Forza Europa (2017)


Forza Europa is a liberal and pro-Europeanist political party in Italy.
Its leader and president is Benedetto Della Vedova, an economist and long-time Radical politician, who has been member of the European Parliament for the Bonino List, candidate for President of Lombardy, president of the Italian Radicals, founder and president of the Liberal Reformers, member of the Chamber of Deputies for Forza Italia, The People of Freedom and Future and Freedom, member of the Senate for Future and Freedom, Civic Choice and the Mixed Group, and undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Renzi Cabinet and Gentiloni Cabinet.
The party took part to the 2018 general election within More Europe.

History

FE was originally launched as a pro European Union campaign during a convention in Milan on 11 February 2017. The event saw the participation of leading public figures, including Mario Monti, Francesco Rutelli, Emma Bonino, Carlo Scognamiglio, as well as some members of the Civics and Innovators group in the Chamber of Deputies. The campaign soon became a structured association, with an active role played by Piercamillo Falasca and Carmelo Palma, who had been part of Della Vedova's inner circle since the years as Radical.
In June 2017 Della Vedova introduced FE to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party in Brussels, and, for their part, ALDE leaders had also been trying to unite FE, Civic Choice, the Radicals and other left-leaning liberals, in order to build the Italian section of the ALDE Party, a goal they have long missed, most notably with the SC-dominated European Choice list in the 2014 European Parliament election.
In July 2017 FE organised a convention in Rome, which was seen as the beginning of its transformation into a full-fledged party. The event was attended by Bonino, Mazziotti, Librandi, Umberto Ranieri and Carlo Calenda.
In November 2017 FE, the Radicals and some CI members launched More Europe, a pro-Europeanist list for the 2018 general election, led by Bonino. +Eu was part of the centre-left coalition led by Matteo Renzi and the Democratic Party. The list won 2.6% of the vote in the election, falling short of the 3% threshold, and no FE member was elected neither in single-seat constituencies.
In April 2018 FE's first assembly elected Della Vedova president, Mazziotti vice president, Falasca secretary and Palma coordinator of the national board.
In July 2018 +Eu started to organise itself as a full-fledged party. It was decided that a committee, presided by Gianfranco Spadaccia, would lead +Eu until the founding congress, scheduled for January 2019. The newly-formed committee appointed Della Vedova as coordinator.

Leadership