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{{short description|Italian political party}}

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LiberalismECCO IL PARTITO DI TOSIPUBLISHER=L'INTRAPRENDENTE, 21 July 2015, Liberal conservatismFederalismCentre-right politics>Centre-rightIL PARTITO DI FLAVIO TOSI: "FARE!">URL=HTTP://WWW.PANORAMA.IT/NEWS/POLITICA/IL-PARTITO-DI-FLAVIO-TOSI-FARE/PUBLISHER=PANORAMA (MAGAZINE)>DATE=21 JULY 2015, | national = Us with Italy (2017–18)| european = | international = | europarl = Chamber of Deputies (Italy)>Chamber of Deputies| seats1 = Senate of the Republic (Italy)>Senate| seats2 = | seats3_title = European Parliament| seats3 = #FFFA00#000000|border=darkgray}} Yellow, blackweblink}}| country = Italy}}Act! () was a centre-right liberal political party in Italy, based in Veneto.Its leader was Flavio Tosi, former mayor of Verona and former leader of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord (LV–LN), who was expelled from it in the run-up of the 2015 Venetian regional election, due to his opposition to Matteo Salvini's political line.WEB,weblink Il partito di Flavio Tosi: "Fare!" – Panorama, Panorama.it, 2015-07-21, 2019-03-31,

History

Background

{{further|Tosi List for Veneto#Split from Liga Veneta}}In the run-up of the 2015 regional election, after a long struggle with Lega Nord federal secretary Matteo Salvini, Flavio Tosi was ejected from the party and, consequently, removed from his office of national secretary of Liga Veneta, the largest party in Veneto and one of the largest "national" sections of Lega Nord.WEB,weblink Caso Tosi, Salvini: "Prendo atto della sua decadenza da segretario veneto", 10 March 2015, Corriere della Sera, WEB,weblink Archivio Corriere della Sera, archivio.corriere.it, Consequently, Tosi decided to run for President of Veneto, in competition with incumbent President Luca Zaia (official candidate of the party).WEB,weblink Tosi si candida in Veneto e attacca Salvini: "Nemmeno Renzi si sarebbe comportato così", LaStampa.it, 15 March 2015, Tosi was joined by three deputies (Matteo Bragantini, Roberto Caon, Emanuele Prataviera), three senators (Patrizia Bisinella, Raffaela Bellot, Emanuela Munerato),WEB,weblink Partito di Tosi prossimo al lancio: martedì 21 luglio a Roma alla Camera dei Deputati, VeronaSera, and nine regional councillors of Veneto (Luca Baggio, Matteo Toscani, Francesco Piccolo, Daniele Stival, Giuseppe Stoppato, Diego Bottacin, Maurizio Conte, Andrea Bassi, Leonardo Padrin, Mauro Mainardi, Renzo Marangon and Moreno Teso). The latter came not just from Liga Veneta, but also other parties.In the regional election, whose results were a large victory of Zaia and a historical high for Liga Veneta, Tosi won 11.9% of the vote as candidate for President and two lists close to him, the Tosi List for Veneto and Il Veneto del Fare con Tosi, obtained a combined 7.1% and four regional councillors (Bassi, Conte, Stefano Casali and Giovanna Negro).

