Federation of the Greens

Federation of the Greens
Federazione dei Verdi
Spokesperson Giobbe Covatta
Coordinators Angelo Bonelli
Fiorella Zabatta
Gianluca Carrabs
Founded 9 December 1990
Merger of Green Lists and
Rainbow Greens
Headquarters Via Salandra 6, Rome
Newspaper Notizie Verdi
Membership (2004) 31,000[1]
Ideology Green politics
Eco-socialism
Alter-globalization
Political position Left-wing
National affiliation Alliance of Progressives (1994–1995)
The Olive Tree (1996–2004)
The Sunflower (2001)
The Union (2005–2008)
Together with the Union (2006)
The Left – The Rainbow (2007–2008)
Left and Freedom (2009)
Ecologists and Civic Networks (2011–2013)
Civil Revolution (2013)
Green Italy – European Greens (2014)
Together (2017–2018)
European affiliation European Green Party
International affiliation Global Greens
European Parliament group Greens/EFA (1994–2009)
Colors      Green
Chamber of Deputies
0 / 630
Senate
0 / 315
European Parliament
0 / 73
Regional
Councils
1 / 897
Website
http://www.verdi.it

The Federation of the Greens (Italian: Federazione dei Verdi, FdV) is a green political party in Italy.

The party's leader/s is/are variably known as "president/s" or "spokesperson/s". Currently, Giobbe Covatta serves as the party's spokesperson, more recently cited as "testimonial". Additionally, Angelo Bonelli, Fiorella Zabatta and Gianluca Carrabs serve as coordinators for "national politics", while Luana Zanella oversees "foreign policy".

History

Background and foundation

The Green Lists (GL), led by Gianni Mattioli and Alexander Langer, made their debut at the 1987 general election and obtained 2.6% of the vote. At the 1989 European Parliament election there were two competing Green parties: the GL and the Rainbow Greens, formed mainly by Radicals, including Adele Faccio, Adelaide Aglietta, Marco Taradash and Francesco Rutelli.

In 1990 the two parties joined forces to form the Federation of the Greens, which inherited from the GL the Smiling Sun symbol of the northern European anti-nuclear movement, designed by Danish activist Anne Lund in 1975.

Centre-left coalitions

In 1993 new party entered in alliance with the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), within the Alliance of Progressives, and Rutelli, who was among its leading members, was elected mayor of Rome.

In 1995 the Greens were a founding member of The Olive Tree coalition and, following the 1996 general election, joined the centre-left governments led by Romano Prodi, Massimo D'Alema and Giuliano Amato. Edo Ronchi was minister of the Environment (1996–2000) and Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio minister of Agriculture (2000–2001). However, during those years, two leading members quit the party: Rutelli in 1997 (soon after his re-election as mayor of Rome) and Ripa di Meana in 1999.

At the 2001 general election the Greens formed a joint list with the Italian Democratic Socialists (SDI): The Sunflower. The combination scored 2.2%, thus failing to surpass the 4% threshold. The Greens elected seven deputies and ten senators in single-member constituencies, as part of The Olive Tree coalition.

Shift to the far left

After the alliance with the SDI, a relatively centrist party, the Greens shifted far to the left, prompting the exit of leading members as Ronchi, Mattioli, Luigi Manconi, Massimo Scalia and Franco Corleone. The Greens were since part of the so-called "radical left", along with the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) and the Party of Italian Communists (PdCI).

At the 2004 European Parliament election the Greens obtained 2.5% of the vote and two MEPs.

At the 2006 general election the party was part of the winning The Union and scored 2.1%, winning 15 out of 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. An alliance of Greens, Communists and Consumers polled 4.2% in the election for the Senate, electing eleven out of 315 senators, five of whom Greens. In 2006–2008 Pecoraro Scanio would serve as minister of the Environment, while Paolo Cento, national coordinator of the party and leader of the no global faction, was undersecretary of Economy and Finances.

