the südtiroler volkspartei: a successful ethnoregionalist party
TRANSCRIPT
1
The Südtiroler Volkspartei: a successful ethnoregionalist party
Nicoletta Di Sotto University of Roma Tre, Faculty of Political Science Department of International Studies (DIPSI), Rome
Paper prepared for the ECPR Graduate Conference 2008
Panel No. 251, “Ethno-regionalist Parties in Western Europe”
Chairs: Régis DANDOY, ULB and Jorge TUÑON NAVARRO, Madrid University
Barcelona, 25-27 August 2008
2
Abstract In this paper, through a case-analysis, will be investigated the determinants of the success of the Südtiroler Volkspartei. This is the most important ethnoregionalist party in Italy, because it has been able to became the point of reference of the South-Tyrolean minority and, moreover, it has gained the majority of seats and votes in the Province of Bolzano since the 1948 (the first local election). But, its role it is important also because it has been able to represent and defend the interests of the South-Tyrolean minority towards the central state transforming a “critical situation” (there have been bomb attacks in the ‘60s and ‘70s) into a “peaceful situation”. Probably, this is due also the role of the international dimension: Austria has asked to the UNO to intervene in order to defend the cultural homogeneity of the South-Tyrolean people towards the central state. Moreover, the SVP has had the resources and the capacities to renew its party politics along more then fifty years of lifespan. Accordingly, this case represent a “successful” model in order to see which are the elements that can influence and determine the success of the ERPs in Western Europe.
1. Introduction
The Südtiroler Volkspartei, the first democratic party founded in South Tyrol after the end of
the Second World Was, is a popular party, that has always maintained as major objective the
defence of the German and Ladin speaking living in South Tyrol. Hence, the SVP represent
the a linguistic cleavage1 between the German minority and the Italian one: ethnic minority
who does not recognise itself as part of the national state either from a cultural point of view.
This party, founded in the 1945, is as a political consequence of the Nazi-fascist repression of
the German speaking in the South Tyrol. Nevertheless, the creation of this party, that can be
considered “ethnic” as declared in its statute (article 12), is not only a consequence of the
abuse that the population has suffered, because its roots are far in the past. The feeling of a
common cultural identity of the South Tyrolean group was present before the 1921. In the
1905 it was founded the Tiroler Volksbund (TV) that was supported by all the German
speaking. After the Italian annexation of the South Tyrol in the 1919, the Deutscher Verband
(DV) was the new base for co-operative work of all the German-speaking parties, with the
exception of the Social Democrats. It is quite evident the political continuity of the DV and
the SVP: some representatives of the DV became part of the SVP3 as it is possible to see in
the following Table 1.
1 As it is well known S. Rokkan (1983) has developed the theory of the cleavages assuming that the origin of the party systems in European Countries is related to two revolution (National and Industrial revolution) that have created four cleavages. From the centre-periphery cleavage derives the born of the ethno-regionalist parties that aim to defence the interests of the peripheries (from an economic or cultural point of view) towards the centre. 2 “Art.1 The SVP is a political party that has the aim to preserve, with any legal way, the interests of the South Tyrolean people, keeping into consideration the party programme approved at the general assembly. The place of the party is in Bolzano”. 3 See also Table 5.
3
Table 1. Members of the DV that took part to the SVP
Walter Amonn Johann Frick Michael Gamper Franz Innerhofer-Tanner Josef Menz-Popp Paul Freiherr v. Sternbach Karl Tinzl
Source: Holzer 1991.
The SVP was the fusion of the DV and the TV. Two political parties that had characterised
the political life of the South Tyrol until that time. Then, the SVP took some organisational
and functional aspects of these parties (like the symbol of the edelweiss and the close
interaction with the Farmers’ Association) but renewing them at the same time, in particular
reinforcing the ethnic ideology of the SVP.
The role of the post-fascism has been important in reinforcing the identity of the minority and
in creating a political party that could represents their rights towards the central government.
The application of a special autonomy for the region where the minority stable lived,
represents the democratic solution of a conflict that has affected the political life and social
stability of the South Tyrol since the early ‘60s until the 1992 when it has been signed, by
Italy, Austria and South Tyrol itself, the end of the resolution of the conflict at the UNO4.
According to many authors the SVP represents an exception within the ethno-regionalists
parties (ERPs) because, while in many cases it has been possible to rise a strong decline of
these parties when they succeed in gaining their objects, this is not truth for SVP (Urwin
1983). Which are the elements that let the party to be still in government whenever for the
minority there is no more need to defend the rights of them? What makes the difference
among the SVP and the other ERPs? These are the main questions from whom the research is
started. Therefore, it will be necessary to explain the main characteristics of the German and
Ladin speaking living in South Tyrol, to descript the SVP’s lifespan since 1945 until
nowadays, both from an electoral and an organisational point of view. Furthermore, it will be
exanimate how the continuous political transformation of the party and its capacity to adapt to
external changes, like the development of the European Integration, has let it to reinforce and
reorganise its role in representing the minority’s interests.
4 About the role of Austria and the ONU in resolving the conflicts existing in the South Tyrol will be discussed following.
