Italy

The Italian Green Party took part in centre-left governments from 1996 to 2001. In this period their ministerial posts changed, as did the strategies for action in the coalition. Green influence upon state policies increased, above all in the field of environmental protection. However, participation in the government did not broaden the Greens' electoral support, which reached minimum levels in 1999. Owing to the fragile nature of the political and organisational basis of the Green Federation, division and political divergences arose within the party. As a result, during the last five years, the Federation has seen various moments of crisis that have led the Greens to change their leadership and to implement major transformations in their organisation and lines of policy. After their defeat in the 1999 European elections, a radical re-foundation of the party was carried out in 2000.