New Centre-Right

New Centre-Right Nuovo Centrodestra
President	Angelino Alfano
Coordinator	vacant
Founded	15 November 2013
Split from	The People of Freedom
Headquarters	Via Arcione 71 00186 Rome
Newspaper	l'Occidentale (online)
Youth wing	Youth NCD
Membership  (2014)	100,000
Ideology	Conservatism Christian democracy
Political position	Centre-right
National affiliation	Popular Area
European affiliation	European People's Party
International affiliation	none
European Parliament group	European People's Party
Colours	Blue
Chamber of Deputies	24 / 630
Senate	26 / 315
European Parliament	1 / 73
Website
www.nuovocentrodestra.it
Politics of Italy Political parties Elections

New Centre-Right (Italian: Nuovo Centrodestracode: it is deprecated , NCD) is a centre-right political party in Italy.

The party was launched on 15 November 2013 by a group of dissidents of The People of Freedom (PdL) who opposed the party's transformation into Forza Italia (FI), which would take place the day after. The NCD leader is Angelino Alfano, who had been Silvio Berlusconi's protégé and national secretary of the PdL from 2011 to 2013.

On 11 September 2014 the NCD was officially accepted into the European People's Party (EPP).

History

Background and foundation

The party was formed by splinters from the PdL on 15 November 2013. Its founders, lately known as "doves" in the party, were strong supporters of Enrico Letta's government and refused to join the new Forza Italia (FI), founded upon the dissolution of the PdL. All five PdL ministers, three under-secretaries, 30 senators and 27 deputies immediately joined the NCD. Most were Christian democrats and many came from the southern regions of Calabria and Sicily.

Besides Alfano (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior), leading members included Maurizio Lupi (Minister of Infrastructure and Transport), Nunzia De Girolamo (Minister of Agriculture), Beatrice Lorenzin (Minister of Health), Gaetano Quagliariello (Minister of Constitutional Reforms), Giuseppe Scopelliti (President of Calabria), Roberto Formigoni (former President of Lombardy), Renato Schifani (former President of the Senate and PdL floor leader until November 2013), Fabrizio Cicchitto (former PdL leader in the Chamber in 2008–2013) and Carlo Giovanardi (a former minister for the UDC).

Support to Renzi and Popular Area

In February 2014, after the fall of Letta's government, the NCD joined a new coalition government led by Matteo Renzi, who had been elected secretary of the Democratic Party (PD) in December 2013. In the new government the NCD retained three ministers: Alfano at the Interior, Lupi at Infrastrctures and Transports, and Lorenzin at Health. Quagliariello, who had not been confirmed as minister of Institutional Reforms, was elected national coordinator by the assembly of the parliamentary groups. The party also started to structure itself at the local level.

The party ran in the 2014 European Parliament election on a joint list with the Union of the Centre (UdC). The list obtained 4.4% of the vote and three MEPs, two for the NCD and one for the UdC. The list did especially well in the South: 7.1% in Apulia, 11.4% in Calabria and 9.1% in Sicily.

In December 2014 the NCD formed joint parliamentary groups with the UdC in both the Chamber of Deputies and Senate. The two groups, a step toward a complete merger of the two parties, were named Popular Area, where "popular" was a reference to popolarismo, the Italian variety of Christian democracy.

Internal squabbles and splits

Following Alfano's decision to support Sergio Mattarella's bid to become President of Italy during the 2015 presidential election (Matteralla was effectively elected on 31 January), the NCD experienced an internal crisis. Most notably, Barbara Saltamartini and Maurizio Sacconi resigned from party's spokesperson and leader in the Senate, respectively. Schifani was unanimously elected to succeed to Sacconi, while Saltamartini left the party altogether.

In March Lupi resigned from minister of Infrastrctures and Transports, after he was hit by a minor corruption scandal. As result, the party was represented in the government only by two ministers. In April De Girolamo, a frequent critic of the government since Mattarella's election, was replaced as leader in the Chamber by Lupi.

During the summer, one deputy (De Girolamo, who had been a founder of The Republicans) and one MEP (Massimiliano Salini) re-joined FI.

A bigger blow to Alfano came in October, when Quaglieriello resigned from coordinator and threatened to led a splinter group out of the party if the NCD were to continue its support to Renzi. In the following weeks, Quaglieriello deserted a meeting of the party's national board and made clear he was leaving the party. Two deputies (Vincenso Piso and Eugenia Roccella) and two collagues of Quaglieriello (Andrea Augello and Carlo Giovanardi) in the Senate followed suit. These, along with a fourth senator (Luigi Compagna, a former Liberal) finally launched Identity and Action (IDEA).