Foundation and early years

In July 2015, Tosi re-organised his followers into a full-fledged party, named Act! (Fare!). Immediately, Michele Boldrin, former leader of Act to Stop the Decline, sued Act! as the names of the two parties looked too similar,WEB,weblink Flavio Tosi nei guai: "Fare per farmare il declino" gli fa causa, www.liberoquotidiano.it, but nothing consequential happened.In September a fourth deputy joined the party: Marco Marcolin, also from Liga Veneta–Lega Nord.NEWS, E la Lega restò senza parlamentari veneti,weblink Michele Muro, L'Intraprendente, September 2015, Marcolin would switch to Civic Choice (SC) in October 2016.WEB,weblink Scelta Civica, Zanetti vince la battaglia sul nome e Verdini entra in maggioranza, 12 October 2016, l'Espresso, WEB,weblink Taglio stipendi parlamentari, l'ex leghista entrato in maggioranza: "Raddoppiamo i nostri emolumenti, basta demagogia", 25 October 2016, Il Fatto Quotidiano, WEB,weblink Marcolin (Scelta Civica): "raddoppiare stipendi parlamentari", Vvox, 25 October 2016, 31 March 2019, 31 March 2019,weblink dead, In October Act! became an occasional supporter of the government led by Matteo Renzi, whom Tosi held in high esteem, fueling rumors that the party might either enter in stable alliance with or join Renzi's Democratic Party (PD).NEWS, Renzi-Tosi, patto segreto. Eccolo,weblink Alberto Maggi, Affari Italiani, 12 October 2015, However, during the party's national convention in February 2016, Tosi rejected any notion of a stable alliance with Renzi, while expressing his interest for an agreement with centre-right forces.NEWS, Tosi: "Noi i veri moderati Renzi non ha rivali e vince",weblink Il Mattino di Padova, 29 February 2016, In fact, Act! maintained its independence from the government, while occasionally supporting it and favouring the "yes" vote in the 2016 constitutional referendum, differently from the entire centre-right. The vote resulted in a huge defeat for Renzi, who resigned from Prime Minister and was replaced by Democrat Paolo Gentiloni, at the head of a similar centre-left government.Following April 2016, Act! formed a sub-group within the Mixed Group of the Chamber of Deputies in alliance with the Italian Republican Party (PRI), a minor liberal party which had no deputies, but had run in the 2013 general election and, as such, could form a sub-group under its name.WEB,weblink "Flavio Tosi è il nuovo La Malfa" E Fare! ingloba il (moribondo) Pri, Lillo, Aldegheri, 3 May 2016, Corriere del Veneto,

Internal rifts and centrist alliances

In November 2016, Casali launched his bid for mayor of Verona in 2017 without Tosi's support,WEB,weblink Amministrative 2017. Casali si candida a sindaco. Pd: "Noi alternativi a Tosi", VeronaSera, in the following months formed a separate group from that of the Tosi List for Verona in the Municipal Council, while continuing to lead the Tosi List for Veneto in the Regional Council,WEB,weblink Tosiani spaccati, nasce il gruppo di Stefano Casali, Società Editrice Athesis, S.p.A, L'Arena.it, WEB,weblink Verona, Tosi senza maggioranza: sopravvivenza neo-democristiana, Matteo, Castagna, 8 April 2017, 31 March 2019, 31 March 2019,weblink dead, and finally chose to support the joint centre-right candidate for mayor, Federico Sboarina.WEB,weblink Verona Domani lancia Sboarina. Casali: "Il nostro centrodestra è un modello", VeronaSera, Bisinella was instead chosen as the party's official candidate for mayor.WEB,weblink E' il giorno di Patrizia Bisinella La fidanzata aspirante sindaco, Lillo, Aldegheri, 22 April 2017, Corriere del Veneto, WEB,weblink Ora è ufficiale: nel solco della continuità, Bisinella è candidata sindaco, VeronaSera, Contextually, at the national level, Tosi was planning a new liberal party with Civic Choice (SC), the support of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi and the endorsement of Guy Verhofstadt (leader of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament),WEB,weblink Enrico Zanetti: "Nascerà un soggetto liberale ed europeista" – Scelta Civica, www.sceltacivica.it, 2017-05-10, 2017-04-12,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170412061710weblink">weblink dead, in the context of a broad centrist front, composed also by Popular Alternative (AP), the Centrists for Europe (CpE) and the Liberal Popular Alliance (ALA).WEB,weblink Alfano & Co. lanciano le primarie aperte: "Fuori gli estremisti", Angelo, Scarano, ilGiornale.it, 8 April 2017, WEB,weblink Da Alfano a Casini, a Tosi e a Zanetti, centristi lanciano il partito dei moderati: in autunno le primarie, 8 April 2017, Agorà24, WEB,weblink Cosa faranno insieme Alfano, Casini, Tosi e Zanetti - Formiche.net, 2017-04-11,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170412062320weblink">weblink 2017-04-12, dead, In May the liberal and pro-EU "Free Italy" was launched during a convention.WEB,weblink Liberaitalia – Europa Fisco Giustizia. Idee per liberare l'Italia da populismo statalismo giustizialismo, Radio, Radicale, 6 May 2017, Radio Radicale, In May 2017, Casali and Bassi finally left Act! and formed a separate group from LTV's in the Regional Council, the Venetian Centre-Right.WEB,weblink Stefano Casali e Andrea Bassi non sono più tosiani. Venturi: "Traditori", VeronaSera, WEB,weblink Casali e Bassi creano nuovo gruppo in regione, TGVerona.it, In doing this, they were joined by a third councillor, Fabiano Barbisan of Liga Veneta (but elected with the Zaia List), for technical reasons.In June 2017, Bisinella came second with 23.5% in the municipal election of Verona, but, despite the external support of the PD,WEB,weblink Il Pd ha deciso di non decidere per gli elettori: "Andate a votare con libertà di scelta", VeronaSera, she was defeated by Sboarina 41.9% to 58.1% in the run-off.WEB,weblink Comune di Verona – Veneto – Elezioni Comunali Italia – Risultati – 11–25 giugno 2017 – la Repubblica.it, Repubblica.it, The Tosi List won 16.5% (with Tosi obtaining 3,000 preference votes)WEB,weblink Tosi oltre 3mila Solo tre candidati sopra i mille voti, Società Editrice Athesis, S.p.A, L'Arena.it, and Act! 2.7%. Outside Verona, Tosiani obtained negligible results.

