Free and Equal (Italy)


Free and Equal is a left-wing parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies and a sub-group in the Senate, the two houses of the Italian Parliament. LeU was launched on 3 December 2017 as a federation of political parties including the Article 1 – Democratic and Progressive Movement, Italian Left and Possible. The leader of the alliance for the 2018 general election was Pietro Grasso, former President of the Senate and former anti-Mafia prosecutor. The three founding parties left the alliance in late 2018, but LeU continued to exist in Parliament.

History

Background

Since the 2013 leadership election of the Democratic Party in which Matteo Renzi was elected secretary, the party was riven by an internal struggle between Renzi's large majority and the left-wing factions which were very critical of Renzi, his government and his proposed constitutional reform, which was finally voted down in a constitutional referendum in December 2016.
After the splits of Possible and Future to the Left, Enrico Rossi and Roberto Speranza became the leaders of the PD's internal left. They were backed by former DS and PD leaders Massimo D'Alema, Pier Luigi Bersani and Guglielmo Epifani. Rossi and Speranza criticised Renzi on many of his policies and were initially joined by Michele Emiliano, President of Apulia. In February 2017, the dissidents, and a group of SI splinters led by Arturo Scotto launched the Article 1 – Democratic and Progressive Movement, a month after the merger of Left Ecology Freedom, FaS and minor groups into Italian Left.

Road to the new alliance

Soon after the foundation of the MDP, Roberto Speranza, Nicola Fratoianni and Giuseppe Civati discussed the opportunity of forming a left-wing coalition as an alternative to the centre-left led by the PD, the centre-right and the Five Star Movement.
In the 2017 Sicilian regional election, the three left-wing parties, along with the Communist Refoundation Party, other parties and groups, ran in a joint list named One Hundred Steps for Sicily with Claudio Fava for President. Fava won 6.2% of the vote, the list 5.2% and only Fava was elected deputy in the Regional Assembly.
During a convention in Rome on 3 December 2017, the MDP–SI–Pos alliance was officially established as Free and Equal and Pietro Grasso, President of the Senate and former anti-Mafia prosecutor, was appointed leader and candidate for Prime Minister in the 2018 general election. A few weeks later, also Laura Boldrini, President of the Chamber of Deputies, joined LeU. Another high-profile adherent was Rossella Muroni, who had been the president of Legambiente up to then. In January, LeU was joined also by the Greens of South Tyrol.

2018 general election and dissolution

In January 2018, shortly before the election, some internal conflict started, with Grasso accused to be uncharismatic and uninfluential on alliance politics.
In March, LeU obtained 3.4% of the vote in the general election, well below expectations and opinion polls, electing 14 deputies and 4 senators.
In May, LeU launched a constituent assembly in Rome with the participation of the MDP, SI and Possible, which agreed on the creation of a party with a single structure and an internal voting system on political issues. In June, the national committee of LeU fixed the founding congress for December. The following day, Beatrice Brignone, who had replaced Civati as secretary of Possible, announced the departure of her party from the alliance.
More internal conflicts broke out between the two remaining parties during the summer, especially about political affiliations for the upcoming 2019 European Parliament election and possible alliance with the PD. Between October and December, LeU was successively abandoned by SI and the MDP as well as by high-profile members like Boldrini and Muroni.
In January 2019 SI returned into LeU's fold and joined forces with LeU individual members, led by Francesco Laforgia and deputy Luca Pastorino, who had formed an association named #Per i molti, which was later transformed into ÈViva party. In April the two groups, along with the Communist Refoundation Party and minor parties, formed The Left, a joint list inspired by the Party of the European Left. Contextually, the MDP, which was renamed simply "Article One", decided to run with the PD, while Possible joined the FdV-led Green Europe.

Government participation

In August 2019 tensions grew within the coalition supporting the Giuseppe Conte's first government, leading to the issuing of a motion of no-confidence by the League. During the following government crisis, the national board of the PD officially opened to the possibility of forming a new cabinet in a coalition with the M5S, based on pro-Europeanism, green economy, sustainable development, fight against economic inequality and a new immigration policy. The party also accepted that Conte might continue at the head of a new government, and on 29 August President Mattarella formally invested Conte to do so. The LeU groups had previously already announced their possible support to Conte's second government, which was finally unveiled in September with the appointment of Speranza as Minister of Health.

Composition

Founding members

Other participating members

Current composition

Election results

Italian Parliament

Regional Councils

Symbols