4
The main hypothesis that drive the research assumes that the SVP is still a successful ethno-
regionalist party (whenever it is moving towards a regionalist party) because it has been able
to renew its politics basing on the idea of defending the minority towards any central power
(Rome or Brussels). Moreover, the capacity of the SVP to bind together the local associations,
the Catholic Church has created a stable political local system that is parallel to the national
one and that probably the SVP will not dispread its role either in the future.
2. The South Tyrolean minority
In order to examine in a more exhaustive way the SVP it is necessary firstly to present their
voters. The study that will be developed in the following pages starts from the analysis of the
dimensions that characterises the minorities present in each European countries, but in this
case we consider just the South-Tyrolean minority.
According to Grilli di Cortona (2004) it is possible to find six major dimensions that affect the
role and position of the minority nationalism:
1. the international dimension: namely, the presence of a third state that is interested in
defending the rights of the minority because of they share the same cultural, political
and historical origins i.e. Austria and the South Tyrol. Not in all cases the minority
existing in a country part or had been part in the past of a country that was
internationally recognised. Sometimes, like in the Spanish cases (i.e. Catalan people)
the minority derives from a cultural division existing within the country, division that
has never been “absorbed” or “integrated” with the creation of a national identity, but
at contrary, it has created a minority identity. In case of South Tyrol the creation of a
minority is a consequence of the political division of a territory that was part of the
Austria until 1919. This means that Austria has always had a role in defending the
peculiarities and rights of the South Tyrolean people becoming the “third actor” (after
the Italian and the South Tyrolean government) that has been involved in all the
agreements signed;
2. the institutional dimension: in some cases the region of whom the minority is part in
the past had its own government, with more autonomy towards the central state, but
this is not relevant for the case of South Tyrol5. The pre-existing of a institution
politically recognised can be reasonably used by a minority to request to the central
state the re-building of such autonomy in order to create a “state within the state” that
5 This dimension is quite important in Scotland.
5
represents the interests and rights of the minority that commonly live in such part of
the territory;
3. the demographic dimension: the minority is relevant from a quantitative point of view
because of they represent the majority of the region where their live i.e. the case of
South Tyrolean people. According to the Second State of Autonomy signed by the
Italian State and the South Tyrol it is institutionally recognised the presence of three
ethnic groups in South Tyrol: the Italian group, the German group6 and the Ladin
group. The first one is the group more relevant at national level, but within this region
it represents a minority, while the German group, and the Ladin group represent,
within the region, the majority group. The role of the Second State of Autonomy was
to guarantee the peaceful living in a region that had been affected by the repression
imposed by the fascist regime particularly again the German and Ladin groups;
4. the economic dimension: in some cases the minority is distributed into social classes
more powerful in the community i.e. the South Tyrolean people commonly are
peasants or commercial (the two main classes in the Province). The South Tyrol is
characterised for having developed an agricultural economy increasing in that way the
link with the land (Heimat) that did not represent only the place of origin, but also the
main economic resources. The economic stratification reinforce the cultural division
that exists within this region making more and more enormous the distance among the
ethnic groups (Hecther 1978);
5. the religious dimension: the minority is part of a religion that is different from the one
of the rest of population at national level7. This dimension is particularly relevant in
those minorities where the defence of their rights is also a defence of the religious
freedom. As it is commonly known, the internal conflicts derived from such division
can became the source of terrorism acts that don’t find easily a peaceful solution. In
the case of South Tyrol the main religion has always been the Catholic one as for the
rest of national population, so there has never been any religious contrasts in the
region. Moreover, there always been a strong support of the Catholic Church towards
the defence of the South Tyrolean rights mainly due to their Catholicism;
6 Since the 1919 after the Peace Treaty of Saint-Germain the South Tyrol is part of the Italian State, while until than it had been an Austrian region. The Tyrol was political and geographically divided in two parts: the North and the South. While the North remained to the Austria, the South became part of Italy whenever the people living there where culturally part of another country. In this time there has been the creation of the South Tyrolean minority while before it was just South Tyrolean population. 7 This dimension is quite important in Northern Ireland.
6
6. the cultural dimension: the minority has its own cultural identity, mainly represented
by the language that is different from the one of the rest of population at national level
i.e. in case of South Tyrolean minority they are German speaking. The feeling of a
common identity made of uses, cultural heritage, customs and linguistic origins
reinforce the link with the Austria. In particular, Herder (2000) has underlined the role
of the language in defining and shaping the characteristics of the minority. According
to him the language has the power to divide the population into ethnic groups who do
not have either the possibility to communicate through each other. But, this
characteristic in not relevant in all cases, sometimes to have a linguistic identity do not
influence the ethnicity of a minority, whenever it can reinforce the feeling of
belonging of each person. This means that it is not possible to consider the language as
the only cleavage existing within a minority and the rest of the population, but just as
one of the elements that shape their identity.
As it is easily compressible the separation of the three ethnic groups (Italian, German and
Ladin), according to cultural, economic and social characteristics does not let to believe that
there could be an integration within the community, but there could be in any case a peaceful
living. The solution of the internal conflicts has requested the creation of a political force, a
political party, that could represent the interests of the German and Ladin speaking towards
the central government. The development of a sammelpartei (as is also called the SVP) has let
the creation of one of the main important and stable ethno-regionalist party in Western
Europe.