In November 2006 Pecoraro Scanio's political line was confirmed in a party congress, but the Greens also tried to re-open the doors to all former members. The attempt of re-uniting the Italian Greens failed as soon as in January 2007, when Mattioli, Scalia and Corleone finally left the party again, citing that it was drifting too much the far left, and announced their intention to participate to the foundation of the Democratic Party (PD). Within the PD, they joined the Democratic Ecologists' faction, which already included several former Greens (Manconi, Ronchi, Lino De Benetti, Stefano Semenzato, Ermete Realacci, Gianni Vernetti, Franco Piro, Francesco Ferrante, Carla Rocchi, etc.). As a result, Legambiente, the largest environmentalist association of Italy, showed more support for the PD than the Greens themselves.

Out of Parliament

In the run-up of the 2008 general election, the Greens participated in the foundation of The Left – The Rainbow electoral list with the PRC, the PdCI and Democratic Left (SD). The coalition obtained just 3.1% of the vote and the Greens lost their parliamentary representation.

In the summer of 2008 Grazia Francescato, who had been leader before, represented the party's establishment and in the event was supported by Cento's left-wing, was elected at the helm of the party, by defeating two modernizers, Marco Boato and Fabio Roggiolani.[2]

For the 2009 election the Greens formed a joint list with the Movement for the Left (MpS) – a moderate split from the PRC –, the Socialist Party (PS) – successor of the SDI –, SD and Unite the Left (UlS): Left and Freedom (SL).[3] The list received just 3.1% of the vote and failed to return any MEPs. After the election, it was decided to transform SL into a permanent federation, that would eventually evolve into the joint party named Left Ecology Freedom (SEL), and Francescato wanted the Greens to join it.

However, during a congress in October 2009 the party rejected the proposal by narrowly electing Angelo Bonelli, candidate of the liberal faction led by Boato, instead of Francescato's candidate, Loredana De Petris.[4][5] After his election, which marked the end of the dominance of the internal left wing over the party, Bonelli announced that the party will pursue an independent course from SL, and will try to coalesce a new "ecologist constituent assembly" on the model of the French Europe Écologie.[6] Francescato, De Petris and Cento continued to support SL as the Ecologists Association and would eventually leave the Greens.[7]

New coalitions

In September 2010 the Greens launched a Ecologist Constituent Assembly. In Bonelli's view the new political force would take inspiration both from the French Verts and the German Grünen and would be open to the contribution of movements and associations, notably including Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement (M5S).[8] Other than the Greens, participants of the new political force included, among others, Massimo Scalia (a former leading Green), Bruno Mellano (president of the Italian Radicals), movie maker Mario Monicelli, writer Dacia Maraini, geologist Mario Tozzi and comedian Giobbe Covatta.[9] As a result, in November 2011 the Ecologists and Civic Networks (Ecologisti e Reti Civiche, ERC) coalition was officially launched,[10][11] but it would be just a short-lived experiment.

In 2012 Bonelli stood as candidate for mayor of Taranto, garnering 11.9% of the vote.[12]

In the 2013 general election the Greens were part of the Civil Revolution coalition, which obtained a mere 2.2% of the vote and no seats.[13] In May the ERC was disbanded and in November, during a party congress, Luana Zanella was elected to serve as co-spokesperson along with Bonelli.[14]

The Greens contested the 2014 European Election with Green Italy, a green party established in 2013 and led by Monica Frassoni and Fabio Granata, within the joint list Green Italy – European Greens.[15] The electoral list received 0.9% of the vote and did not return any MEPs.[16]

In January 2015 senator Bartolomeo Pepe, a former member of the Five Star Movement (M5S), joined the party,[17] giving it parliamentary representation after seven years. In June another former senator of the M5S, Paola De Pin, joined the Greens[18][19] and sat with senator Pepe within the Great Autonomies and Freedom group.[20] Both Pepe and De Pin would soon leave the party. Another former M5S senator, Cristina De Pietro, would join the Greens in November 2016[20] and leave next year.[21]

In November 2015, during a party congress, Covatta was elected spokersperson, succeeding to co-spokerspersons Bonelli and Zanella.[22] However, Covatta's role was soon transformed into that of a testimonial. In 2017 the party appointed Bonelli and Fiorella Zabatta to serve as day-to-day coordinators, while Zanella would oversee foreign policy and relations with European Greens. Later that year a third coordination was added: Gianluca Carrabs.

