Legislature VII of Italy

VII legislatura della Repubblica Italiana
7th legislature
Type
Type
HousesChamber of Deputies
Senate of the Republic
History
Founded5 July 1976 (1976-07-05)
Disbanded19 June 1979 (1979-06-19) (2 years, 349 days)
Preceded byVI Legislature
Succeeded byVIII Legislature
Leadership
Structure
Seats630 (C)
315+ (S)
Chamber of Deputies political groups
  •   DC (262)
  •   PCI (228)
  •   PSI (57)
  •   MSI (35)
  •   PSDI (15)
  •   PRI (14)
  •   DP (6)
  •   PLI (5)
  •   PR (4)
  •   Others (4)
Senate political groups
Elections
Proportional
Proportional
Last general election
20 June 1976
Meeting place
Palazzo Montecitorio, Rome (C)
Palazzo Madama, Rome (S)
Website
Seventh Legislature – Chamber of Deputies
Seventh Legislature – Senate
Constitution
Constitution of Italy

The Legislature VII of Italy (Italian: VII Legislatura della Repubblica Italiana) was the 7th legislature of the Italian Republic, and lasted from 5 July 1976 until 19 June 1979.[1][2] Its composition was the one resulting from the general election of 20 June 1976.

Main chronology

After the election which officially certified the historic growth of the communists, Aldo Moro became a vocal supporter of the necessity of starting a dialogue between DC and PCI.[3] Moro's main aim was to widen the democratic base of the government, including the PCI in the parliamentary majority: the cabinets should have been able to represent a larger number of voters and parties. According to him, the DC should have been as the centre of a coalition system based on the principles of consociative democracy.[4] This process was known as Historic Compromise.[5]

Between 1976 and 1977, Enrico Berlinguer's PCI broke with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, implementing, with Spanish and French communist parties, a new political ideology known as Eurocommunism. Such a move made an eventual cooperation more acceptable for christian democratic voters, and the two parties began an intense parliamentary debate, in a moment of deep social crises.[6]

The proposal by Moro of starting a cabinet composed by DC and PSI and externally supported by PCI was strongly opposed by both superpowers. The United States feared that the cooperation between PCI and DC might have allowed the communists to gain information on strategic NATO military plans and installations.[7] Moreover, the participation in government of the communists in a Western country would have represented a cultural failure for the USA. On the other hand, the Soviets considered the potential participation by the Italian Communist Party in a cabinet as a form of emancipation from Moscow and rapprochement to the Americans.[8]

The christian democrat Giulio Andreotti, known as a staunch anti-communist, was called in to lead the first experiment of a cabinet externally supported by the communists. Andreotti's new cabinet, formed in July 1976, included only members of his own DC party but had the indirect support of the communists.[9] The cabinet was called "the government of the not-no confidence", because it was externally supported by all the political parties in the Parliament, except for the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement.[10] In this new climate of cooperation, on 5 July 1976 Pietro Ingrao was the first communist to be elected as President of the Chamber of Deputies.

This cabinet fell in January 1978. In March, the crisis was overcome by the intervention of Aldo Moro, who proposed a new cabinet again formed only by DC politicians, but this time with positive confidence votes from the other parties, including the PCI. This cabinet was also chaired by Andreotti, and was formed on 11 March 1978.

On 16 March 1978, Aldo Moro was kidnapped by the Red Brigades, an ultra-left terrorist group, on the day in which the new government was going to be sworn in before parliament. Despite the huge shock that the kidnapping and the consecutive murder of Aldo Moro caused on the Italian politics, Andreotti continued as Prime Minister of the "National Solidarity" government with the support of the PCI. During this period the Parliament passed a long list of new laws and reforms, including the creation of the Italian National Health Service, the promulgation of the Basaglia Law for the closing down of all psychiatric hospitals and the parliamentary approval of a new law to legalize abortion.

In June 1978, the PCI gave its approval and ultimately active support to a campaign against President Giovanni Leone, accused of being involved in the Lockheed bribery scandal. This resulted in the President's resignation. The party then supported the election of the veteran socialist Sandro Pertini as President of Italy.

Presidential election

On 29 June 1978 the Parliament and the representatives of the 20 Italian regions met to elect the sixth President of Italy. On 8 July 1978 the socialist Sandro Pertini was elected on the sixteenth ballot with 832 votes out of 1011.