3. The hegemonic role of the SVP in the South Tyrol Province
The SVP, founded the 8th May 1945, is a successful party: since the 1948 it gains the majority
of votes and seats in the Province of Bolzano8. This means that the 90% of the German
speaking and the 60% of the Ladin speaking vote for the SVP, guaranteeing to the party the
political support necessary to govern in a stable way the province and, particularly,
guaranteeing the possibility to achieve all the party goals presented at the elections. As
already pointed out the German and Ladin speaking represent the majority in the Province of
Bolzano (see the following Table 2), while they are a minority considering the whole national
population.
8 Actually the Region Trentino Alto Adige is made by two Autonomy Province: the Province of Trento and the Province of Bolzano. Each province has guaranteed its special autonomy with the Statute of Autonomy of the 1972.
7
Table 2. Population is South Tyrol 1921-2001 according to linguistic groups (%)
Year German Ladin Italian Other 1921 75.9 3.9 10.6 9.6 1961 62.2 3.4 34.3 0.1 1971 62.9 3.7 33.3 0.1 1981 64.9 4.1 28.7 2.2 1991 67.9 4.3 27.6 4.0 2001 69.1 4.3 26.4 2.2
Source: ASTAT
The first local election in the Province of Bolzano, after the end of the Second World War,
were in 1948 and it represents the political legitimisation of the party. The Edelweiss (as it
also called because the Edelweiss represents the symbol of the SVP) is able to become a
managerial-political instruments that is crucial for the preservation of the ethnic groups
(German and Ladin speaking). The general political support recognised at the party, since the
first election, represents the starting point of the electoral success of the SVP that remains,
whenever with some decrease in the following local elections (particularly in the ‘90s).
Graph 1 SVP election results in the provincial elections 1948-2003
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
7 0
80
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1973
1978
1983
1988
1993
1998
2003
Prov incial elections
%
Source: Fonte: Holzer, 1991; www.camera.it
While in the Graph 1 is shown the electoral trend on the SVP since the 1948 in the following
Table 3 is shown the results in terms of seats in the provincial elections since the 1948:
8
Table 3. Seats in the Province of Bolzano since 1948
Party/ Year
1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 2003
SVP 20 22 22 22 25 25 34 34 35 35 35 35 35 DC/PPI 13 15 15 15 16 16 20 21 22 22 19 21 21 PSI 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 PCI/ PDS
1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 1 1 1 1
PSDI 1 1 1 1 1 1 PSLI 1 PLI 1 1 MSI/ AN
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 4 4 3 3
THP 1 SFP 1 SPS 2 1 Green 1 2 2 2 2 3 PDU/ FPS
1 1 1
PRI 1 Ufs 1 1 2 2 2 Die Freiheitliche
2 1 2
LN 1 Ladins 1 1 UCAA 1 Unitalia 1 1 FI 1 1 Centre-UDA
1
Source: data from the Province of Bolzano.
The ethnic aim of the party, that is represented in their party programme since the 1948 until
the ‘90s, has let the party to gain the complete representation of the German and Ladin
speaking (Pallaver 2000). According to the statute of the SVP it can be considered a centre
party in which the catholic aim is quite relevant due to the strict interaction that there have
been in the past years with the Catholic Church9. Also in the party’s statute of the 1947 it is
mentioned the referring to “Christian principles”.
This connection is confirmed also with the alliance that there always been with the
Democratic Christians (see the results of the parliamentary elections). But, in any case the
political representations of the SVP at national level did not support only centre-left
9 The Church has helped the German and Ladin speaking during the Nazi-fascist repression giving them support and helping them to defence their territory and cultural homogeneity.
9
government, but in some occasions the party voted for centre-right coalitions as is illustrated
in the following Table 4.
Table 4. Vote of confidence of the SVP since 1948 until 2008
Legislature Yes Abstension No I (1948-1953) De Gasperi
De Gasperi De Gasperi
II (1953-1958) De Gasperi Pella Fanfani Scelba Segni Zoli
III (1058-1963) Fanfani Segni Tambroni Fanfani Fanfani
IV (1963-1968) Leone Moro Moro Moro
V (1968-1972) Leone Rumor Rumor Rumor Colombo Andreotti
VI (1972-1976) Andreotti Rumor Rumor Moro Moro
VII (1976-1979) Andreotti Andreotti Andreotti
VIII (1979-1983) Andreotti Andreotti Andreotti
IX (1983-1987) Craxi Craxi Fanfani
X (1987-1992) Goria De Mita Andreotti Andreotti
XI (1992-1994) Amato Ciampi
XII (1994-1996) Berlusconi
10
Dini XIII (1996-2001) Prodi
D’ Alema D’ Alema Amato
XIV (2001-2006) Berlusconi XV (2006-2008) Prodi
XVI (2008) Berlusconi Source: Parlamentary documents
The confidence vote expressed by the SVP is strictly connected with the political collocation
of the party government: the SVP often voted “no” when in a centre-right executive was
included the MSI or other right parties. The party voted “yes” to centre-left parties that were
more close to its political ideology (Tempestini 1994). Whenever, the SVP is more interested
in defending the interests of the South Tyrol it expresses its own position connected with the
political ideology of the party who is more closer to a centre position than, obviously, to an
extreme right or extreme left position.