Return to the centre-left

In December 2017, in an internal referendum, 73% of Green members voted in favour of their party's return to the moderate centre-left coalition led by the PD.[23][24][25] Consequently, the Greens formed, along with the Italian Socialist Party and Civic Area, the Together electoral list for the 2018 general election.[26][27][28] When the results came in, the list had obtained a mere 0.6% of the vote and no seats; additionally, no Green was elected in single-seat constituencies.

In their history the Greens were never able to reach the electoral success of many green parties all around Europe. They have a stable share of vote around 2% and experienced a slight decline in the last decade. Their characterization as party of the far left did not help them in Northern Italy, where they had their best results at the beginning (for instance 7.1% in the 1990 Venetian regional election).

The Greens are stronger in cities and urban areas (Milan, Venice, Rome, Naples, etc.), in northern mountain regions, such as Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol (especially in South Tyrol, where they are organised in the local Greens, a broader left-wing party) and Aosta Valley (where the local section, the Alternative Greens, were merged into Autonomy Liberty Participation Ecology in 2010), and in some southern regions, such as Basilicata and Campania.

Election results

Italian Parliament

Chamber of Deputies
Election year # of
overall votes		 % of
overall vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/– Leader
1987 969,218 2.5
13 / 630
–
Gianni Mattioli
1992 1,093,995 2.8
16 / 630
Increase 3
Carlo Ripa di Meana
1994 1,047,268 2.7
11 / 630
Decrease 5
Carlo Ripa di Meana
1996 938,665 2.5
14 / 630
Increase 3
Carlo Ripa di Meana
2001 805.340 (with SDI) 2.2 (with SDI)
8 / 630
Decrease 5
Grazia Francescato
2006 783,944 2.1
15 / 630
Increase 7
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio
2008 into The Left – The Rainbow
–
0 / 630
Decrease 15
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio
2013 into Civil Revolution
–
0 / 630
–
Angelo Bonelli
Senate of the Republic
Election year # of
overall votes		 % of
overall vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/– Leader
1987 634,182 1.9
1 / 315
–
Gianni Mattioli
1992 1,022,558 3.0
4 / 315
Increase 3
Carlo Ripa di Meana
1994 into the Progressives
–
7 / 315
Increase 3
Carlo Ripa di Meana
1996 into The Olive Tree
–
14 / 315
Increase 7
Carlo Ripa di Meana
2001 into The Olive Tree
–
8 / 315
Decrease 6
Grazia Francescato
2006 1,423,226 (with PdCI) 4.2 (with PdCI)
11 / 315
Increase 3
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio
2008 into The Left – The Rainbow
–
0 / 315
Decrease 11
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio
2013 into Civil Revolution
–
0 / 315
–
Angelo Bonelli

European Parliament

Election year # of
overall votes		 % of
overall vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/– Leader
1994 1,055,797 3.2
3 / 87
–
Carlo Ripa di Meana
1999 548,908 1.8
2 / 87
 Decrease 1
Grazia Francescato
2004 803,356 2.5
2 / 78
–
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio
2009 958,458 (with SeL) 3.1 (with SeL)
0 / 72
–
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio
2014 250,102 (with GI) 0.9 (with GI)
0 / 73
–
Angelo Bonelli

