History
In February 2021, amid the formation of Mario Draghi's national unity government, Cambiamo! (C!), a liberal-conservative party led by Giovanni Toti, president of Liguria, started to attract new members from the more centrist wing of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI).[6]
In May 2021, Toti and Luigi Brugnaro, mayor of Venice, announced the formation of a new political party[7] mainly composed by dissidents of FI,[8] as well as Gaetano Quagliariello's Identity and Action (an associate party of C!), splinters from other parties,[9] notably including three deputies previously affiliated with the centre-left Democratic Centre (CD).[10] Brugnaro was appointed party president, while deputy Marco Marin, senator Gaetano Quagliariello and Toti vice presidents.[11][12] During the press conference in which he and Toti launched the new party, Brugnaro thanked Berlusconi, describing him as a "brave leader", but also added that the centre-right "has to move on, it is another era".[13]
In the 2021 Calabrian regional election the party obtained 5.7% of the vote and 2 regional councillors.
In less than a year, CI, which had failed to attract substantial support countrywide, according to opinion polls, experienced an internal crisis. On one side Toti launched the project of a new political party named Italy in the Centre (IaC),[14][15] on the other side Brugnaro rejected establishment politics[16] and wanted to continue to be part of the centre-right coalition.[17] In February 2022 CI's sub-group within the Mixed Group, previously named "IDeA–Cambiamo!–Europeanists", was re-named "Italy in the Centre".[18] In March, a federation between Coraggio Italia and Italy of the Centre was announced, stating that they would have different organisations and parliamentary groupings.[19]
In the 2022 local elections CI and IaC ran separately in most places. CI obtained relevant results only in Veneto, Brugnaro's home-region, most notably 5.2% in Verona and 4.4% in Padua, while IaC won 9.2% in Genoa, 8.5% in La Spezia, 3.7% in Rieti, 5.2% in L'Aquila and 4.3% in Catanzaro.
In late June 2022 CI and IaC formally split both in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.[20] The joint parliamentary group in the Chamber was dissolved,[21] while six other deputies, including vice president Marin, left the party, founding a new party called Vinciamo Italia,[22][23] and CI was left with 7 deputies (led by Emilio Carelli)[24] and 2 senators (Andrea Causin and Marinella Pacifico).[25]
In July 2022 a new sub-group named after CI was formed within the Mixed Group of the Chamber of Deputies. The group was led by Fabio Berardini and included 10 deputies: 8 members of CI (not including Carelli) and two representatives of the Associative Movement of Italians Abroad (MAIE).[26][27] Contextually, in the Senate, a new sub-group composed of three senators, including two senators of CI and one of the MAIE, was formed.[28]
In the run-up of the 2022 general election CI first formed a joint list with Union of the Centre (UdC),[29] then it was a founding member of Us Moderates (NM), a broader joint list within the centre-right coalition, along with the UdC, IaC and Us with Italy (NcI).[30]