Since the 1945, the first national elections, the SVP gains a political representation becoming
the main political actor of the Province of Bolzano with whom the central state had to
interface. The party was represented also a political continuity and stability among the Italian
political system (Holzer, Schwecler 1994) 10 as it is possible to see in the following Table 6.
Table 6. Parliamentary elections 1948-2008: South Tyrolean members Years 1948 1953 1958 1963 1968 1972 1976 1979 1983 1987 1992 1994 1996 2001 20062008Mandate C/S C/S C/S C/S C/S C/S C/S C/S C/S C/S C/S C/S C/S C/S C/S C/S SVP 3/2 3/2 3/2 3/2 3/2 3/2 3/2 3/2 3/2 3/2 3/3 3/3 3/2 3/2 2/2 2/2 DC 1 1 1/1 1/1 1/1 MSI/AN 1 1 1/1 1/1 Green 1 PDS/DL 1 FI 1 -/2 SVP-Ulivo 1/1 -/3 PD 3/- PDL 3/- Northen Lega 1/-
Note: C= chamber, S= senate Source: Pallaver 2006; Italian Chamber.
10 In the early ’70s P. Farneti (1983) considered the SVP as an exception because of: 1. its stable presence as an ethno-regionalist party in the Italian party system; 2. its political stability; 3. its capacity to maintain a predominance role if the Province of Bolzano while in the other Italian regions (also with a special statute of autonomy like Friuli Venezia-Giulia and Valle d’Aosta) it has not been possible.
11
The stable presence of the party, as the major political party in the Province of Bolzano, has
let it to achieve all the objectives that it had declared, as mainly, the political representation of
the German and Ladin speaking interests and their defence towards the central government in
Rome. This stability is a basic characteristics of the party also from an internal point of view:
since the 1945 the SVP has had ten party chairmen. The main changes happened in the
previous period, until 1957, when the SVP was a notable party, while after the transformation
into a mass party it has shown a high level on internal stability.
The small number of party chairmen let to guarantee the stability of the party’s strategy as it
is possible to see in the following Table 5.
Table 5. Party chairmen since 1945 AMONN 1945 - 1948 MENZ-POPP 1948 -1951 EBNER 1951-1952 von GUGGENBERG 1952 -1954 TINZL 1954-1956 EBNER 1956-1957 MAGNAGO 1957 -1991 RIZ 1991-1991 BRUGGER 1992 - 2004 PICHLER ROLLE Since 2004 Source: SVP; Pallaver 2006
The social-economic conditions (the cultural and economic cleavage in the South Tyrol
region), the political history (the presence of a volkspartei before the SVP), the Nazi-fascist
repression have created the conditions for the development of a political party radically
structured with the territory like the SVP. The emergence of a single south Tyrolean party can
be interpreted as the political answer to the different external pressures: the creation of a
single ethno-regionalist party is the result of a historical necessity.
Due to its continuous political stability in the Province of Bolzano the SVP is considered one
of most successful ethno-regionalist party in Europe. Usually when we take into consideration
an ERP the analysis is focused on the results of the “local elections”, this is due to the fact
that the general elections do not represent the real political power of a ERP because its main
voters are regionally concentred. Also in this case we consider just the provincial elections,
whenever it is not underestimated the role that the SVP and its leader, in particular Silvius
12
Magnago11, have played at national level when they have been voted as political
representation of the Province of Bolzano in the Italian Senate.
The political stability of the SVP is not only due to the capacity of the party to represent the
interests and right of the German and Ladin speaking, but also to organisational elements:
1. the pyramidal organisation of the party because it is divided into seven local
committee, each of them has a chairman that has to report monthly to the regional
assembly the political actions and the strategy that it is necessary to apply;
2. the connection with the existing organisations and institutions both informally and
formally, happened through the ideology of its national character policy
(Sammelpartei). Thus the SVP has developed a system which is closely connected
with economic and social associations (Pallaver 2006).
As many authors have pointed out, in the last period it seems that also a small percentage of
the Italian speaking has started to vote for the SVP. Whenever the Italians did not let to be
part of the SVP until the mid of ‘90s, in the ultimate period there is a less strict ethnic
connotation of the party (Pallaver 2006) becoming from a ethno-regionalist party whose main
political aim is to represent the German and Ladin speaking to a regionalist party whose main
political aim is to represent the interests of the Province of Bolzano in its overall. This slight
tendency it not completed yet, so it is only possible to take into consideration also this
element, this change, whenever it is not completed yet.
4. The development of the SVP’s goals
The main political interest of the SVP was the realisation of the political and cultural
autonomy for the German and Ladin speaking in South Tyrol. The SVP can be considered a
catch all party because of its political capacity to represent not only one social class,
whenever the peasants are quite important in South Tyrol because this is one of the main
economic resources. The party has always had the aim to be the political representation of the
whole German and Ladin community without taking into consideration other internal or social
divisions.
