Political parties in South Tyrol

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Voting a voter in the 2006 Italian general election.

Political parties are associations of people who pursue the goal (through free elections )to gainpolitical power in order to realize their material or ideal interests. For this reason, parties strive to fill leading positions in important social institutions (e.g. in state bodies, but also in formally non-political clubs and associations). In turn, parties are crucially involved in building and restructuring these institutions.

In public life, parties fulfill three essential functions:

  • they bundle interests and articulate them in public,
  • they influence the selection of political leaders,
  • they determine the public discourse and thereby ensure the legitimation (sometimes also the withdrawal of legitimation) of a practiced system of rule .

In South Tyrol , political parties have been operating on several institutional levels since the middle of the 19th century in order to formulate interests and implement goals that are related to the social life of the population in this region. Since the second half of the 20th century, the legislative institutions at regional and provincial level (especially the South Tyrolean Parliament ) have been of particular importance. However, political parties also operate in the smaller village and town communities; and they articulate their interests at the national and European level, especially since social life in the province of Bolzano is at the same time part of the social reality of Italy and Europe.

Municipalities: Municipal councils, municipal committees and mayors

The province of Bolzano consists of 116 municipalities , which, depending on the number of inhabitants, have municipal councils with different mandates. The implementation of the municipal legislation is the responsibility of the municipal committees and mayors , who are responsible to the municipal councils . Municipal councilors and mayors are re-elected by the municipal citizens entitled to vote after a five-year term of office.

Especially in the rural communities of South Tyrol, the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP) has been the strongest political force since the first post-war municipal council elections in 1952 (with the exception of Bolzano, which was first elected in 1948). In the urban communities of Bozen , Meran and Laives , on the other hand, due to the strong presence of state parties, there is sometimes intense political pluralism.

Especially since the municipal council elections in 2005, more independent citizen lists have been formed in the peripheral, rural and German-speaking municipalities, who deliberately differentiated themselves from the SVP and were in part supported by regional opposition parties .

Province: South Tyrolean Parliament and South Tyrolean Provincial Government

Parliament

The South Tyrolean state parliament has been the most important legislative body in the province of Bolzano since the second autonomy status for South Tyrol was enacted by the Italian parliament (1972), as numerous areas of society can be regulated with laws of the state parliament. In the state elections, which take place every five years, the 35 seats of the state parliament are awarded proportionally according to the strength of the votes of the campaigning parties (i.e. using the proportional representation system ).

For the current legislative period 2018–23, the 2018 state elections resulted in the following distribution of mandates:

Distribution of mandates in the South Tyrolean Parliament from 2018–2023
1
6th
3
1
15th
2
2
4th
1
1 6th 3 1 15th 2 2 4th 1 
A total of 35 seats

Political party Number of votes Share of voters
in percent		 Mandates
South Tyrolean People's Party 119.109 41.9
15/35
Team Köllensperger 43,315 15.2
6/35
Lega Nord 31,510 11.1
4/35
Verdi Green Vërc - LeU 19,392 6.8
3/35
The Freedom 17,620 6.2
2/35
South Tyrolean freedom 16,927 6.0
2/35
Partito Democratico 10,808 3.8
1/35
MoVimento 5 place 6,670 2.4
1/35
L'Alto Adige nel cuore - Fratelli d'Italia 4,882 1.7
1/35
BürgerUnion for South Tyrol 3,665 1.3
0/35
Noi per l'Alto Adige - We for South Tyrol 3,428 1.2
0/35
Forza Alto Adige 2,826 1.0
0/35
CasaPound Italia 2,451 0.9
0/35
United Left - Sinistra unita 1,753 0.6
0/35

State government

The South Tyrolean state parliament confirms the members of the South Tyrolean state government by an absolute majority . The state government ensures the concrete implementation of the state laws, for which it has an appropriate administrative apparatus, further decision-making powers and the appropriate funds (see: regional level). Currently the XVI. State government in office, which is composed as follows:

