Italy First (political party)

Italy First (Prima l'Italia) was a national-conservative political party in Italy, which was briefly a faction of Brothers of Italy (FdI) and then joined into National Action (AN).

The party was supported by the New Italy foundation, previously active within The People of Freedom (PdL) as Alemanno's factional think tank.[1][2]

History

Italy First was launched as a "political association" in October 2013 by Gianni Alemanno, a former mayor of Rome (2008–2013) for the PdL.[3][4] A long-time politician of the Italian Social Movement (MSI) and National Alliance (AN), within which he led the Social Right faction, Alemanno had left the PdL a few days earlier.[5]

The founding manifesto of Italy First included criticism of the PdL, its participation in the European People's Party and its compliance to Europeanism and economic liberalism.[6] One of the first political campaigns of the new party was against the euro currency.[7]

Soon after its foundation, Italy First participated in the process of enlargement of FdI, a party led by Giorgia Meloni, through the "Workshop for Italy"[8] and was finally integrated into FdI in March 2014.[9][10] Italy First thus became a faction within FdI and Alemanno was one of the party's leading candidates in the 2014 European Parliament election: he obtained almost 45,000 personal votes in the South,[11] but was not elected to the European Parliament as FdI was below the 4% national threshold.

In December 2014 Alemanno, who was mired in a scandal related to his tenure as mayor of Rome, and, consequently, Italy First left FdI.[12]

In October 2015, during an assembly of the "National Alliance Foundation" (the association in charge of administering the assets of the defunct party), Alemanno and his supporters, who wanted to form a larger right-wing party (including FdI), lost a vote on the entitlement of AN's symbol over the representatives of FdI, supported by former AN heavyweights who had remained in the PdL. As a result, Alemanno announced that he would create a "Movement for the United Right".[13][14] That "movement" is National Action (AN), which was formed on 9 November 2015 by a group of former AN members, who had joined forces with Alemanno during the Foundation's assembly.

Leadership
  • President: Gianni Alemanno (2013–2015)
  • Secretary: Francesco Biava (2013–2015)

References
  1. "Fondazione Nuova Italia". Fondazione Nuova Italia. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  2. "Per un nuovo centrodestra: prima l'Italia". Fondazione Nuova Italia. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  3. 14 ottobre 2013. "In pista "Prima l'Italia", Alemanno chiama a raccolta i delusi del centrodestra". Il Sole 24 ORE. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  4. "Alemanno lancia Prima l'Italia: "Recuperiamo identità per uscire dalla crisi" - Il Messaggero". Ilmessaggero.it. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  5. "Alemanno dice addio al Pdl: "Mercoledì aderisco a Officina per l'Italia" - Il Messaggero". Ilmessaggero.it. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  6. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "NUOVE REGOLE IN EUROPA O L'ITALIA ESCE DALL'EURO - Activism - Petizioni Online". Activism. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  8. "Chi Siamo". Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  9. "Ecco programma e fini (anti euro) del Partito della Nazione di Giorgia Meloni". Formiche. 9 March 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  10. "A Fiuggi La Casa Comune Della Destra Per Fare Il Partito Della Nazione | Prima L'Italia". Primalitalia.net. 13 February 2014. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  11. "Dipartimento per gli Affari Interni e Territoriali". elezionistorico.interno.gov.it.
  12. "Mafia a Roma, Alemanno: «Ho sbagliato nella scelta della squadra»". www.ilmessaggero.it. 4 December 2014.
  13. "Archivio Corriere della Sera". archivio.corriere.it.
  14. "Meloni si tiene il simbolo di An". L'HuffPost. 5 October 2015.
  • Official website (since January 2016 the website redirects to National Action's official website)


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