Back to the centre-right

After the defeat in Verona, Tosi started a rapprochement with the centre-right coalition, especially with Silvio Berlusconi and his Forza Italia (FI) party.WEB,weblink La rete di Berlusconi per la "Lega azzurra". C'è l'accordo con Tosi, LaStampa.it, 19 July 2017, WEB,weblink "Ora farò il civico di destra. La Lega? Non guidano loro", Antonio, Spadaccino, 19 July 2017, Corriere della Sera, WEB,weblink Berlusconi imbarca Tosi e "perdona" Alfano: le mosse anti Salvini del Cav, Claudio, Perconte, 21 July 2017, Despite this, the party suffered another centre-right split in Veneto, where Conte launched Veneto for Autonomy,WEB,weblink Politica – Il Consigliere regionale Maurizio Conte presenta la nuova denominazione del gruppo consiliare, www.consiglioveneto.it, WEB,weblink CRV – "Maurizio Conte presenta la nuova denominazione del gruppo consiliare" – Press Release – Veneto, 28 July 2017, ANSA.it, WEB,weblink Referendum, parte la corsa E si accende lo scontro politico, Società Editrice Athesis, S.p.A, L'Arena.it, effectively disbanding the LTV. Along with Conte, the two most leading founding members of the new party were Baggio, a former regional councillor and national president of Liga Veneta, and Caon, a deputy. Subsequently, Caon left the party's sub-group and joined the group of FI, while the remaining two Act! deputies joined forces with AP splinter Enrico Costa, under the new name "Act!–PRI–Liberals".WEB,weblink Camera, Roberto Caon aderisce a gruppo Fi: "I forzisti unica proposta credibile", 4 August 2017, Agorà24, In December 2017 Act! was a founding member of Us with Italy (NcI), a pro-Berlusconi centrist electoral list within the centre-right for the 2018 general election, along with SC, splinters of AP (two groups, one led by Costa and the other by Maurizio Lupi), Direction Italy (DI), Cantiere Popolare (CP) and the Movement for the Autonomies (MpA).WEB,weblink Nasce "Noi con l'Italia", la lista dei centristi pro-Berlusconi, 19 December 2017, Repubblica.it, WEB,weblink "Noi con l'Italia", ecco la quarta gamba del centrodestra: ex FI, leghisti espulsi e alfaniani pentiti, 19 December 2017, Il Fatto Quotidiano, WEB,weblink Nasce Noi con l'Italia, la 'quarta gamba' del centrodestra, Francesco, Curridori, ilGiornale.it, 19 December 2017, NcI was later enlarged with the inclusion of the Union of the Centre (UdC)WEB,weblink Udc-Noi con l'Italia, è accordo. Sulla lista torna lo scudo crociato, Affaritaliani.it, WEB,weblink Nasce la stampella centrista di Forza Italia, Giuseppe Alberto, Falci, 30 December 2017, Corriere della Sera, WEB,weblink Berlusconi si appella ai delusi dalla politica: "Sarà sfida coi 5 Stelle", Anna Maria, Greco, ilGiornale.it, 30 December 2017, and Identity and Action (IdeA),WEB,weblink La tela Fitto-Cesa si allarga su 'Idea' di Gaetano Quagliariello, Affaritaliani.it, WEB,weblink Saremo noi a garantire l'autosufficienza al centrodestra. Parla Gaetano Quagliariello, Redazione, 5 January 2018, Formiche.net, with the goal of reaching 3.0%, required to win seats from proportional lists under a new electoral law.