Surname Office Political party Language group Department
Arno Kompatscher Governor SVP German External relations, Europe, municipalities, finance, human resources, information technology, university, research and innovation, museums, sport
Arnold Schuler 1. Deputy governor SVP German Agriculture and forestry, tourism, civil protection
Giuliano Vettorato 2. Deputy governor LN Italian Italian education, Italian culture, energy, environment
Daniel Alfreider 3. Deputy Governor SVP ladin Ladin education, Ladin culture, transport network, mobility
Philipp Achammer Provincial Council SVP German German education, German culture, industry, handicrafts, trade and services, work, integration
Massimo Bessone Provincial Council LN Italian Building construction and technical service, property, land register and cadastre
Waltraud Deeg Provincial Councilor SVP German Social, housing, family and seniors
Maria Hochgruber Kuenzer Provincial Councilor SVP German Spatial planning and landscape protection, monument protection
Thomas Widmann Provincial Council SVP German Health, digital infrastructure, cooperatives

Region: Regional council and regional government for Trentino-South Tyrol

The province of Bolzano (South Tyrol) forms since the enactment of the Italian constitution in 1948 together with the province of Trento the Region Trentino-Alto Adige .

Until 1972, the most important competences for the development of the constitutionally anchored regional autonomy for South Tyrol lay with the region. With the adoption of the Second Statute of Autonomy in the Italian Parliament in the course of the 1970s and 80s, numerous competencies were transferred from the region to the two provinces of Trento and Bolzano, which is why the political bodies of the Trentino-Alto Adige region have had little political power since the 1990s Importance.

The shift in weight from the region to the two provinces is reflected in the amount of funds available to the respective institutions. For 2013, the South Tyrolean state parliament passed an expenditure budget of 4,646,800,000 euros, the state parliament of the Province of Trento a total of 5,157,000,000 euros, while the Presidium of the joint regional council Trentino-Alto Adige for 2014 only totaled 33,500,000 Euro priced.

Regional council

Distribution of mandates in the regional council for Trentino-South Tyrol from 2018–2023
3
6th
3
2
6th
1
4th
15th
3
2
7th
18th
3 6th 3 2 6th 1 4th 15th 3 2 7th 18th 
A total of 70 seats
  • M5S : 3
  • TK : 6
  • Greens : 3
  • Futura : 2
  • PD : 6
  • UpT : 1
  • PATT : 4
  • SVP : 15
  • Q : 3
  • STF : 2
  • Italian center-right : 7
  • LN : 18

The regional council of Trentino-South Tyrol has lost much of its political importance since the Italian parliament issued the second autonomy status for South Tyrol (1971). It is made up of the 35 members of the South Tyrolean and Trentino Landtag.

Regional government

Since February 2019 the XVI. Regional government of Trentino-South Tyrol in office. It consists of the following members:

Surname Office Political party Language group
Arno Kompatscher president SVP German
Maurizio Fugatti 1st Vice President LN Italian
Waltraud Deeg 2nd Vice President SVP German
Claudio Cia Regional assessor Agire Italian
Giorgio Leonardi Regional assessor FI Italian
Manfred Vallazza Regional assessor SVP ladin

State level: Italian Parliament and State Government

Plenary Chamber of the Italian Chamber of Deputies . It has 630 mandataries; 11 of them were elected in the constituency of Trentino-South Tyrol.

Since the Italian Constitution came into force in 1948, the Italian Parliament has consisted of two equivalent chambers, the Chamber of Deputies (which includes 630 mandataries) and the Senate (which comprises 315 senators plus a variable number of senators for life ).

