South Tyrolean People's Party

South Tyrolean People's Party
Südtiroler Volkspartei
ChairmanDieter Steger
SecretaryMartin Pircher
Founded8 May 1945; 79 years ago (1945-05-08)[1]
Preceded byDeutscher Verband
(not legal predecessor)
HeadquartersBrennerstraße 7/A, Bolzano
NewspaperZIS
Youth wingJunge Generation
Membership (2015)40,000[2]
Ideology
Political positionCentre[3]
European affiliationEuropean People's Party
European Parliament groupEuropean People's Party
Colors  Black   Red
Chamber of Deputies
3 / 400
Senate
2 / 200
European Parliament
1 / 76
Landtag of South Tyrol
13 / 35
Conference of Regions
1 / 21
Website
Official website

The South Tyrolean People's Party (German: Südtiroler Volkspartei, SVP) is a regionalist[4][5] and mostly Christian-democratic political party in South Tyrol, an autonomous province with a German-speaking majority in northern Italy. Dieter Steger has been party leader since 2024, while party member Arno Kompatscher has been governor of South Tyrol since 2014.

Founded on 8 May 1945, the SVP has roots in the Deutscher Verband, a confederation of German-speaking parties formed in 1919 after the annexation of South Tyrol by Italy, which shared many of the same leading figures as the early SVP.[5] An ethnic catch-all party,[6][7][8] the SVP is aimed at representing South Tyrol's German-speaking population, as well as Ladin speakers.[citation needed] It is mainly Christian-democratic,[9] but nevertheless quite diverse, including conservatives, liberals and social democrats.[10] The party also gives special attention to the interests of farmers, which make up a good deal of its electorate, especially in Alpine valleys.

From 1948 to 2013, the party retained an absolute majority in the Landtag of South Tyrol (Provincial Council). Its best result was 67.8% in the 1948 provincial election, its worst 34.5% in the 2023 provincial election. The SVP had a long-lasting alliance with Christian Democracy (plus the Italian Democratic Socialist Party or the Italian Socialist Party) and, since 1994, with some of its successor parties, including the Italian People's Party and the Democratic Union of Alto Adige, as well as the Democratic Party of the Left and, later, the Democrats of the Left and the Democratic Party. That coalition 25 years, until the party chose to team up with Lega Alto Adige Südtirol, local section of Lega Nord / Lega, in 2019. The coalition was enlarged to the Brothers of Italy, Die Freiheitlichen and The Civic List after the 2023 provincial election.

The SVP has a sister party in Trentino, the Trentino Tyrolean Autonomist Party (PATT). In the Italian Parliament the SVP teams up with other regionalist parties, notably including the Valdostan Union from Aosta Valley, while at the European level it is a member of the European People's Party (EPP)[11] and has recently formed electoral pacts with Forza Italia, Italy's main EPP member.[12][13]

  1. ^ Rolf Steininger (2003). South Tyrol: A Minority Conflict of the Twentieth Century. Transaction Publishers. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-4128-3482-7. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  2. ^ "Tessere, delusione Svp Meno di 40 mila iscritti". Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  3. ^ Davide Vampa (2016). The Regional Politics of Welfare in Italy, Spain and Great Britain. Springer. p. 61. ISBN 978-3-319-39007-9.
  4. ^ Guy Puzey (2012). "Two-Way Traffic: How Linguistic Landscapes Reflect and Influence the Politics of Language". In Durk Gorter; Heiko F. Marten; Luk Van Mensel (eds.). Minority Languages in the Linguistic Landscape. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-230-27244-6.
  5. ^ a b Günther Pallaver (2016). "The Südtiroler Volkspartei: Success through conflict, failure through consensus". In Oscar Mazzoleni; Sean Mueller (eds.). Regionalist Parties in Western Europe: Dimensions of Success. Taylor & Francis. pp. 107–134. ISBN 978-1-317-06895-2.
  6. ^ Günther Pallaver (2008). "South Tyrol's Consociational Democracy: Between Political Claim and Social Reality". In Jens Woelk; Francesco Palermo; Joseph Marko (eds.). Tolerance Through Law: Self Governance and Group Rights In South Tyrol. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 305, 309. ISBN 978-90-04-16302-7.
  7. ^ David Lublin (2014). Minority Rules: Electoral Systems, Decentralization, and Ethnoregional Party Success. Oxford University Press. p. 229. ISBN 978-0-19-994884-0.
  8. ^ K. Beyme (1996). Transition to Democracy in Eastern Europe. Springer. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-230-37433-1.
  9. ^ Maurizio Cotta; Luca Verzichelli (2007). Political Institutions in Italy. Oxford University Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-19-928470-2. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  10. ^ Pallaver, Günther (2007), "Südtirols politische Parteien 1945-2005" (PDF), Die Region Trentino-Südtirol im 20. Jahrhundert — 1: Politik und Institutionen (in German), p. 610, archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016, retrieved 14 February 2015 or Pallaver, Günther (2007), "I partiti politici in Alto Adige dal 1945 al 2005" (PDF), La Regione Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol nel XX secolo — I: Politica e Istituzioni (in Italian), p. 580, archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2016, retrieved 14 February 2015
  11. ^ "EPP - European People's Party - Parties & Partners". EPP - European People's Party. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  12. ^ Rainews, Redazione di (19 February 2019), Elezioni Europee, la Svp sceglie Forza Italia. E ci sarà anche il Patt (in Italian), retrieved 10 January 2024
  13. ^ "Europee: Accordo Forza Italia-SVP per candidatura Dorfmann - Notizie - Ansa.it". 16 April 2024.