Dissolution and merger with Forza Italia

Flavio Tosi once again ran for mayor in the municipal elections of Verona in 2022, supported by the Tosi List, by Act! and by Forza Italia. The final result was 23.9%, finishing third after Damiano Tommasi (candidate of the centre-left coalition, who won the ballot) and Federico Sboarina (candidate for Brothers of Italy and the League, defeated also due to the refused semblance with the lists is support of Tosi). On 15 June 2022, following the results of the first round of the Municipal election, Tosi finally announced the merger of the Tosi List and Act! into Forza Italia, bringing an end to the party's existence.Verona, l’ex leghista Flavio Tosi entra in Forza Italia. E ora per Sboarina è ancora più difficile rifiutare il suo sostegnoFlavio Tosi passa in Forza Italia: «La mia coalizione a Verona vuole apparentarsi» La telefonata di Berlusconi, la mail di Salvini, oggi l’incontro con Tajani: in ballo c’è il 23% dei voti. Il fedelissimo Bozza avverte: «Vogliamo un accordo chiaro e alla luce del sole»Tutte le liste di Tosi in Forza Italia: «Non fare l'accordo con Sboarina? Impossibile»

Ideology

Act! adopted a moderate approach, supporting social conservatism on public security, social liberalism on social themes (even though some of its elects were quite conservative on those issues), economic liberalism and federalism. Here were some of the positions held by the party:

• on social themes, it supported same-sex unions (not LGBT adoption),NEWS, Tosi: "Tifo Renzi non Salvini",weblink Antonio Rapisarda, Il Tempo, 28 January 2016, 15 March 2016, 17 March 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160317180320weblink">weblink dead, legalisation of prostitution, unification of law enforcement, re-introduction of 6 months of conscription;
• on the economy, it supported tax cuts, abolition of the so-called "house tax" (IMU) and end to "field research";WEB,weblink Economia e Lavoro, Act!, 13 November 2015, 15 March 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160324141559weblink">weblink 24 March 2016, dead,
• on constitutional issues, it supported federalism, unification of small municipalities, a strong premiership, a spoils system for public works and the abolition of the Italian Senate;WEB,weblink Buon Governo, Act!, 13 November 2015, 15 March 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160308104812weblink">weblink 8 March 2016, dead,
• on the judiciary, it supported abolition of early release of those convicted of serious crimes, anti-bureaucracy and role separation between judge and public prosecutor;WEB,weblink Giustizia, Act!, 13 November 2015, 15 March 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160308104827weblink">weblink 8 March 2016, dead,
• in foreign policy, it supported the War on Terror (including a war declaration to ISIL), limitation to immigration, and more independence from the European Union.WEB,weblink Italia-Europa, Act!, 13 November 2015, 15 March 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160309075552weblink">weblink 9 March 2016, dead,
• on defense, it supported more spending for the military.WEB,weblink Difesa Nazionale, Act!, 13 November 2015, 15 March 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160309075523weblink">weblink 9 March 2016, dead,

Leadership

• Secretary: Flavio Tosi
• Coordinator: Fabio Venturi

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• {{Official website}}

{{Italian political parties}}