''For information about the plant for which the political party is named, see
Olive .''
( policies in Italy and commonly adopted by center-to-left alliances of parties from
1996 to now. The name was introduced by
Romano Prodi , professor of economics and former left-wing
Christian Democrat . It is now subsumed into the new coalition
L'Unione .
The Olive Tree participated in the
General Election of
April 9 and
10 ,
2006 , as confederation of three parties:
The (. In
April 21 1996 , the Olive Tree won general elections in alliance with the
Communist Refoundation Party , making
Romano Prodi Prime Minister Of Italy . In
October 9 1998 , the ''
Romano Prodi '' (1st Time) administration fell when the
Communist Refoundation Party left the alliance. In
October 21 1998 the Olive Tree was the core of the ''
Massimo D'Alema '' (1st Time) administration, in
December 22 1999 of the ''
Massimo D'Alema '' (2nd Time) administration and in
April 25 2000 of the ''
Giuliano Amato '' (2nd Time) administration. In
May 13 2001 , led by
Francesco Rutelli , the coalition lost the general elections against
Silvio Berlusconi and his renewed center-to-right coalition, the
House Of Freedoms (
Italian : ''Casa delle Libertà'').
In .
In
September 13 2004 the Olive Tree became the Federation of (
Italian : ''Uniti nell'Ulivo'') or, more shortly, the '''FED''', consisting of same four parties that campaigned together in the European elections that summer.
The Olive Tree Federation is led by
Romano Prodi and aims to be the core of a greater center-left coalition, called
The Union (
Italian : ''L'Unione''. Current member parties of the federation are:
On
February 10 2005 , the new name and logo of the larger electoral coalition was presented. Its name is
L'Unione (''The Union''). It comprises the Federation of the Olive Tree (4 parties) and all the left and centre parties allied with it (from Greens to Communists).
