'accordo con Tosi". LaStampa.it.
  33. Spadaccino, Antonio (19 July 2017). ""Ora farò il civico di destra. La Lega? Non guidano loro"". Corriere della Sera.
  34. Perconte, Claudio (21 July 2017). "Berlusconi imbarca Tosi e "perdona" Alfano: le mosse anti Salvini del Cav".
  35. "Politica – Il Consigliere regionale Maurizio Conte presenta la nuova denominazione del gruppo consiliare". www.consiglioveneto.it.
  36. "CRV – "Maurizio Conte presenta la nuova denominazione del gruppo consiliare" – Press Release – Veneto". ANSA.it. 28 July 2017.
  37. S.p.A, Società Editrice Athesis. "Referendum, parte la corsa E si accende lo scontro politico". L'Arena.it.
  38. "Camera, Roberto Caon aderisce a gruppo Fi: "I forzisti unica proposta credibile"". Agorà24. 4 August 2017.
  39. "Nasce "Noi con l'Italia", la lista dei centristi pro-Berlusconi". Repubblica.it. 19 December 2017.
  40. ""Noi con l'Italia", ecco la quarta gamba del centrodestra: ex FI, leghisti espulsi e alfaniani pentiti". Il Fatto Quotidiano. 19 December 2017.
  41. Curridori, Francesco. "Nasce Noi con l'Italia, la 'quarta gamba' del centrodestra". ilGiornale.it.
  42. "Udc-Noi con l'Italia, è accordo. Sulla lista torna lo scudo crociato". Affaritaliani.it.
  43. Falci, Giuseppe Alberto (30 December 2017). "Nasce la stampella centrista di Forza Italia". Corriere della Sera.
  44. Greco, Anna Maria. "Berlusconi si appella ai delusi dalla politica: "Sarà sfida coi 5 Stelle"". ilGiornale.it.
  45. "La tela Fitto-Cesa si allarga su 'Idea' di Gaetano Quagliariello". Affaritaliani.it.
  46. Redazione (5 January 2018). "Saremo noi a garantire l'autosufficienza al centrodestra. Parla Gaetano Quagliariello". Formiche.net.
  47. Antonio Rapisarda (28 January 2016). "Tosi: "Tifo Renzi non Salvini"". Il Tempo.
  48. "Economia e Lavoro". Act!. 13 November 2015. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  49. "Buon Governo". Act!. 13 November 2015. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  50. "Giustizia". Act!. 13 November 2015. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  51. "Italia-Europa". Act!. 13 November 2015. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  52. "Difesa Nazionale". Act!. 13 November 2015. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.

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