Chamber of Deputies

In the parliamentary elections of March 2018 , the following eleven mandataries in the constituency of the Trentino-South Tyrol region were elected to the Chamber of Deputies :

Political party Mandates MPs
Center-left coalition ( PD , SVP , PATT and others)
5/11
 Maria Elena Boschi (PD), Renate Gebhard , (SVP), Albrecht Plangger (SVP), Manfred Schullian (SVP), Emanuela Rossini (PATT),
Center-right coalition ( FI , Lega , FdI and others)
5/11
 Vanessa Cattoi (Lega), Stefania Segnana (Lega), Diego Binelli (Lega), Maurizio Fugatti (Lega), Giulia Zanotelli (Lega)
Movimento 5 place
1/11
 Riccardo Fraccaro

senate

In the parliamentary elections of March 2018 , the following seven mandataries were elected to the Senate :

Political party Mandates MPs
Center-left coalition ( PD , SVP , PATT and others)
4/7
 Gianclaudio Bressa (PD), Meinhard Durnwalder (SVP), Dieter Steger (SVP), Julia Unterberger (SVP)
Center-right coalition ( FI , Lega , FdI and others)
3/7
 Andrea De Bertoldi (FdI), Donatella Conzatti (FI), Elena Testor (FI)

Parliamentary legislative commissions for Trentino-South Tyrol

The regional autonomies for South Tyrol and Trentino are essentially based on the sum of legislative competences that are transferred to the regional constitutional institutions (e.g. the South Tyrolean Parliament) by the central government and legislative bodies (e.g. the Italian parliament). With the entry into force of the Second Statute of Autonomy in 1972, three permanent commissions were formed for this ongoing negotiation and transfer process, specifically: two six- person commissions (one for the Province of Bolzano, one for the Province of Trento), which together form the Twelve Commission for the Put together the Trentino-South Tyrol region.

The commissions are made up of equal numbers, ie half of their members are appointed by the central government in Rome, the second half by the respective regional or provincial institutions in Bolzano and Trento. The Twelve Commission and both Six Commissions are legally required to be involved in the above-mentioned transfers of powers and therefore occupy a key political position. Changes of government can sometimes delay the periodic replacement of the commissions and thereby block their work. The commissions are currently composed as follows:

Members of the Twelve Commission for the Trentino-South Tyrol region
Members of the Commission of Six for the Province of Bolzano (South Tyrol) Members of the Commission of Six for the Province of Trento (Trentino)

State government

The government of the Republic of Italy has been formed by a Prime Minister- designate since 1948 on behalf of the Italian President . For the definitive commencement of official business, the government requires the majority approval of both chambers of parliament; Both chambers can then withdraw their trust in the government at any time and thus force it to resign. The maximum term of office of the Italian government is linked to that of Parliament and therefore cannot exceed five years.

Since 1948, parties that were also represented in the political institutions of South Tyrol were involved in the Italian government. The most important government parties include the Democrazia Cristiana (DC) (for the years 1948 to 1994) and the party alliances around Forza Italia and Popolo della Libertà (PdL) and L'Ulivo and Partito Democratico (PD). The strongest regional party in South Tyrol, the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP), has not participated in any government to date, but has been largely pro-government in the Roman parliament since 1948. Until 1994 the SVP expressed its confidence in most of the governments with DC participation; since the turn of the millennium it has tended to support the governments of the center-left parties around the Partito Democratico.

Politicians from South Tyrol have only been entrusted with a government office since 1948. Michaela Biancofiore (PdL) held the post of State Secretary in the Letta government for several months in 2014 .

European Union

Meeting room of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. It currently has 754 mandataries from 27 countries.

European Parliament

The European Parliament was first elected in 1979 by the citizens of the then EC member states. In contrast to the national parliaments of today's EU states, however, it only has very limited legislative powers.

In the 2014 European elections , in which a total of 751 mandates were awarded in 27 member states (73 of them in Italy), Herbert Dorfmann won through the constituency of Northeast (which includes the regions of Veneto , Trentino-South Tyrol , Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Emilia-Romagna ) as Representative of the SVP entered the European Parliament for a second legislative period after his first election in the 2009 European elections.

