National Alliance (Italy) - Ideology

Ideology

National Alliance's political program emphasized:

• traditional values, being often close to the position of the Roman Catholic Church, despite some social liberal and secular attitudes;
• law and order, especially laws aimed at controlling immigration and implementing punishment;
• support for Israel, the United States and European integration;
• prohibitionism about any kind of drugs, including marijuana.

Distinguishing itself from the MSI, the party distanced itself from Benito Mussolini and Fascism and made efforts to improve relations with Jewish groups. With most hardliners leaving the party, it sought to present itself as a respectable conservative party and to join forces with Forza Italia in the European People's Party and, eventually, in a united party of the centre-right.

Although the party approved market economy and held favourable views on liberalizations and the privatization of state industries, however AN was to the left of Forza Italia on economic issues and sometimes supported statist policies. That is why the party was strong in Rome and Lazio, where most civil servants live. Moreover AN presents itself as a party promoting national cohesion, national identity and patriotism.

Regarding institutional reforms, the party was a long-time supporter of presidentialism and a plurality voting system, and came to support also federalism and to fully accept the alliance with Lega Nord, although the relations with that party were tense at times, especially about issues regarding national unity.

Gianfranco Fini, a moderniser who sees Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron as models, impressed an ambitious political line to the party, combining the pillars of conservative ideology like security, family values and patriotism with a progressive approach in other areas such as stem cell research and supporting voting rights for legal aliens. Some of these positions were not shared by many members of the party, most of whom staunchly opposed stem cell research and artificial insemination.