Fini and Berlusconi agree on a joint list

The leaders of Forza Italia, Silvio Berlusconi, and Alleanza Nazionale, Gianfranco Fini, have agreed to present their parties under a joint list at the April elections. Their list, called ‘People of Freedom’ (PDL), could become a single party after the elections and thus mark a major transformation of the Italian political landscape.

The PDL was launched as a political project by Silvio Berlusconi in November but, at first, it seemed to be meant as a successor-party to Forza Italia without the inclusion of any other parties on the centre-right. After the announcement of new elections for April, however, Fini and Berlusconi agreed to scrap the lists of Forza Italia and Alleanza Nazionale in favour of running under the joint symbol of the PDL. The unity on the centre-right is also strengthened by the alliance which Berlusconi has struck with the Lega Nord which has said that it will only run in the northern regions of the country and not compete with the PDL in the rest of Italy.

There are still doubts about the intentions of the Christian Democrats (UDC) of Pier Ferdinando Casini. UDC was part of the centre-right ‘House of Freedom’ coalition which governed Italy from 2001 until 2006. Casini himself was president of the Chamber of Deputies at the time. However, his adherence to the centre-right underwent some strains since then and he seems to have been taken by surprise by the new alliance between Fini and Berlusconi. He maintains that he is open to start a dialogue with the PDL but still wants to present a separate UDC list at the elections. The UDC leadership is aware that it does not have the electoral weight of Forza Italia or Alleanza Nazionale and would enter the PDL only as a junior partner. At the same time, it risks remaining somewhat isolated on the centre-right by not participating in the new project.

With or without UDC, the merging of forces on the centre-right signals a development which many have for a long time regarded as necessary for the stabilization of the political system in Italy. While the joint list of Forza Italia and Alleanza Nazionale does not automatically imply the foundation of a single party, the probability that this will happen has greatly increased.

In an interview for the newspaper Il Giornale, Gianfranco Fini has emphasized that the political project of the PDL will not stop after the elections. He said that representatives from Forza Italia and Alleanza Nazionale share the same values and will form a single parlamentary group. Fini added that he would still need to explain his decision to the party faithful but that he was not worried about their reaction because “the identity of a party is not expressed through symbols but through principles and values and from this point of view there is a substantial degree of homogeneity between Alleanza Nazionale and Forza Italia.”

The announcement of the new centre-right alliance came after the Democratic Party (PD) of Rome’s mayor Water Veltroni had declared that it would not team up with other parties prior to the vote. This choice lifted the PD in opinion polls as its association with the far left in the outgoing government had damaged its credibility in the eyes of moderate voters.

The current trend towards two clear blocks on the centre-right and the centre-left may turn out to be a defining moment in Italy’s political history. In an ideal scenario, it may signal a long-awaited end to the fragmentation of national politics. In Berlusconi’s view, every vote which does not go either to the PDL or the PD is wasted. Forza Italia’s deputy leader, Giulio Tremonti, went even further and declared that he does want not the PD to lose too badly in order not to unravel the process of political consolidation.