To gain this objective it was necessary to sign an agreement with the Italian government that
could guarantee a special autonomy for the Province of Bolzano. The SVP’s politics since
1948 until 1992 is based on this: to gain the statute of autonomy. The right to the autonomy is
11 The charismatic Silvius Magnago was President of the SVP until 1991and President of the Province from 1957 until 1991 reassuming the two major powers and creating a personal monopoly (see Table 4).
13
part of the programmatic programme of the party since its foundation. It was as much
important to be the objective that characterised the politics of the SVP for many years.
The run to the statute of autonomy started in the 1948 with the Statute of Autonomy of the
region Trentino-Alto Adige, but it was not sufficient to guarantee the interests of the minority,
so since that moment the SVP became the principal political actor between Rome and the
South Tyrol. More than fifty years have influenced the political action of the SVP not only in
the South Tyrol, but also in Rome. As it has been possible to see in Table 1 the Edelweiss did
not maintain a constant political position towards the central government12 whenever the party
was close to the Christian-democratic parties, its position was bended with the intention of the
central government to reform the Statute of the region Trentino Alto-Adige.
After the 1948 there have been many discussions at national level in order to find an
agreement between South Tyrol, the central government and Austria. The climate in the South
Tyrol was characterised by a strong feeling of undemocratic solution and of repression made
by the Italian government that did not want to recognise the autonomy of the region. In this
period started a serious of terrorist acts that gave to the question of the South Tyrol an
international claim. This internal tensions started with the declaration made by the leader of
the party, Silvius Magnago in the 1957, during a manifestation organised by the SVP were
took part around 30.000 people, when he said “Los von Trient” (far from Trento). Since 1956
until 1967 there have been many terrorist attacks to whom the SVP took immediately the
distance and that affected the social and political life of the region for a long period.
Probably, also to stop the internal conflicts in the 1969 the SVP voted yes for the second
statute of autonomy for the region, the so called Pacchetto13. With the new statute the
competences moved from the regional level to the provincial level that, according to it, had to
be composed on the proportional representations of each ethnic group. This rule was
guaranteed with the article n.89 of the second statute of autonomy that was made to regulate
the equal opportunities for the three ethnic groups in the South Tyrol (these rule is applied
also for the access to the public administration). The “ethnic proportional” was considered a
democratic solution for the equal representation of each group. But, with the raise of the
second statute of autonomy the SVP loose part of its voters who did no accept the pragmatic
12 The SVP voted “yes” 26 times; “abstention” for 19 times; “no”, 8 times. The party tends to vote for yes in the early ‘50s (when the DC was at the government) then moved to abstention at the end of the ‘60s and than choose yes in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s (Tempestini 1994). 13 The Pacchetto was approved with 583 yes (52,8%) and 492 no (44,6%), but the Province of Bolzano gained an broad autonomy (Steininger 1993).
14
way adopted the party14: according to them the real objective of the SVP was to gain the full
independence for the Province of Bolzano, not to find an “agreement” with the Italian state.
So, while the SVP in the early period was considered an irredentist party because of its
intention not be part anymore of Italy, after the second statute of autonomy it can be
considered an autonomist party (De Winter 1998; Pallaver 2006).
Since that moment, in the party system of the South Tyrol appeared new political parties that
absorbed the extreme positions of some voters and party’s members and changed the position
of the SVP that wasn’t anymore a predominant party because no other political party was a
good competitor (Sartori 1976). These new political forces have never been able to gain as
much support as the SVP, but they can be considered as anti-system parties (see Table 3).
Austria has plaid an important role in determining the political choices of the SVP (in
particular starting from the ‘50s until the early ‘70s)15: since the 1946 the Austrian
government has never renounced to the defence of the rights of the German speaking living in
South Tyrol. This international dimension has let to gain more attention to the question of the
South Tyrol and to the destiny of its population, also from an international point of view. In
order to defend them the Austrian government has requested the intervention of the UNO
because of the violation of the rights of the South Tyrolean population.
In the 1992, with the UNO’s formal declaration of an end to the dispute, the primary aim of
the party was the realisation of a high level of autonomy to protect the German and Ladin
speaking population living in South Tyrol. After the conclusion of the Statute of Autonomy
the party loose another part of its support (in the provincial election the party gained the
52,04% of votes, while the extreme parties gained a good results) because some of the party’s
members though that the political objective of the SVP was raised and then the party did not
have a political role anymore. In the 1993 provincial election the SVP loosed the 8, 34% of
votes compared to the previous elections (see Graph 1 and Table 3):
- UFS gained 4,8% and two representations;
- Die Freiheitlichen gained the 6,06% and two representations;
- Naturgesetzpartei gained the 0,56 % and no representations.
As some authors have declared when an ethno-regionalist party realised its main objectives it
looses some part of its electoral support because it does not have any other reason to be
14 The SVP passed from 60.69% and 16 seats in the 1968, to 56.42% and 20 seats in the 1973 (the number of seats is improved from 25 to 34). See Graph 1. 15 More details in A. Alcock “The History of the South-Tyrol question”, 1975.
15
(Schmidtke 1996). But, the real power of a political party is the one to renew its own political
objectives and strategies when it succeed in achieving part of them (Pristinger 1979).
