Action – Italia Viva

Action – Italia Viva (Italian: Azione – Italia Viva; A–IV), informally known as the Third Pole (Italian: Terzo Polo), was a liberal and centrist parliamentary group and electoral list which ran in the 2022 Italian general election. The list was led by Carlo Calenda. During the 19th legislature, it named its parliamentary group Action – Italia Viva – Renew Europe in the Chamber and the Senate.

Action – Italia Viva
Azione – Italia Viva
LeaderCarlo Calenda
Founded11 August 2022 (2022-08-11)
Dissolved19 October 2023 (2023-10-19)
IdeologyLiberalism
Pro-Europeanism
Political positionCentre
European affiliationEuropean Democratic Party
European Parliament groupRenew Europe
Colours  Blue

History

Following the resignation of Mario Draghi as Prime Minister of Italy and the call for a snap election,[1] Carlo Calenda's Action (A) party signed on 2 August an alliance with Enrico Letta's Democratic Party (PD), the head of the centre-left coalition.[2] On 6 August, the PD signed another pact with the Greens and Left Alliance (AVS), formed by Green Europe (EV) and Italian Left (SI), which had never supported Draghi's government.[3] This caused tensions between Letta and Calenda. The latter, being a strong supporter of economic liberalism and nuclear power, considered impossible a coalition between his own party and the left-wing AVS.[4] On 7 August, Calenda broke the alliance with the PD.[5] On 11 August, Matteo Renzi's Italia Viva (IV) and A signed an agreement to create a centrist alliance led by Calenda, using IV's symbol to avoid the requirement to collect signatures for Calenda's party.[6] Early August polls speculated that the formation of the Third Pole would not be influential in single-member constituencies but could cost the centre-left coalition votes in some competitive districts.[7]

Despite Draghi's dismissal, Calenda and Renzi said they would push for Draghi to remain as prime minister, should they win enough seats.[8] They also ran a pro-nuclear power and pro-regasification campaign as solutions for the ongoing energy crisis.[9] In the general election on 25 September, the Third Pole obtained 21 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 9 seats in the Senate of the Republic, having polled about 8%.[10] On 3 October, Calenda announced that the two parties would form a joint parliamentary group in the next parliament and start a federation between the two movements.[11][12][13]

Establishing a joint electoral list and parliamentary groups was supposed to be the first step towards forming a unitary Italian liberal party. A first constituent assembly held in January 2023 resulted in promising results, with the attendance of many figures from that area and the definition of a formal path towards the merger.[14] However, increasing tensions between the two groups and their leaders about the structure and leadership of the proposed unitary party developed into a crisis in April 2023, leading a halt in the merger negotiations.[15] Despite the crisis looking like a schism, the two parties managed to maintain the joint parliamentary groups.[16] It was later announced that talks with other liberal movements were still underway towards the creation of a joint list for the 2024 European Parliament election involving Renew Europe, potentially including More Europe.[17] However, in the following months, the two parties did not reach an agreement regarding the upcoming European election and, on 19 October 2023, Renzi officially announced the formation of IV's own parliamentary groups, marking the end to the Action – Italia Viva alliance.[18]

Composition

Main parties
Party Ideology Leader Seats
Chamber Senate
Action (A) Liberalism Carlo Calenda
12 / 400
4 / 200
Italia Viva (IV) Liberalism Matteo Renzi
9 / 400
6 / 200

Associate parties
Party Ideology Leader
Christian Democracy (DC) Christian democracy Renzo Gubert
Italian Republican Party (PRI) Social liberalism Corrado De Rinaldis Saponaro
Liberal Democratic Alliance for Italy (ALI) Liberism Flavio Pasotti
Social Democrats (SD) Social democracy Umberto Costi
Together Christian democracy Collective leadership

    Regional partners
    Party Region Ideology Leader
    Sicilian Socialist Party (PSS) Sicily Social democracy Antonio Matasso

    Former partners
    Party Region Ideology Leader Member between Source
    Popular Apulia (PP) Apulia Christian democracy Massimo Cassano 2022 [19]
    Good Right (BD) Liberalism Filippo Rossi 2020 - 2023 [20][21]

      Electoral results

      Italian Parliament
      Election Leader Chamber of Deputies Senate of the Republic
      Votes  % Seats +/– Position Votes  % Seats +/– Position
      2022 Carlo Calenda 2,339,722 7.78
      21 / 400
      		 New 6th 2,213,957 7.73
      9 / 200
      		 New 6th

