History
UdC was formed for the 2008 general election by an initiative of Pier Ferdinando Casini, leader of UDC. In the run-up of the election Ciriaco de Mita, former leader of Christian Democracy and later member of the Democratic Party (PD) joined UdC and was a candidate for the Senate. In the election UdC won 5.6% of the vote, 36 deputies (all but four members of UDC) and 3 senators. Soon after the election Mario Baccini, one of the leaders of the White Rose, surprisingly joined The People of Freedom (PdL), making the future of the alliance uncertain.
However, soon after the election, Casini relaunched his plan for a new "centrist" party, alternative both to the PdL and the PD. This is what he calls the "party of the nation", open to all the "centrists", the "Christian democrats", the "liberals" and the "reformers", even if he presents it as a party based on Christian values, as opposed both to the PD and the PdL, that, despite being a centre-right party too, includes also socially-liberal factions and people.
The new party, the evolution of the UdC, will emerge sometime in the future. Casini has long criticized the PdL for not being "Catholic" enough, particularly criticizing Silvio Berlusconi, who once spoke of "anarchy of values" in describing the catch-all nature of the PdL, and Gianfranco Fini, who is known for his socially liberal stance on stem-cell research, abortion and right-to-die issues, and explicitly wooed the "Christian democrats of the PD" to join him.
In the 2009 European Parliament election UdC won 6.5% of the vote and five of its candidates were elected to the European Parliament, including Allam and de Mita. In the 2010 regional elections the UdC chose to form alliances either with the centre-right or the centre-left (or stand alone) in the different regions, depending on local conditions, losing ground everywhere but in those Southern regions where it was in alliance with the centre-right.
On 15 December 2010 UdC was a founding member of the New Pole for Italy (NPI), composed also of Future and Freedom (FLI) and Alliance for Italy. The three parties, keen supporters of Mario Monti's government, have since parted ways.
The UdC contested the 2013 general election as part of the With Monti for Italy coalition, alongside FLI and the pro-Monti Civic Choice. The election was a huge defeat for UdC, which obtained a mere 1.8% of the vote, eight deputies and two senators.
Read more about this topic: Union Of The Centre (2008)
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