Article One (Italian: Articolo Uno, Art.1), officially Article 1 – Democratic and Progressive Movement (Articolo 1 – Movimento Democratico e Progressista, Art.1–MDP),[8][9] was a social-democraticpolitical party in Italy.
Following the 2013 leadership election of the Democratic Party (PD), in which Matteo Renzi, a centrist, was elected secretary, an internal struggle arose within the party between Renzi's large majority (composed of Renziani, assorted centrists and moderate social democrats) and the left-wing factions, which were very critical of Renzi, his government (2014–2016) and his proposed constitutional reform, which would eventually be voted down in a constitutional referendum in December 2016.
The new party was launched on 25 February 2017 during a convention in Rome. In that occasion, those who left the PD included Vasco Errani,[23] former President of Emilia-Romagna, and deputy minister of the Interior Filippo Bubbico,[24] while Emiliano decided to challenge Renzi in the party's "primaries" instead.[25][26]
In October MDP's only member of the government (Bubbico) resigned,[31] and the party stopped supporting the Gentiloni Cabinet.
Free and Equal
On 3 December 2017 the MDP was a founding member, along with SI and POS, of Free and Equal (LeU), the left-wing joint list for the 2018 general election, which chose the President of the Senate and former anti-Mafia prosecutor Pietro Grasso as its leader and candidate for Prime Minister.[32]
In the election LeU won 3.4% of the vote, obtaining 14 deputies and four senators. Among these, the MDP had seven deputies (Speranza, Bersani, Epifani, Federico Conte, Federico Fornaro, Michela Rostan and Nico Stumpo) and two senators (Errani and Laforgia). Fornaro was elected president of LeU's parliamentary group in the Chamber.
In November 2018 the MDP, which was focused on forming a brand-new "red-green" party,[33][34]de facto abandoned LeU.[35]
In April 2019 the MDP became a full-fledged party,[36] welcoming new members, notably including David Tozzo from Possible, and being renamed simply as Article One. Additionally, after Nicola Zingaretti's victory in the 2019 Democratic leadership election, a rapprochement started between the two parties. In the run-up to the 2019 European Parliament election Article One formed a joint list with the PD,[37] which included some minor groups.
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.[38] 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,[39] based on pro-Europeanism, green economy, sustainable development, fight against economic inequality and a new immigration policy.[40] The party also accepted that Conte might continue at the head of a new government,[41] and on 29 August President Mattarella formally invested Conte to do so.[42] The LeU groups had previously already announced their possible support to Conte's second government,[43] which was finally unveiled in September with the appointment of Speranza as Minister of Health.[44]
On 31 December 2021, during an online event reserved to Art.1 party executives, Massimo D'Alema explained that the party would start discussions aimed to the dissolution of Art.1 back into the Democratic Party.[45]
.svg){kind=logo}