Government

Prime Minister Party Term of office Government Composition
Took office Left office
Giulio Andreotti
(1919–2013)		 Christian Democracy 29 July 1976 11 March 1978 Andreotti III DC
(with PCI's external support)
(Historic Compromise)
11 March 1978 20 March 1979 Andreotti IV
20 March 1979 4 August 1979 Andreotti V DC  • PSI  • PSDI

Parliamentary composition

Chamber of Deputies

Pietro Ingrao, President of the Chamber of Deputies
Parliamentary groups in the Chamber of Deputies
Initial composition[11]
(5 July 1976)		 Final composition[11]
(19 June 1979)
Parliamentary group Seats Parliamentary group Seats Change
Christian Democracy 262 Christian Democracy 263 Increase 1
Italian Communist Party 228 Italian Communist Party 220 Decrease 8
Italian Socialist Party 57 Italian Socialist Party 57 Steady
Italian Social Movement 35 Italian Social Movement 17 Decrease 18
National Democracy 15 Increase 15
Italian Democratic Socialist Party 15 Italian Democratic Socialist Party 15 Steady
Italian Republican Party 14 Italian Republican Party 14 Steady
Proletarian Democracy 6 Proletarian Democracy 5 Decrease 1
Italian Liberal Party 5 Italian Liberal Party 5 Steady
Radical Party 4 Radical Party 5 Increase 1
Mixed 4 Mixed 14 Increase 10
Südtiroler Volkspartei 3 Südtiroler Volkspartei 3 Steady
Independent–Non inscrits 9 Increase 9
Total seats 630 Total seats 630 Steady

    Senate of the Republic

    Amintore Fanfani, President of the Senate
    Parliamentary groups in the Senate of the Republic
    Initial composition[12]
    (5 July 1976)    		 Final composition[12]
    (19 June 1979)
    Parliamentary group Seats Parliamentary group Seats Change
    Christian Democracy 135 Christian Democracy 135 Steady
    Italian Communist Party 116 Italian Communist Party 117 Increase 1
    Italian Socialist Party 29 Italian Socialist Party 29 Steady
    Italian Social Movement 15 Italian Social Movement 6 Decrease 9
    National Democracy 9 Increase 9
    Italian Democratic Socialist Party 6 Italian Democratic Socialist Party 8 Increase 2
    Italian Republican Party 6 Italian Republican Party 6 Steady
    Mixed 8 Mixed 8 Steady
    Italian Liberal Party 2 Italian Liberal Party 2 Steady
    Südtiroler Volkspartei 2 Südtiroler Volkspartei 2 Steady
    Independent–Non inscrits 4 Independent–Non inscrits 1 Decrease 3
    Total seats 315 Total seats 315 Steady

    Senators for Life

    Senator Motivation Appointed by From Till
    Giovanni Gronchi Former President of Italy ex officio Previous legislature 17 October 1978 (deceased)
    Cesare Merzagora Merits in the social field President Antonio Segni Previous legislature Next legislature
    Ferruccio Parri Merits in the social field President Antonio Segni Previous legislature Next legislature
    Eugenio Montale Merits in the literary field President Giuseppe Saragat Previous legislature Next legislature
    Pietro Nenni Merits in the social field President Giuseppe Saragat Previous legislature Next legislature
    Giuseppe Saragat Former President of Italy ex officio Previous legislature Next legislature
    Amintore Fanfani Merits in the social field President Giovanni Leone Previous legislature Next legislature
    Giovanni Leone Former President of Italy ex officio 15 June 1978 Next legislature

    References

    1. ↑ "Camera dei Deputati – 7ª Legislatura". www.storia.camera.it (in Italian). Retrieved 19 February 2021.
    2. ↑ "Senato della Repubblica – 7ª Legislatura". www.senato.it (in Italian). Retrieved 19 February 2021.
    3. ↑ Elezioni del 1976, Ministero dell'Interno
    4. ↑ Fontana, Sandro (1982). "Moro e il sistema politico italiano" (PDF). Cultura e politica nell'esperienza di Aldo Moro (in Italian). Milan: Giuffrè. pp. 183–184.
    5. ↑ "Cos'è il compromesso storico? | Sapere.it". www.sapere.it.
    6. ↑ Eurocomunismo, Enciclopedia Treccani
    7. ↑ Quanti rimpianti da quella stretta di mano tra Moro e Berlinguer, Giornale Mio
    8. ↑ Quando c'era Berlinguer. Bureau. 21 May 2015. ISBN 9788858680681 – via Google Books.
    9. ↑ Fallaci, Oriana (1974). Intervista con la storia (in Italian). Milan: Rizzoli.
    10. ↑ "Il governo della "non sfiducia", nel 1976". Il Post (in Italian). 10 April 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
    11. 1 2 "VII Legislatura della Repubblica italiana / Legislature / Camera dei deputati – Portale storico". storia.camera.it (in Italian). Retrieved 19 February 2021.
    12. 1 2 "senato.it – Composizione dei gruppi parlamentari nella VII Legislatura". www.senato.it (in Italian). Retrieved 19 February 2021.
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