Democratic Union for Consumers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Democratic Union for Consumers | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Leader | Bruno De Vita |
| President | Willer Bordon |
| Coordinator | Roberto Manzione |
| Founded | 11 September 2007 |
| Headquarters | unknown |
| Newspaper | none |
| Membership | unknown |
| Ideology | Centrism, Populism |
| Coalition | stand-alone |
| International | none |
| European party | none |
| European Parliament Group | none |
| Website | http://unionedemocratica. italiavota.it |
Democratic Union for Consumers (Unione Democratica per i Consumatori, UDpC) is a centrist Italian political party.
Contents |
[edit] History
UD was founded on 11 September 2007 by two dissenting members of Democracy is Freedom – Daisy (DL), Willer Bordon (leader of the new party) and Roberto Manzione, and two leading consumer rights leaders, Elio Lanutti and Bruno De Vita, leader of United Consumers, which was integrated in the new party. Bordon and Manzione were both members of the most ulivista faction in DL, that one led by Arturo Parisi and decided to leave DL because they opposed how the foundation of the Democratic Party was taking place. In their opinion, PD was born as a bureaucratic union of apparatuses between their party and the Democrats of the Left and they were the "true Democrats".
Bordon has been a strong supporter of the idea of a "Democratic Party" since 1992, when he left the Democratic Party of the Left to form Democratic Alliance, forerunner of the first Democratic Union, The Democrats and Democracy is Freedom, respectively. All four parties were committed in uniting the whole centre-left in a single party and Bordon was a keen supporter of this.
On 27 November UD formed a joint group in the Senate with Liberal Democrats of Lamberto Dini[1]. Two more senators may join soon: Domenico Fisichella (a conservative who was previously member of National Alliance and had a short stint as Minister of Culture in Berlusconi I Cabinet, alongside with Dini)[2] and Valerio Zanone (ex-leader of PLI). The convergence between the two small parties, which will retain their autonomy, is based on some key points (a plurality voting system, more powers for the prime minister, fiscal conservatism, tax cuts and social security reform) and is open to all the senators who want to join.
Both Bordon and Manzione, as also Dini and D'Amico, have a long record of dissenting votes from the majority. The group is likely to have much influence in the Senate, where the centre-left has only a narrow majority of two votes and where Liberal Democrats will be the fourth force of the coalition, after the Democratic Party, the Communist Refoundation Party and Democratic Left. Moreover, both UDEUR Populars[3] and Italy of Values[4] may join forces with Dini to form an anti-Democratic Party centrist bloc. UD may have also close ties with the future Socialist Party, the Italian Radicals and the ex-Republicans who joined the PD (Manzione was once a Republican too). For technical reasons, the two parties formed separate groups in the Senate in order to have more speaking time, but the coordinate almost every position together and, in fact, formed a joint group until when the Liberal Democrats decided not to support Romano Prodi's government and to join the People of Freedom.
[edit] Leadership
- President: Willer Bordon (2007–...)
- Coordinator: Roberto Manzione (2007–...)