One of the element that characterise the political life of the SVP is its capacity to adapt to the
external changes, making important adjusts also within the party itself. It is possible to
consider three main organisational phases of the party:
1. since 1945 until 1964: in this period the party can be considered a party of notable because
the chairman of the SVP were member of the upper social classes who were interested in
defending their own economic and social interests (Farmers) (Holzer and Schwegler 1998).
The SVP came out with the fusion of the TV and DV who were party of the upper bourgeois
whose main interests where the defence of the economic and social interests of the South
Tyrolean people. But, after the Nazi-fascist repression there have been an increasing need to
defence the cultural homogeneity of the German and Ladin speaking. In this period, when the
party had still a low level of organisational structures, it has been fundamental the support of
the Catholic Church whose hold up let the party to gain the support of the South Tyrolean
people who were deeply catholic. In that way, the party became the only German-party of the
province who had the aim to represent the main ethnic groups living in South Tyrol;
2. since 196416 until 1993: in this period the party can be considered a mass party because it
moved from being a party of notable to a party of the whole minority. This the central period
of the SVP’s lifespan when it focuses its main party goals on the defence of the ethnic
characteristics of the German and Ladin speaking. This is also the main difficult period for the
Province of Bolzano because of the internal crisis due the terrorist acts: the difficult
relationship between the central government and the Province of Bolzano had created internal
tensions. In this period the party assumed a hard position towards Rome in order to obtain the
legitimate recognise of the minority’s rights has it had been decided at the end of the Second
World War. The massive support to the SVP is confirmed not only with the electoral success
(see Graph 1), but also for the increasing numbers of members (in the 1964 the SVP had
35.000 members which grew until 80.000 in the 1989). Also the internal organisational
reform, that has let the party to create a connection and more deeply interaction with the
economic and social associations of the territory (in particular with the Farmers’ Association),
helped the identification and the coincidence of interests of the ethnic groups with those of the
SVP trough the creation of a community of fate (Holzer 1991). The institutionalization of the
party and the creation of a neo-corporative asset bind together the development of the
16 After the 1964 the number of members increased thanks to the activity of the local committees and to the reform of the party that has institutionalised the collaboration with the local associations.
16
Province of Bolzano (and of its inhabitants) with the political support of the SVP. The
creation of “ethnic incentives” trough the distribution of the economic resources has let the
party to guarantee its political stability within the Province;
3. since 1993 until nowadays: with the second statute of autonomy and the end of the UNO
the SVP decided to assume a more pragmatic approach. It was no longer necessary to
maintain an anti-Italian position, but it was necessary to find a way of peaceful living. In this
period the party is moving towards a less ethnic connotation to a more regional connotation
(Pallaver 2006). Probably, this is done to reinforce the connection of the party with the
territory in its overall, but not being a complete transformation yet, it is not possible to affirm
that the SVP is a regional party, also because the party programme presented at the local,
national and European elections still make references to the defence of the interests and rights
of the minority living in South Tyrol.
At the same time, the main party goal of the SVP until 1992 was to defend the interests of the
minority, so not to loose this priority the party assumed firstly an anti-European position:
Bruxelles could represent the new centre against whom to defence the interests of the German
and Ladin speaking. In that way the SVP has had the capacities and resources, without
changing its organisational structure, to adapt its party goals to the external changes and to
use the new political resources in its favour.
5. The SVP and the European Union
The continuous reclaim of the SVP to the defence of the German and Ladin speaking interests
has transformed the party in the political representation of the minority living in South Tyrol
and the only political actor that was and is still now, able to defend them against the central
government (Pristinger 1979). The creation of an enemy, that was identified in Rome, has
bended together the SVP and its voters: as much as the political support to the SVP was
stronger as much it was possible to succeed in defending the minority’s interests towards the
central government in Rome. So, in order to reinforce its role in the local political system the
SVP brought its political action at the European level starting to declare its intention to create
a Tyrolean European region. This claim has been important to increase the level of support for
the SVP after the conclusion of the second statute of autonomy in the 1992.
At the European level the SVP until the 1989 has maintained its role of single party
representation of the German and Ladin speaking in South Tyrol, whenever it has been
possible to have just one representation. Since 1989 the Greens gained one representation.
The permanent and continuous presence of the SVP in the European level has let it to achieve
17
important roles and positions within the European institutions like the Committee of Regions.
The results of the European elections are reported in the following Table 7:
Table 7: Elections to the European Parliament since 1979 until 2003 (%)
Year 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2003
SVP 62.09 63.1 53.0 56.84 56.0 46.72
PCI/KPI 7.39
Verdi/Green 7.2 8.93 6.7 13.1
MSI/AN 7.1
Source: European Parliament.
