Democratic Union (Italy)

For the party founded in 2007, see Democratic Union for Consumers.

Democratic Union Unione Democratica
President	Antonio Maccanico
Founded	26 February 1996[1]
Dissolved	27 February 1999
Preceded by	Democratic Alliance
Merged into	The Democrats
Ideology	Social liberalism
Political position	Centre-left
National affiliation	The Olive Tree (1996–99) Populars for Prodi (1996)
Politics of Italy Political parties Elections

The Democratic Union (Italian: Unione Democratica, UD) was a small social-liberal political party in Italy.

It was founded in February 1996^[2] by Antonio Maccanico, along with Willer Bordon and Giorgio Benvenuto (both members of Democratic Alliance), Valerio Zanone (a former leader of the Italian Liberal Party) and Giorgio La Malfa (leader of the Italian Republican Party).^[3] The party was a minor member of The Olive Tree,^[4] and formed the Populars for Prodi list with the Italian People's Party for the 1996 general election, electing five deputies and one senator.

The party was part of the Prodi I Cabinet,^[5][6] with Maccanico becoming minister for Communications, and later the D'Alema I Cabinet, D'Alema II Cabinet and Amato II Cabinet with Maccanico minister of Institutional Reforms.

In 1999 the party joined Romano Prodi's new party, The Democrats.

References

1. Gabriella Fanello Marcucci (2003). Archivio del Parlamento, delle istituzioni, dei partiti e movimenti politici: documenti sonori in digitale. Rubbettino Editore. p. 180. ISBN 978-88-498-0701-1.
2. Alan Friedman (27 February 1996). "Berlusconi Looks Like the Loser in Dini's Jump into Politics". The New York Times. Paris. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
3. James J. Newell; Martin Bull (1997). "Party Organisations and Alliance in Italy in the 19902: A Revolution of Sorts". In Martin Bull; Martin Rhodes (eds.). Crisis and Transition in Italian Politics. Routledge. pp. 102–103. ISBN 978-1-135-22274-1.
4. Tom Lansford (2013). Political Handbook of the World 2013. SAGE Publications. p. 714. ISBN 978-1-4522-5825-6.
5. Catherine Moury (2010). "Common manifestoes and coalition governance: How political leaders lost the window of opportunity". In Andrea Mammone; Giuseppe A. Veltri (eds.). Italy Today: The Sick Man of Europe. Routledge. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-135-16494-2.
6. Catherine Moury (2013). Coalition Government and Party Mandate: How Coalition Agreements Constrain Ministerial Action. Routledge. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-136-18910-4.