360 Association

360 Association ("Associazione 360") is a centrist faction within the Democratic Party (PD), a political party in Italy. It is led by Enrico Letta and that is why its members are often called "Lettiani".

The association was founded during the summer of 2007 in support of the candidacy of Enrico Letta, a former Christian Democrat, to the leadership of the newly-formed party [ [http://www.associazione360.it/sezioni/chi_siamo Associazione 360 ] ] and represents a centrist position within the party, as he has good relations with almost all the factions of the party, including "Veltroniani", "Rutelliani", "Dalemiani" and the Reformists and Democrats, Ulivists, of which he has been considered a member, and The Populars, of which he is currently member.

History

Democrats for Letta

The candidacy of Letta in the 2007 Democratic primary election was supported by the "Democrats for Letta" lists [ [http://www.democraticiperletta.info/ DemocraticiPerLetta.info - Home ] ] , representing the liberal component of the Ulivists, that is to say the faction which was closer to Romano Prodi, and including Paolo De Castro, Umberto Ranieri, Gianni Pittella (leader of the Italian delegation to the Party of European Socialists in the European Parliament), Renato Soru (and his Sardinia Project party), Vito De Filippo, Gian Mario Spacca, Lorenzo Dellai, Marco Stradiotto and Francesco Boccia [ [http://www.cantieredemocratico.it/news.asp?id=129&mese=7&anno=2007 cantieredemocratico.it - - Notizie: Pd: per Veltroni tre liste nazionali ] ] . Soru, De Filippo, Spacca and Dellai were respectively President of Sardinia, Basilicata, Marche and the Province of Trento, and the last three represented the more conservative and traditionally christian-democratic faction within Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy, the party of which Letta was a leading member, while Ranieri and Pittella represented the more centrist wing of the Democrats of the Left.

The "Democrats for Letta" list won 11.0% of the vote nationally, having its strongholds in Northern Italy (16.6% in Lombardy 1, the constituency of Milan, 15.3% in Veneto 1, comprising the Provinces of Verona, Vicenza and Padua, 21.6% in the Province of Bolzano, 25.9% in the Province of Bolzano) and in some regions of the South (26.5% in Apulia, thanks to the endorsement of Francesco Boccia, and 27.4% in Basilicata, thanks to the support of President Vito De Filippo. [ [http://www.partitodemocratico.it/adon/files/totalegraf.pdf Documento senza titolo ] ]

Recent events

One of the current major goals of the group is to lead the party into an alliance with the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC), while the group is critical with the populist Italy of Values party, which run the 2008 general election in alliance with the Democrats. [ [http://www.associazione360.it/contenuti/senza_ludc_non_vinceremo_per_i_prossimi_ventanni Associazione 360 ] ] [ [http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2008/giugno/28/Letta_Udc_interlocutore_indispensabile_lancia_co_9_080628066.shtml Letta: Udc interlocutore indispensabile E lancia il «manuale di sopravvivenza» ] ] [ [http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2008/giugno/29/Letta_tenta_Casini_resiste_mai_co_9_080629108.shtml Letta lo tenta, Casini resiste: mai con Di Pietro ] ] In a meeting organized by 360 in June 2008 in Piacenza, UDC leader Pier Ferdinando Casini, explained that he could easily be member of a party alongside Letta, but not with Antonio Di Pietro's Italy of Values. [ [http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2008/giugno/30/Casini_Pietro_polizza_sulla_vita_co_9_080630031.shtml Casini: Di Pietro polizza sulla vita del premier, il Pd lo scarichi ] ]

In June 2008 some "Lettiani" joined forces with "Dalemiani", the group around Massimo D'Alema, who himself supports the alliance with UDC and a more structured party. [ [http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2008/giugno/25/Alema_lancia_Red_non_anti_co_9_080625043.shtml D' Alema lancia Red: non è anti-Walter ] ] [ [http://www.corriere.it/politica/08_maggio_07/alema_meli_6bab414c-1bfc-11dd-a20b-00144f486ba6.shtml D'Alema riunisce i suoi parlamentari Ticket Bersani-Letta. E allarga la corrente Corriere della Sera ] ] [ [http://www.lastampa.it/redazione/cmsSezioni/politica/200805articoli/32577girata.asp Veltroni spegne il caminetto del Pd - LASTAMPA.it ] ] [ [http://rassegna.camera.it/chiosco_new/pagweb/immagineFrame.asp?comeFrom=rassegna&currentArticle=IGUW8 Rassegna Stampa ] ] Paolo De Castro even became president of the new association of D'Alema, the Reformists and Democrats, while Francesco Boccia, a former Christian Democrat like Letta, announced that he, as "left-wing Catholic", has no problems with joining the Party of European Socialists [http://www.aprileonline.info/notizia.php?id=8287] , which is the main goal of "Dalemiani".

Following these moves of "Lettiani" and "Dalemiani", there is a talk of a possible ticket formed by Enrico Letta himself and Pier Luigi Bersani, a protégé of Massimo D'Alema who was stopped from running in 2007 along with Letta against Veltroni by D'Alema himself, to replace the current leadership formed by Walter Veltroni and Dario Franceschini, a left-wing Popular.

References

External links

* [http://www.associazione360.it Official website]