      Regional Councils
      Region Election Candidate Votes  % Seats +/–
      Friuli-Venezia Giulia 2023 Alessandro Maran 10,869 2.75
      0 / 48
      		 New
      Lazio 2023 Alessio D'Amato 75,272 4.9
      2 / 51
      		 New
      Lombardy 2023 Letizia Moratti 122,356 4.3
      3 / 80
      		 New
      Sicily 2022 Gaetano Armao 39,788 2.1
      0 / 70
      		 New

      See also

      References
      1. "Draghi si è dimesso, il presidente Mattarella ha sciolto le Camere: l'Italia al voto il 25 settembre". RAI. Archived from the original on 21 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
      2. "Patto Letta-Calenda, 70% candidati Pd e 30% Azione/+Europa – Politica" (in Italian). ANSA. 2 August 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
      3. "Pd-Verdi-SI, accordo per le elezioni. La conferenza congiunta" (in Italian). RAI. 6 August 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
      4. "Verdi dicono sì al Pd, ma resta tensione con Calenda – Politica" (in Italian). ANSA. 5 August 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
      5. "Calenda strappa col Pd, Letta: 'Noi andiamo avanti' – Politica" (in Italian). Agenzia ANSA. 7 August 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
      6. "Elezioni politiche 2022, Calenda-Renzi accordo fatto. Sarà il leader di Azione a guidare il Terzo Polo". la Repubblica. 11 August 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
      7. "Elezioni, analisi YouTrend: l'alleanza Calenda-Renzi ininfluente negli uninominali, in alcuni collegi fa salire il vantaggio del centrodestra". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). 13 August 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
      8. "Il No di Draghi al secondo mandato stronca le speranze di Renzi e Calenda (che ancora oggi insistevano sul bis del premier)". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). 16 September 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
      9. "Energia nucleare e rigassificatori, programmi elettorali a confronto: cosa pensano partiti". Sky TG24 (in Italian). 22 September 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
      10. Kirby, Paul (26 September 2022). "Giorgia Meloni: Italy's far right wins election and vows to govern for all". BBC. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
      11. Carlo Calenda [@CarloCalenda] (3 October 2022). "Lungo incontro con @matteorenzi. Siamo d'accordo sul percorso comune. Avanti con federazione e gruppi unici in Parlamento e nelle amministrazioni locali. Prenderemo insieme le decisioni politiche a partire dalle Regionali. Porte aperte ai riformisti e ai liberali. #ItaliaSulSerio" (Tweet). Retrieved 4 October 2022 – via Twitter.
      12. Pacifici, Stefano (3 October 2022). "Renzi e Calenda preparano la federazione per novembre". MetroNews (in Italian). Retrieved 4 October 2022.
      13. "Terzo Polo: incontro Calenda-Renzi, 'federazione a novembre'". Adnkronos (in Italian). 3 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022 – via Yahoo!.
      14. Cappelli, Alessandro (14 January 2023). "Parte a Milano la costituente liberale per riunire tutti i riformisti". Linkiesta. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
      15. "Rottura con Italia viva, Calenda esclude ripensamenti: "Si è logorato il rapporto di fiducia"". Agenzia Nova. 13 April 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
      16. "Il vertice tra Renzi e Calenda finisce con un documento unitario". AGI. 23 May 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
      17. "Assemblea Libdem di Bologna, Marcucci presidente: "Ogni sforzo per una lista comune dei liberali e riformisti alle Europee 2024"". Il Riformista. 17 June 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
      18. Terzo Polo, Renzi ufficializza separazione da Calenda: “Fine della telenovela”. E battezza i nuovi gruppi parlamentari. la Repubblica
      19. "Calenda: "Azione e Italia Viva verso il partito unico. Obiettivo il 15% alle Europee". E in Puglia accoglie i transfughi Pd". la Repubblica (in Italian). 7 December 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
      20. "Azione accoglie gli ex finiani di Buona Destra. Calenda: "Condividiamo spirito repubblicano"". la Repubblica (in Italian). 15 May 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
      21. "L'Adige di VeronaLunedì si fondono Buona Destra ed Azione. Massimiliano Urbano: nell'area liberale forti dei nostri valori - L'Adige di Verona" (in Italian). 12 May 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
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