Previous studies on the position of the ERPs towards the European integration supposed that
this party family would have assumed a contrary position because of the reduction of its
political representation at European level. Despite this, more recent studies show that the
ERPs are in favour of the EU because of it seems to be a positive way to gain a representation
at super-national level (with the European Parliament) and an institutional arena where can be
discussed and implemented the role of the European regions (Committee of Regions). The
European integration in that way represents a positive opportunity, as pointed out by Ray
(1999), De Winter (2001), De Winter and Gòmez-Reino (2002, 2006), and Jolly (2006). In
the case of SVP the European integration has been used to reinforce the political aims of the
party, reinforcing its representative role also at a supra-national level. So, while it could be
assumed an anti-European position of the SVP because it creates another “centre” and put
more and more far the “periphery”, nowadays it is possible to consider the SVP as a pro-
European party: this position is moved from negative to positive (as it is evident in the Graph
2). The UE represents the opportunity for the SVP and for the South Tyrol Province, to “use”
the European issue as a new political arena where the party had to represent the interests of
the German and Ladin speaking living in South Tyrol (Brunazzo 2005).
In order to measure the support of the SVP have been analysed the party programmes, leader
declarations and other political documents used during the campaign for the European
elections since the 1979 until the 2006 (this research started with the research of the
Comparative Manifesto Project17). Before starting the analysis has been created an index,
17 More details in A. Szczerbiak e P. Taggart (2000, 2001 and 2003).
18
made by four dimensions, that measures the support of the SVP towards the EI18. The four
dimensions are (here briefly described):
1. cultural dimension: it measures if the party believes that the European integration
menace or reinforce the cultural identity of the minority;
2. economic dimension: it measures if the party believes that the European integration
menace or reinforce the economic resources of the territory;
3. institutional dimension: it measures if the party believes that the European integration
menace or reinforce the competences and the institutional role of the territory;
4. political dimension: it measures if the party believes that the European integration
menace or reinforce its political role at supra-national level.
Each dimension has been considered and analysed singularly, but in this research it is relevant
to report only the general support of the SVP towards the European Integration. The Graph 2
shows the results of the analysis:
Graph 2. The support of the SVP towards the UE
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
197 9 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004
European elections
Sup
por
t tow
ard
s th
e E
U
Note: on the y axis is reported the support towards the European integration as reported in the documents presented for the European elections, while in the x axis is reported the year of the European elections.
As it is evident the SVP has moved from an anti-European position to a pro-European
position. This change is due to the fact that in the early period the European Union was not
interested in defending and giving representation of the sub-national territories, consequently
18 More details in N. Di Sotto Ph.D edited version “The ethno-regionalist parties towards the European Integration”, 2006, University of Siena, Siena.
19
the SVP perceived the European integration as the creation of a new centre against whom to
defend the interests of the South Tyrolean minority. This position changes after the Single
European Act19 (1986) that represents the first intention of the EU to give an effective
representation to the sub-national levels creating a European found that had the role to reduce
the disparities among the European regions (Dignan, 1995; Bache and Jones 2000). The SVP
represents the most important political party of the Province of Bolzano, so it has the
opportunity to gain a representation at the European level and to receive an attention also
from other countries, moreover to present them the question of the Province in order to gain a
political or economic support from the EU (Smyrl 1997).
The political support of the SVP towards the EU is bended with the Single European Act and
with the opportunity perceived by the party to assume a pragmatic position in order to
improve its institutional role and reinforce its position not only at the European level but, in
particular, at the internal level presenting the EU as the new political arena in which the SVP
can defend and promote the interests and rights of the German and Ladin speaking living in
the Province of Bolzano.
6. Conclusions
This research wanted to explain the success of the SVP analysing its political origins (see
Table 2), the composition of its electorate (see Table 1) and than explaining its electoral
stability (see Graph 1). In order to do that it has been necessary to explain any internal and
external change that affected in some way the party programme of the SVP (see Paragraph 5).
Newertheless, any party can not be analysed without taking into consideration its internal (as
the capacity to create a pyramidal organisation and to bind together the party with the local
associations) and external (as the composition of the electorate, that in this case is not class-
structured but ethnically structured) resources, only in this way it is possible to find the reason
way of its continuous success (Panebianco 1982).
After having analysed the political evolution of the SVP it is possible to affirm that this is,
surely, one of the most important and stable ERP in Europe. Also if the party is becoming
probably a regionalist party, it still remains an party ethnically characterized: the defence of
19 The Structural Founds are based on the Single European Act. The SEA represents the most change for the process of integration because it formally take into consideration also the sub-national level and its role in creating a strong European economy. The economic and social cohesion within the Community is essential for the Single Market, so it is necessary to create instruments, like the SF, that can reduce the disparities among the regions of the member states. This represent the first step for the creation of a European regional policy (Viesti e Prota 2004).
20
the interests and rights of the ethnic groups (until now only for the German and Ladin
speaking, but maybe in the future also for the Italian group) is the main party goal still today.
In essence, its political stability in ensured by two main elements:
1. the relative stability of the ethnic composition of the South Tyrolean minority: it is not
expected a change within the community that could reduce the presence of the German
and Ladin speaking in South Tyrol (see Table 2);
2. the capacity of the SVP to change its organisational structure and political programme
when it seems that the external conditions would not fully realise their aims. The
pragmatic approach used by the party has guaranteed it to survive to the changes, in
particular to renew its ethnic politics in order to maintain the support of its voters.
Concluding, these are the main reasons that have let the SVP to gain the majority of votes and
seats in the Province of Bolzano since the 1948, and the reason why the party is considered
one of the successful ethno-regionalist party in Europe.