Regional Councils

Region Last election # of
overall votes		 % of
overall vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/–
Aosta Valley 2013 N/A N/A
0 / 35
–
Piedmont 2014 N/A N/A
0 / 50
–
Lombardy 2018 into Together into Together
0 / 80
–
South Tyrol 2013 N/A N/A
3 / 35
–
Trentino 2013 4,548 (#10) 1.9
0 / 35
Decrease 1
Veneto 2015 into New Veneto into New Veneto
0 / 51
–
Friuli-Venezia Giulia 2013 N/A N/A
0 / 49
Decrease 3
Emilia-Romagna 2014 into Civic Emilia-Romagna into Civic Emilia-Romagna
0 / 50
–
Liguria 2015 N/A N/A
0 / 31
Decrease 1
Lazio 2018 into Together into Together
0 / 51
Decrease 1
Tuscany 2015 N/A N/A
0 / 41
Decrease 3
Marche 2015 into United for Marche into United for Marche
0 / 31
Decrease 1
Umbria 2015 N/A N/A
0 / 20
–
Abruzzo 2014 N/A N/A
0 / 31
Decrease 1
Molise 2018 N/A N/A
0 / 21
–
Campania 2015 26,401 (#15) 1.2
1 / 51
Increase 1
Apulia 2015 6,278 (#17) 0.4
0 / 51
–
Basilicata 2013 N/A N/A
0 / 21
–
Calabria 2014 N/A N/A
0 / 30
–
Sicily 2017 N/A N/A
0 / 70
–
Sardinia 2014 7,551 (#21) (with IdV) 1.1 (with IdV)
0 / 60
Decrease 1

Leadership

References

  1. ↑ Archive Archived November 10, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Cattaneo
  2. ↑ "Rai News: le ultime notizie in tempo reale – news, attualità e aggiornamenti". www.rainews24.it.
  3. ↑ Archived November 10, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ "Soli o a sinistra? Rissa all' assemblea dei Verdi". Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 2013-11-10.
  5. ↑ Archived October 15, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ "Bonelli ribalta i Verdi: apre a Grillo, sinistra addio". Affaritaliani. Retrieved 2013-11-10.
  7. ↑ Green economy Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine. La Nuova Ecologia
  8. ↑ "Verdi addio, è nata Costituente ecologista". Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 2013-11-10.
  9. ↑ Archived October 1, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ "Ecologia per uscire dalla crisi". Archiviostorico.corriere.it. Retrieved 2013-11-10.
  11. ↑ "Mai più alleanze ogm con il Pd". Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 2013-11-10.
  12. ↑ "News". Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 2013-11-10.
  13. ↑ "Elezioni 2013". Elezioni. Retrieved 2013-11-10.
  14. ↑ "[Chianciano Terme] Bonelli e Zanella eletti portavoce nazionali dei Verdi". gonews.it. 24 November 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  15. ↑ "Archivio Corriere della Sera". corriere.it. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  16. ↑ "::: Ministero dell'Interno ::: Archivio Storico delle Elezioni". interno.it. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  17. ↑ "L'ex Cinque Stelle Bartolomeo Pepe aderisce ai Verdi". repubblica.it. 26 January 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  18. ↑ "Paola De Pin, ex senatrice M5S passa nei Verdi: "Legge Ecoreati sconfitta per tutti"". ilfattoquotidiano.it. 11 June 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  19. ↑ "ADESIONE AL NUOVO PARTITO DEI VERDI - Paola De Pin - Senato della Repubblica". paoladepin.it. 11 June 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  20. 1 2 "senato.it - Senato della Repubblica senato.it - Variazioni nei Gruppi parlamentari". senato.it. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  21. ↑ telenord.it/2017/10/18/lex-grillina-de-pietro-abbandona-i-verdi-il-sole-non-ride-piu
  22. ↑ "Verdi, Giobbe Covatta è il nuovo portavoce della federazione ecologista". ilfattoquotidiano.it. 15 November 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  23. ↑ "Referendum: il 73% favorevole ad alleanza con centrosinistra e PD -". verdi.it.
  24. ↑ "CENTROSINISTRA: VERDI CON PD, A REFERENDUM 73% PER ALLEANZA CON DEM (2)".
  25. ↑ "Elezioni, i Verdi dicono sì all'alleanza con il Pd. Al referendum il 73% si è detto favorevole". www.italiaoggi.it.
  26. ↑ "Ecco "Insieme", la lista ulivista alleata del Pd".
  27. ↑ ""Insieme", Psi con Verdi e prodiani alleati di Renzi: "Non siamo civette o mosche cocchiere". E c'è chi azzarda: "7-8%" - Il Fatto Quotidiano". 14 December 2017.
  28. ↑ "Ritorna, in piccolo, L'Ulivo e l'avversario è sempre lo stesso: "Siamo gli unici che hanno battuto due volte Berlusconi"". 14 December 2017.

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