The Pensioners' Party is a centrist

Centrism

In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...

 Italian political party. It was founded in 1987 in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 and its current leader is Carlo Fatuzzo

Carlo Fatuzzo

Carlo Fatuzzo is an Italian politician andMember of the European Parliament for North-Westwith the Partito dei Pensionati, part of the European People's Party and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs.He is a substitute for the Committee on Foreign Affairs...

.

In the 2004 European Parliament election

European Parliament election, 2004 (Italy)

Elections to the European Parliament were held in Italy on 12 and 13 June 2004. Italy's highly fragmented party system made it hard to identify an overall trend, but the results were generally seen as a defeat for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and a victory for the centre-left opposition...

 it gained 1.1% of the national vote and elected its leader to the European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

, where he sits in the European People's Party–European Democrats

European People's Party–European Democrats

The Group of the European People's Party , abbreviated to EPP Group, is a centre-right political group of the European Parliament...

 group.

On 4 February 2006, the party joined The Union

The Union (political coalition)

The Union was an centre-left coalition of political parties in Italy. It was led by Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of Italy from April 2006 to April 2008, and former President of the European Commission.-Parties:...

, the centre-left coalition led by Romano Prodi

Romano Prodi

Romano Prodi is an Italian politician and statesman. He served as the Prime Minister of Italy, from 17 May 1996 to 21 October 1998 and from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008...

, and was decisive for the result of the 2006 general election

Italian general election, 2006

In the Italian general election, 2006 for the renewal of the two Chambers of the Parliament of Italy held on April 9 and April 10, 2006 the incumbent prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the center-right House of Freedoms, was narrowly defeated by Romano Prodi, leader of the center-left The...

 (the PP scored 0.9% and the centre-left won by a 0.1% margin), but soon after the election the alliance with the centre-left turned to be cold and tense. In the European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

, Antonio Tajani

Antonio Tajani

Antonio Tajani is an Italian politician. He is the current European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship and has also been one of the five Vice-President of the European Commission since May 2008....

 (Forza Italia

Forza Italia

Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....

, Vice President of the European People's Party

European People's Party

The European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...

), tried uccessfully to convince Fatuzzo to return back in the centre-right.

Finally, on 20 November 2006, Carlo Fatuzzo, in a press conference alongside with Antonio Tajani and Fabrizio Cicchitto

Fabrizio Cicchitto

Fabrizio Cicchitto is an Italian politician.-Career:Fabrizio Cicchitto entered politics during the earlier 1960s, supporting the Marxist left wing of Riccardo Lombardi in the Italian Socialist Party and then becoming secretary of the party's youth organization...

 (national deputy-coordinator of Forza Italia), announced that its party was re-joining the centre-right House of Freedoms

House of Freedoms

The House of Freedoms , was a major Italian centre-right political and electoral alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi. It was initially composed of several political parties:*Forza Italia *National Alliance...

 coalition.

Ithe 2009 European Parliament election

European Parliament election, 2009

Elections to the European Parliament were held in the 27 member states of the European Union between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history...

 the party will run as part of the Pole of Autonomy

Pole of Autonomy

The Pole of Autonomy is an heterogeneous electoral coalition of political parties in Italy, formed in the run-up to the 2009 European Parliament election in order to overcome the 4% threshold introduced in the electoral law in February 2009...

, an electoral coalition inclunding also The Right

The Right

The Right is a national-conservative political party in Italy.-Foundation:On 3 July 2007 Storace announced his resignation from National Alliance in a letter posted on his website, claiming that it had become too centrist and moderate and in protest against the lack of internal democracy in the...

, the Movement for Autonomies and the Alliance of the Centre

Alliance of the Centre

Alliance of the Centre is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy.It was founded in November 2008 by splinters from the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats who wanted to return to an alliance with Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition and support his fourth government...

.