Future and Freedom
Future and Freedom, whose full name was Future and Freedom for Italy, was a political party in Italy, comprising both liberal and national conservative elements.
FLI was formed by followers of Gianfranco Fini in July 2010 as a split from The People of Freedom, the major Italian centre-right party of the time, led by Silvio Berlusconi. Fini, former leader of the Italian Social Movement and National Alliance and co-founder of the PdL in 2009, had taken a long journey from post-fascism to become a liberal conservative. Soon after the PdL's foundation, he started to become a critic of Berlusconi's government and leadership style.
The core of FLI was constituted by Generation Italy, led by Italo Bocchino, who was also appointed vice president of the party by Fini. FLI members were mostly former MSI/AN stalwarts, with some notable exceptions.
History
Background
Somewhat surprisingly, Gianfranco Fini, former leader of the national-conservative National Alliance and President of the Chamber of Deputies, became the most influential representative of the socially liberal wing of the party due to his progressive views on stem cell research, end of life issues, advance health care directives and immigration. Fini was also an outspoken supporter of the principle of separation of church and state and became also a vocal critic of Silvio Berlusconi and of his leadership style of the country and the party.Fini's positions distanced him from most former leading members of AN who became close allies of Berlusconi instead.
In the meantime, a group of Fini loyalists, known as Finiani, started to join forces in support of their leader. In April 2010 Italo Bocchino launched an association within the PdL named Generation Italy in order to better represent Fini's views within the party and push for a different party organisation. Fini posed a sort of ultimatum to Berlusconi and hinted the formation of separate groups from the PdL in Parliament. At one point some Finiani even proposed the formation of a new party outside the PdL. After some tense days emerged as a possibility that Fini and his group would have remained in the party as a minority faction. On 22 April 2010 the National Committee of the PdL convened in Rome for the first time in a year. The conflict between Fini and Berlusconi was covered live by television. A resolution which denounced Fini's conduct and reaffirmed the party's political line was approved by a landslide margin by the assembly.
Split from the PdL
Clashes between Fini and Berlusconi became even more frequent and reached their heights in late July 2010, when Fini questioned the morality of some PdL party bigwigs under investigation. On 29 July 2010 the executive of the PdL released a document in which Fini was described as "incompatible" with the political line of the PdL and unable to perform his job of President of the Chamber of Deputies in a neutral way. Berlusconi asked Fini to step down from his post and the executive proposed the suspension from party membership of three Finiani hard-liners who had harshly criticised Berlusconi and accused some party members of criminal offences.On 30 July, Fini held a press conference during which he announced the formation of separate groups from the PdL both in the Chamber and the Senate under the name Future and Freedom for Italy. He also confirmed the support of his group, which counted a handful of cabinet members, to Berlusconi's government. 33 deputies and 10 senators joined the new parliamentary groups from the beginning. Only a minority of the PdL MPs originating from National Alliance followed their former leader Fini into the new party, but enough to hold the balance in the Chamber of Deputies Moreover, some members of the former Forza Italia, Berlusconi's party before its merger into the PdL, joined too.
On 5 July, the Chamber voted on the suspension of Giacomo Caliendo, a PdL senator under investigation, from his post of Undersecretary of Justice. The FLI group chose to abstain from the vote along with the Union of the Centre, Alliance for Italy and the Movement for the Autonomies, forming the so-called "area of responsibility". The motion was voted down, but it was a blow for the Berlusconi IV Cabinet, which retained its majority only through FLI's support.
During the vote on Caliendo, Chiara Moroni, a social democrat formerly of the New Italian Socialist Party and Forza Italia, announced that she was leaving the PdL group in order to join Fini's outfit. In a touching speech dedicated to her father Sergio Moroni, a Socialist who committed suicide during Tangentopoli, she explained that she was leaving the PdL in the name of garantismo. For this she was vehemently criticised by senior former Socialists in the PdL such as Fabrizio Cicchitto and Margherita Boniver.
On 5 September, after a month of silence, Fini gave a speech to his supporters during the Festa Tricolore in Mirabello, a traditional rally of the old MSI and, later, of the AN. During that speech Fini declared that the PdL was dead and that his group would not have returned into the PdL's fold, but he did not speak about the transformation of FLI into an official party. Moreover, despite being very critical of Berlusconi, he offered a "legislative pact" in order for the government to continue until 2013. As a response, Berlusconi and his junior partner in government Umberto Bossi reiterated their call to Fini to resign from his post of President of the Chamber. Subsequently, on 8 September, Fini left the PdL group in the Chamber and joined to all intents and purposes FLI, becoming its 36th member.