Former MEPs from the Province of Bolzano

European region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino

The European region Tyrol – South Tyrol – Trentino (Euregio) was founded in 1998 on the basis of applicable European legal provisions . The European region does not have any legislative competences, but rather fulfills the task of coordinating the desired cooperation between the historical parts of Tyrol (today the federal states of Tyrol , South Tyrol , Trentino ) within the framework of the ongoing Europeanization / transnationalization of politics. So far, the main aim of the cooperation is to raise EU funding for work projects in the region. Formally, the Euregio was transformed into a European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) in 2011 . The Alpine Convention, founded in 1989, is a similar transnational institution, primarily aimed at network building, with South Tyrolean participation .

Pre-parliamentary lobbyists

Political parties also act as a link (gatekeeper) between state institutions and civil society. Accordingly, they are in mutual, in some cases closely, connected with pre-parliamentary interest groups.

Pre-parliamentary interest groups can arise independently of parties from civil society (as non-governmental organizations ). These interest groups are usually limited to lobbying one or more parties for their central concern in order to achieve the realization of their project. Well-organized mass parties , on the other hand, can set up their own run-up organizations in order to intensify the recruitment of sympathizers for the party and, for their part, to promote awareness-raising on specific issues in civil society.

Interest groups generally act on the level of information transfer and network building, but in some cases also offer (free) services. Occasionally, special service providers (e.g. in social welfare) can develop into significant interest groups through their key social position. Numerous interest groups are active in South Tyrol, some of which have a large number of members and are associated with political parties in various forms and intensities:

Historical Parties and Political Movements

Only those groups are listed that have been represented in the South Tyrolean parliament since 1948 or that have had a relevant influence on political competition in the province.

In liberal Italy (1919–1922)

In the time of fascism and national socialism (1922–1945)

Authoritarian parties:

Democratic resistance:

Development of regional autonomy during the Cold War (1946–1994)

(Temporarily) governing parties:

Opposition groups:

Parties of the 1990s and the turn of the millennium (1995–)

(Temporarily) governing parties:

Parliamentary opposition parties:

literature

Political system
  • Claus Gatterer : In the fight against Rome. Citizens, minorities and autonomies in Italy , Europa Verlag , Vienna / Frankfurt / Zurich 1968.
  • Joachim Gatterer: Against the trend. The Italy-wide referendums in the province of Bolzano from 1974 to 2009 , in: Günther Pallaver (Ed.): Politika10. Yearbook for Politics, Edition Raetia , Bozen 2010, pp. 131–151, ISBN 978-88-7283-362-9 .
  • Christoph Gögele: South Tyrol's path to direct democracy. The development of the legal regulation with special consideration of the state law 11/2005 , in: Günther Pallaver (Hrsg.): Politika10. Yearbook for Politics, Edition Raetia, Bozen 2010, pp. 153–178, ISBN 978-88-7283-362-9
  • Joseph Marko / Sergio Ortino / Francesco Palermo / Leonhard Voltmer / Jens Woelk (eds.): The Constitution of South Tyrolean Autonomy , Nomos Verlag , Baden-Baden 2005, ISBN 978-3-8329-1159-1 .
  • Günther Pallaver : South Tyrol's parties and party system: Ethnic, fragmented and centrifugal, in: ders. (Ed.): Politika 09. Yearbook for Politics, Edition Raetia, Bozen 2009, pp. 245–270. ISBN 978-88-7283-333-9
  • Günther Pallaver: Südtirol: From ethnic to territorial cleavage , in: ders. (Ed.): Politika 10th year book for politics, Edition Raetia, Bozen 2010, pp. 377–405. ISBN 978-88-7283-362-9
  • Günther Pallaver: South Tyrol's Parties: Analyzes, Trends and Perspectives , Edition Raetia, Bozen 2018, ISBN 978-88-7283-505-0
  • Flavia Pristinger: Ethnic conflict and modernization in the South Tyrol , in: Charles R. Foster (Ed.): Nations without a State. Ethnic Minorities in Western Europe, Praeger, New York 1980, pp. 153-188.
  • Flavia Pristinger: La minoranza dominante nel Sudtirolo. Divisione etnica del lavoro e processi di modernizzazione dall'annessione agli anni settanta , Edizione Pàtron, Bologna 1978.
  • Helmut Reinalter : History of Democracy in Tyrol , in: ders. (Ed.): Anno Neun 1809-2009. Critical studies and essays, StudienVerlag, Innsbruck / Wien / Bozen 2009, pp. 280–300, ISBN 978-3-7065-4356-9
Individual parties and ideological currents
  • Oswald Angerer: Die Freiheitlichen Südtirols: Origin, program, organizational structure, acceptance; with special consideration of their cooperation with the Freedom Party of Austria and their position on the South Tyrol question , politikwiss. Diploma thesis, Innsbruck 2000.
  • Hermann Atz: The Greens of South Tyrol. Profile and voter base , StudienVerlag : Innsbruck / Wien / Bozen 2007, ISBN 9783706540704 .
  • Claus Gatterer: South Tyrol and right-wing extremism , in: Documentation archive of the Austrian resistance (ed.): Right-wing extremism in Austria after 1945, Bundesverlag, Vienna 1979, pp. 336–353.
  • Joachim Gatterer: "Give everything, expect nothing!" The Communist Party of Italy in the province. A contribution to transregional contemporary historiography in South Tyrol , in: Hannes Obermair et al. (Ed.): Regional civil society in motion. Festschrift for Hans Heiss , Folio Verlag , Vienna / Bozen 2012, pp. 301–324, ISBN 978-3-85256-618-4 .
  • Joachim Gatterer: Marginal figures: South Tyrolean members of the state parliament from 1948–2013 , in: Günther Pallaver (ed.): Politika 14. Jahrbuch für Politik, Edition Raetia / Nomos Verlag, Bozen 2014, pp. 391–414, ISBN 978-3 -84871-455-1 .
  • Joachim Gatterer: "Red mites in the plumage". Social democratic, communist and green alternative party politics in South Tyrol. StudienVerlag, Innsbruck / Vienna / Bozen 2009. ISBN 978-3-7065-4648-5 .
  • Joachim Goller: The Brixen directions. The South Tyrolean People's Party, the Catholic camp and the clergy . StudienVerlag, Innsbruck / Vienna / Bozen 2008, ISBN 978-3-7065-4230-2 .
  • Thomas Götz: Bourgeoisie and Liberalism in Tyrol 1840–1873. Between city and region, state and nation , SH-Verlag, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-89498-101-6 .
  • Anton Holzer : The South Tyrolean People's Party . Kulturverlag, Thaur / Tirol 1991. ISBN 3-85395-157-0
  • Stefan Lechner: The conquest of those of foreign origin. Provincial fascism in South Tyrol (1921–1926) , Wagner University Press, Innsbruck 2005. ISBN 3-7030-0398-7
  • Michael Wedekind: The National Socialist People's Group Organization in South Tyrol (1933-1945) , in: Giuseppe Ferrandi / Günther Pallaver (Ed.): The region of Trentino-South Tyrol in the 20th century. Volume I: Politics and Institutions, Museo Storico in Trento, Trient 2007, pp. 401–434.
  • Michael Wedekind: National Socialist Occupation and Annexation Policy in Northern Italy 1943 to 1945. The operational zones "Alpine Foreland" and "Adriatic Coastal Land" , Oldenbourg Verlag , Munich 2003. ISBN 3-486-56650-4
Periodicals

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Budget Province of Bolzano 2013 according to the Provincial Law of December 20, 2012, No. 23 ( Memento of the original of October 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.provinz.bz.it
  2. ↑ Legge Provinciale, December 27, 2012, n.26 (PDF; 33 kB)
  3. ↑ Resolution proposal no. 33 , introduced by the Regional Council Presidency on July 23, 2013.
  4. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.grandeoriente.it