Italian Liberal Party

The Italian Liberal Party (; PLI) is a minor liberal political party in Italy, which considers itself to be the successor of the original Italian Liberal Party, the Italian main centre-right liberal party that was active in different capacities from 1922 to 1994. Originally named Liberal Party (Partito Liberale), the new PLI is not represented in the Italian Parliament. History Foundation and early years In July 1997 former members of the Italian Liberal Party (PLI) and, mostly, of the Union of the Centre (UdC), that is to say PLI's main successor, as well as some former Republicans formed the Liberal Party (PL). Most of its leading figures were also members of Forza Italia (FI): Stefano De Luca, Carlo Scognamiglio, Egidio Sterpa, Ernesto Caccavale, Luigi Caligaris and Guglielmo Castagnetti. Scognamiglio was a former President of the Senate (1994–96), De Luca, Caccavale and Caligaris MEPs, while Sterpa would have been elected to the Chamber of Deputies for FI in 2001. In December 2004 the party was merged with other liberal groups and, as result, its name was changed to Italian Liberal Party (PLI), along with the claim of being the successor of the historical PLI, disbanded in 1994. At that point the party was completely enfranchised from FI and the centre-right House of Freedoms coalition, even though Sterpa continued to be a deputy within FI's parliamentary group.