Road to the new party
On 22 September FLI abstained during a secret confidence vote on Nicola Cosentino, an Undersecretary of Economy under investigation for camorra-related crimes. The motion was rejected by a larger majority than expected, meaning than some Finiani and possibly some deputies from the opposition.On 24 September Souad Sbai left FLI and returned into the fold of the PdL parliamentary group. However, on the same day, Giampiero Catone, a former Christian Democrat who had been elected with the PdL on behalf of Gianfranco Rotondi's Christian Democracy for Autonomies, joined FLI.
On 29 September FLI voted yes in a vote of confidence to the government in the Chamber of Deputies, but two FLI deputies voted against. On the same day Fini announced the imminent birth of a new party.
On 2 November the party logo was presented during a press conference. The day after two more deputies joined the party: Roberto Rosso, a former Christian Democrat who had been leader of Forza Italia in Piedmont, and Daniele Toto. In Sicily the party joined forces with the remnants of the PdL–Sicily and formed an eight-strong group in the Regional Assembly in support of President Raffaele Lombardo.
On 7 November, during a crowded convention in Bastia Umbra, Fini asked Berlusconi to step down from his post of Prime Minister and proposed a new government including the Union of the Centre. Fini declared also that if Berlusconi were not to step down, FLI ministers and under-secretaries would leave the executive. As Berlusconi refused to do so, the four FLI members of the government resigned on 15 November.
On 14 December FLI voted against the government in a vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies, a vote won by Berlusconi by 314 to 311. Three FLI deputies voted in favour, while another, Silvano Moffa, abstained from the vote and chose to leave the party. Subsequently, also Catone, Polidori and Siliquini left FLI.
On 15 December 2010 FLI was a founding member of the New Pole for Italy, along with the UdC and some minor parties.
Party foundation and defections
On 11–13 February 2011 FLI was officially established as a party during a congress in Milan and Gianfranco Fini was elected president of it.During the congress, no-one questioned the leadership of Fini, but the party was divided between "radicals" and "moderates", who strongly opposed the rise of Bocchino to party leadership. Fini finally appointed Bocchino vice president, downgraded Urso to spokesperson, appointed another "radical", Della Vedova, at the head of the party in the Chamber of Deputies, while Viespoli, a "moderate", was confirmed as leader in the Senate. This caused outrage among the "moderates", and Urso and Viespoli were especially critical of Fini's choices.
On 15 February Viespoli resigned from the position of Senate floor leader, but was immediately re-elected by the 10 FLI senators with a new mandate: ensuring the centre-right credentials of the group. On 16 February senator Giuseppe Menardi quit the party. On 17 February he was followed by senator Francesco Pontone and deputy Roberto Rosso, who both returned to the PdL. On 19 February also deputy Luca Bellotti left to re-join the PdL. On 20 February it was the turn of deputy Luca Barbareschi, formerly a "radical". On 22 February Pasquale Viespoli and Maurizio Saia, both senators, left the party too and the senatorial group was dissolved. Viespoli, Menardi and Saia, along with other like-minded senators like Adriana Poli Bortone, formed a new centre-right group called National Cohesion and returned into the fold of the majority. On 16 February one more deputy, Giulia Cosenza, walked out and returned to the PdL.
The party experienced more internal troubles in April 2011, in the run-up to local elections. Some leading members of the party disagreed with some candidatures decided by the party's national leadership, notably in Latina and Naples. This finally led MEP Enzo Rivellini to step down from the regional leadership in Campania and leave the party. Another MEP, Potito Salatto, and one senator, Candido De Angelis, left their leadership posts too. In the meantime the party's "moderates", led Urso and Ronchi, launched their own faction, FareItalia, open to members of all the centre-right parties, from the PdL to UDC. In May Ronchi resigned from president of the party's national assembly. In June Ronchi, along with Urso and Giuseppe Scalia, left the party.
On 30 December 2011 Mirko Tremaglia, a veteran of the Italian Social Republic and a historic figure in the history of MSI and AN, died.