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Valdostan Union

The Valdostan Union (French: Union valdôtaine, UV), also Valdostian Union or Valdotanian Union, is a regionalist and centrist political party in Aosta Valley, Italy. It represents mainly the French-speaking minority in the region. One of its leading members, Renzo Testolin, has been the President of Aosta Valley since March 2023, replacing Erik Lavévaz, also of the UV.

The UV has been steadily represented in the Italian Parliament since 1976 and, due to the disappearance of the Christian Democracy party in the early 1990s, it later became the catch-all party of the region, similarly to the South Tyrolean People's Party in South Tyrol. The party re-groups most Valdostan autonomists under its banner and steadily increased its share of vote from 11.6% in 1973 to 47.2% in 2003, which was followed by a decline and splits. However, it has led the regional government almost with no interruption since 1974.

The UV has been member of the European Free Alliance since 2022. The party was a member also previously, until 2007.

The UV was founded by Valdostan elements of the Italian resistance movement on 3 September 1945.

The party was originally a close ally of the Christian Democracy (DC), with which it shared government between 1946 and 1954 under Severino Caveri (UV). After that, the party distanced itself from the DC, while approaching the left-wing.

After a five-year spell in opposition, the UV won the 1959 regional election as part of a left-wing coalition with the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) with 51.6% against the 48.6% received by an alternative coalition comprising the DC, the Italian Liberal Party (PLI), the Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) and the Italian Republican Party (PRI).

The UV–PCI–PSI coalition, led by UV's Oreste Marcoz (1959–1963) and then, again, Caveri (since 1963), governed until 1966, when the Socialists decided to switch sides and to enter in coalition with the DC, as they had done at the country-level three years before. This caused the split of UV's conservative faction, which established the Valdostan Rally (RV), in order to support the coalition led by DC's Cesare Bondaz. In the 1968 regional election the UV received a mere 16.7% of the vote (the RV got 5.4%), while in 1973 Valdostan regional election, after the split of the social-democratic faction, the Progressive Valdostan Union (UVP), it was reduced at 11.6% (the UPV obtained 6.7% and the RV 1.6%, while the Popular Democrats, a left-wing split of the DC, won 22.4%). After that low point, the UV was ready to surge again.

The UV returned to government in 1974 at the head of a UV–UVP–RV regionalist coalition led by Mario Andrione. In the 1978 regional election the UV returned to be the largest party with 24.7% of the vote and Andrione formed a government with the DC and the DP. In 1984 Andrione was replaced by Augusto Rollandin at the head of the government, which included the DC and the Progressive Democratic Autonomists (ADP), born by the merger of the DP and the UVP. During the 1980s the UV strengthened its role as largest party in the region: 27.1% in 1983 and 34.2% in 1988. Since the 1970s the UV was steadily represented in the Italian Parliament: Pierre Fosson was a member of the Senate from 1976 to 1987, while Luciano Caveri (scion of the party's left-wing) represented the UV in the Chamber of Deputies from 1987 to 2001. Caveri served also as undersecretary in Massimo D'Alema's government and as member of the European Parliament from 2000 to 2003.

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