References
Bache, I. (1998), The Politics of European Union Regional Policy. Multi-level governance or flexible gatekeeping?, Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield.
Bache, I. e Jones, R. (2000), “Has the EU Regional Policy Empowered the Regions? A study of Spain and the UK”, in Regional & Federal studies, vol. 10, no.3, pp.1-20.
Brunazzo, M. (2005), Le regioni italiane e l’Unione Europea, Carocci, Roma. De Winter, L. (1998), “Conclusion: A comparative analysis of the electoral, office and policy
success of ethnoregionalist parties” in De Winter L. and Türsan, H., Regionalist Parties in Western Europe, London & New York, Routledge, p.204-247.
De Winter, L. e M. Gomez-Reino Cachafeiro (2002), "European Integration and Ethnoregionalist Parties", in Party Politics, vol. VIII, n. 4: pp. 483-503.
Dignan, T. (1995), “Regional disparities and regional policy in the European Union”, in Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 11 (2).
Farneti, P.(1983) Il Sistema dei partiti in Italia 1946-1979, Bologna Il Mulino. Alcock, A.E. (1975) The History of South Tyrol question, M. Joseph LTD, London. Hechter, M. (1978) Group formation and the cultural Division of Labour, in American
Journal Sociology, 84,2, pp.293-318. Herder, H. (2000), Il problema del linguaggio nel pensiero contemporaneo, G. D’Anna,
Messina. Holzer, A. (1991), Die Südtiroler Volkspartei, Thaur, Kulturverlag. Holzer, A. e Schwegler B. (1998), The Südtiroler Volkspartei: a hegemonic ethnoregionalist
party, in Lieven De Winter e Huri Türsan (a cura di), Regionalist Parties in Western Europe, London & New York, Routledge: pp. 158-73.
Jolly, S. K. (2005), Fear, Loathing and the Optimal Size of Nations: Assessing Regional Party Views on European Integration, paper presented at the Euroskepticism Conference, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, 1-2 luglio 2005.
Pallaver, G. (2000), „Die Südtiroler Volkspartei“, in CIFEM News, 2/2000-01. Pallaver, G. (2006), „The Südtiroler Volkspartei: from Irredentism to autonomy”, in De
Winter L., Gòmez-Reino Cachafeiro, M. and Lynch P. Autonomist parties in Europe:
21
identity politics and the revival of the territorial cleavage, ICPS, Barcelona, vol. 2, p. 163-188.
Panebianco, Angelo (1982) Modelli di partito. Organizzazione e potere nei partiti politici, Il Mulino, Bologna.
Pristinger, F. (1979), La minoranza dominante in Sudtirolo, Patròn editore, Bologna-Padova. Ray, L. (1999), ‘Measuring Party Orientations Towards European Integration: Results from
an Expert Survey’, European Journal of Political Research 36: 283-306. Rokkan, S. (1983) Economy, territory, identity: politics of Western European peripheries,
Sage, London. Sartori, G. (1976) Parties and parties system: a framework for analysis, Cambridge
Universisty, Cambridge. Schmidtke, O. (1996) Politics of identità, Pro Univeristate Verlag. Smyrl, M. (1997), “Does European Community Regional Policy Empower the Regions?”, in
Governance 10, n.3: 287-309. Steininger, R. La questione sudtirolese dal 1946 al 1993, uno sguardo d’ insieme, in A
cinquanta anni dall’ accordo De Gasperi-Gruber, Regione Autonoma Trentino Alto Adige, Trento 1993.
Szczerbiak, A. e P. Taggart (2000), Opposing Europe: Party Systems and Opposition to the Union, the Euro and Europeanisation, Opposing Europe Working Paper No. 1, Sussex European Institute, available on line at OERN WP 1, University of Sussex.
Szczerbiak, A. e P. Taggart (2001), The Party Politics of Euroscepticism in EU Member and Candidate States, Paper Presented at the European Consortium for Political Research Joint Workshop, 21-27 March, Turin.
Szczerbiak, A. e P. Taggart (2003), Theorising Party-based Euroscepticism: Problems of Definition, Measurement and Causality, Paper presented at the 8th Biannual International Conference of the European Union Studies Association conference, Nashville.
Taggart P. e A. Szczerbiak (eds.) (in corso di pubblicazione), Opposing Europe: The Comparative Party Politics of Euroscepticism, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Tempestini, A. (1994), Ai confini del sistema partitico italiano: la Südtiroler Volkspartei, in “Italian Politics & Society”, 41.
Türsan, H. (1998), “Introduction: ethnoregionalist parties as ethnic entrepreneurs”, in H. Türsan e L. De Winter (a cura di), Regionalist Parties in Western Europe. London & New York, Routledge: pp. 1-16.
Urwin, D. W. (1983), “Harbinger, Fossil or Fleabite? 'Regionalism' and the West European Party Mosaic”, in Hans Daalder e Peter Mair (a cura di), Western European Party Systems. Continuity & Change. London, SAGE: pp. 221-56.
Viesti G. e Prota F. (2004), Le politiche regionali dell’Unione Europea, ed. Il Mulino, Bologna.