In February 2016, during a government reshuffle, NCD's Enrico Costa was appointed minister of Regional Affairs and Autonomies. Shortly afterwards, it was announced by Lorenzin that the party would soon change its name, dropping the word "right", or take part to the formation of an entirely new party.

Ideology and factions

Despite being home to some social democrats (We Reformers, Reformers and Freedom), the party is mainly a Christian-democratic party with a social-conservative streak. According to Corriere della Sera, differently from FI, NCD's stances on the "so-called ethical issues" (abortion, gay rights, etc.) are "closer to those of the European traditionalist right" and "thus not very compatible with those of the EPP's parties in big countries such as Germany".

Former PdL-affiliated factions or think tanks which joined the NCD include:

• Network Italy (Rete Italia) – ideology: Christian democracy; leader: Roberto Formigoni;
• Liberal Populars (Popolari Liberali) – ideology: Christian democracy; leader: Carlo Giovanardi;
• Christian Populars (Cristiano Popolari) – ideology: Christian democracy; leader: Mario Baccini;
• Christian Reformists (Cristiano Riformisti) – ideology: Christian democracy; leader: Antonio Mazzocchi;
• Magna Carta (Magna Carta) – ideology: Liberal conservatism; leader: Gaetano Quagliariello;
• Reformism and Freedom (Riformismo e Libertà) – ideology: Social democracy; leader: Fabrizio Cicchitto;
• We Reformers (Noi Riformatori) – ideology: Social democracy; leader: Francesco Colucci.

In January 2014 three bigwigs of the party (Gaetano Quagliariello, Eugenia Roccella and Maurizio Sacconi) published a book titled Moderati. Per un nuovo umanesimo politico ("Moderates: For a new political humanism"), a sort of manifesto of the party. The book, whose key words are "person", "family", "enterprise" and "tradition", emphasises institutional reforms (including direct election of the President and federalism), ethical issues (marriage, opposition to abortion, limits to assisted reproductive technology, etc.) and the need for a smaller state ("less public law, more private rights"). According to Benedetto Ippolito, a university professor of history of philosophy, while NCD members insist that their party is "moderate", it is in fact "conservative" and "anti-progressive", albeit not "berlusconiano".

In February 2014 the NCD unveiled a platform on labour, including a universal protection system safety net for the unemployed, a tax relief for entrepreneurs hiring the young, the reduction of the tax wedge on labour and the overcoming of article 18 of the "Statute of Workers", making easier for entrepreneurs to hire and fire employees.

Electoral results

European Parliament

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/–	Leader
2014	1,202,350 (#5)	4.38	2 / 73	–	Angelino Alfano

Regional Councils

Region	Latest election	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won
Abruzzo	2014	40,219 (#4)	5.9	1 / 31
Apulia	2015	101,817 (#7)	6.0	4 / 51
Calabria	2014	47,574 (#6)	6.1	3 / 30
Campania	2015	133,753 (#5)	5.9	1 / 51
Emilia-Romagna	2014	31,635 (#7)	2.6	0 / 50
Liguria	2015	9,269 (#9)	1.7	1 / 31
Marche	2015	21,049 (#7)	4.0	1 / 31
Piedmont	2014	49,059 (#7)	2.5	0 / 50
Tuscany	2015	15,808 (#8)	1.2	0 / 41
Umbria	2015	9,285 (#9)	2.6	0 / 20
Veneto	2015	37.937 (#11)	2.0	1 / 51

Leadership

• President: Renato Schifani (acting, 2013–2014), Angelino Alfano (2014–present)
  • Coordinator: Gaetano Quagliariello (2014–2015)
  • Spokesperson: Barbara Saltamartini (2014–2015), Valentina Castaldini (2015–present)
• Party Leader in the Chamber of Deputies: Enrico Costa (2013–2014), Nunzia De Girolamo (2014–2015), Maurizio Lupi (2015–present)
• Party Leader in the Senate: Maurizio Sacconi (2013–2015), Renato Schifani (2015–present)
• Party Leader in the European Parliament: Giovanni La Via (2013–present)

Symbols

• 

  2013–present

• 

  Electoral logo

External links

• Official website