page_title: Union of the Centre (2002)
section_title: Re-foundation
hierarchical_section_title: Union of the Centre (2002) / History / Re-foundation
caption_attribution_description: English: Lorenzo Cesa, Italian politician Italiano: Lorenzo Cesa, politico italiano Polski: Lorenzo Cesa, polityk włoski
context_page_description: The Union of the Centre, whose complete name is Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Lorenzo Cesa is the party's current secretary; Pier Ferdinando Casini was for years the most recognisable figure and de facto leader of the party, before eventually distancing from it in 2016. The UdC is a member of the European People's Party and the Centrist Democrat International, of which Casini was president from 2004 to 2015.
  The party was formed as Union of Christian and Centre Democrats in December 2002 upon the merger of the Christian Democratic Centre, the United Christian Democrats and European Democracy. In 2008 the party was the driving force behind the Union of the Centre, an alliance comprising, among others, The Rose for Italy of Bruno Tabacci and Savino Pezzotta, the Populars of Ciriaco De Mita and the Liberal Clubs of Ferdinando Adornato. Since then, the party's official name was neglected in favour of the alliance's and, since most of the UdC member parties have joined the UDC too, the UDC and the UdC started to overlap almost completely to the point that they are now undistinguishable.
context_section_description: In 2016 Casini did not renew his membership to the party, which was thus deprived of its most recognisable leader. Additionally, while still being part of the government and AP, the UdC chose not to support the "yes" in the 2016 constitutional referendum and to distance from the NCD, rejecting any notion of a joint party. In the run-up of the referendum the party was also abandoned by president D'Alia. After the referendum, which saw a huge defeat of the "yes" side, the UdC left AP altogether, but, other than Casini and D'Alia, the party lost another deputy and, more important, minister Galletti. Antonio De Poli replaced D'Alia as president.
  In 2017 the UdC was joined by three senators from other parties. The party's new course was marked also by the return of Follini. For the 2017 Sicilian regional election the UdC re-joined the centre-right at the regional level. The decision led some leading former UdC members in Sicily to return into the party's fold, but was criticised by the party's deputy secretary Giuseppe De Mita, his uncle Ciriaco and Follini, who would jointly launch Italy is Popular, lead it into the Popular Civic List and join the centre-left coalition.
  In the run-up of the 2018 general election the UdC officially re-joined the centre-right coalition also at the national level, aiming at teaming up with other Christian-democratic parties, notably including the Union of Democrats for Europe (UDEUR), as well as the Italian Liberal Party (PLI) and Energies for Italy (EpI). Thus, the UdC joined Us with Italy (NcI), a pro-Berlusconi centrist electoral list formed by AP splinters (two groups, a Christian-democratic one led by Maurizio Lupi and a liberal one led by Enrico Costa), Direction Italy (DI), Civic Choice (SC), Act!, CP and the MpA, with the goal of reaching 3%, required to win seats from proportional lists under a new electoral law. NcI was later joined also by IdeA, UdC's partner in the Chamber of Deputies. In the election the NcI obtained a mere 1.3% of the vote and the UdC had three senators elected from single-seat constituencies: De Poli, Paola Binetti and Antonio Saccone. Soon after the election, the party quit NcI and formed a pact with FI.
caption: Lorenzo Cesa
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