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Democratic Union for the Republic
Unione Democratica per la Repubblica
LeaderFrancesco Cossiga
(Honorary President)
PresidentRocco Buttiglione
Carlo Scognamiglio
SecretaryClemente Mastella
FoundedMay 1996 (alliance)
February 1998 (party)
DissolvedFebruary 1999
Merger ofCDR
CDU
Segni Pact
Succeeded byUDEUR
Union for the Republic
IdeologyChristian democracy
Political positionCentre
European affiliationEuropean People's Party
European Parliament groupEuropean People's Party

The Democratic Union for the Republic (Italian: Unione Democratica per la Repubblica, UDR) was a short-lived Christian-democratic and centrist political party in Italy.

It was founded in February 1998 by Francesco Cossiga (former Prime Minister and President) in order to provide a majority in Parliament for the creation of the D'Alema I Cabinet.[1] The party also included Clemente Mastella (ex-Christian Democratic Centre, CCD, then leader of the Christian Democrats for the Republic), Rocco Buttiglione (leader of the United Christian Democrats, CDU), Mario Segni (leader of Segni Pact), Carlo Scognamiglio (ex-Forza Italia, FI), Enrico Ferri (ex-CCD, former leader of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party and European Liberal Social Democracy) and Irene Pivetti (ex-Lega Nord), along with several other MPs elected for the centre-right. Cossiga'a sim was to facilitate the creation of a centre-left governments without the support of the Communist Refoundation Party.[2] The UDR was initially only a federation of parties, but in June CDR, CDU and the Segni Pact merged to form a united party and Mastella was elected secretary.

After disagreements between Cossiga and Mastella, the party broke up in February 1999. Most party members rallied behind Mastella and joined his Union of Democrats for Europe (UDEUR). Those around Cossiga formed the Union for the Republic (UpR), whose leading members (Angelo Sanza, Giorgio Rebuffa, etc.), entered in FI in 2001. The most notable exception was Carlo Scognamiglio who joined the Federation of Italian Liberals, and then European Democracy and the Pact of Liberal Democrats. Buttiglione had previously re-established the CDU, as Segni did with his Pact, while Ferri joined FI.

Leadership

References

  1. ^ James Newell (2002). The Italian General Election of 2001: Berlusconi's Victory. Manchester University Press. pp. 108–109. ISBN 978-0-7190-6100-4.
  2. ^ Mark Donovan (2015). "From the Democrazia Cristiana to the Archipelago of Catholic and Centrist Parties". In Andrea Mammone; Ercole Giap Parini; Giuseppe A. Veltri (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Italy: History, Politics, Society. Routledge. p. 199. ISBN 978-1-317-48755-5.
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