Veneto Freedom was a Venetist

Venetism

Venetian nationalism is an ideology and a regionalist movement demanding more autonomy, or even independence from Italy, for Veneto, and promoting the re-discovery the Republic of Venice's heritage, traditions, culture and language...

-separatist

Separatism

Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...

 coalition of parties active in Veneto

Veneto

Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...

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Talks between several Venetist parties over the formation of a united party as a reliable competitor of Liga Veneta

Liga Veneta

Liga Veneta is a regionalist political party based in Veneto, combining Venetism and fiscal federalism. Liga Veneta is by far the largest party in Veneto and the party of Luca Zaia, President of Veneto since March 2010.It was the first party of its kind in Northern Italy, predating Umberto...

–Lega Nord started in February 2008 during a meeting in Pastrengo

Pastrengo

Pastrengo is a comune in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about 120 km west of Venice and about 15 km northwest of Verona...

, Verona

Province of Verona

The Province of Verona is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Verona.-Overview:The province has an area of 3,109 km², and a total population of 912,981...

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The alliance, promoted by Fabrizio Comencini

Fabrizio Comencini

Fabrizio Comencini is a Venetist politician.Comencini started his political career in the Italian Social Movement , for which he was elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in 1985 and 1990. In the early 1990s, during his second term as regional councillor, he switched to Liga Veneta–Lega Nord...

, Carlo Covi

Carlo Covi

Carlo Covi is an Italian Venetist politician.He entered politics in 1995 when he was elected to the Municipal Council of Padua as an independent Democrat of the Left. In 1999 he joined the Italian Democratic Socialists , was re-elected to the Municipal Council and became the local leader of the...

 and Patrik Riondato, was officially launched in November 2009 by the union of six parties and groups:

• Liga Veneta Repubblica (LVR, centrist)
• Bellunese Autonomist Party (PAB, centrist)
• Venetian Agreement
  Venetian Agreement
  Venetian Agreement is a centrist social-democratic Italian political party active in Veneto.It emerged in 2006 as a regional split from the Italian Democratic Socialists and it is led by Carlo Covi, regional deputy, and Monica Balbinot, minister of Culture of Padova...
  
   (IV, social-democratic)
• Venetian People's Unity
  Venetian People's Unity
  The Venetian People's Unity is a Venetist socialist and separatist political party.Founded in 2008, the party seeks to represent the "Venetian left" and takes example from Herri Batasuna...
  
   (UPV, communist/socialist)
• Venetians Movement (MV, no ideological affiliation)
• Venetian State (SV, no ideological affiliation)

The coalition favored a referendum on the self-determination of Veneto in a framework of a confederal Italian state, but not secession from Italy. For this reason it was immediately criticized by the Venetian National Party

Venetian National Party

The Venetian National Party was a Venetist, libertarian and separatist political party active in Veneto, Lombardy and Friuli-Venezia Giulia...

, which instead proposed a referendum on the independence. In an interview Comencini stated that VL has several friends within Liga Veneta–Lega Nord (of which he was the leader until 1998), but that his group rejected the idea of Padania

Padania

Padania is an alternative name for the Po Valley in Italy. The term was sparingly used until the early 1990s, when Lega Nord, a political party in Italy, proposed Padania as a possible denomination for an autonomous Northern Italy...

 altogether. The main components of the coalition were centrist or centre-left, with the notable exception of the communists of UPV.

Comencini and Covi wanted to endorse Antonio De Poli

Antonio De Poli

Antonio De Poli is an Italian politician and former Member of the European Parliament for North-East with the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, part of the European People's Party...

 of the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats for President in the 2010 regional election

Venetian regional election, 2010

The Venetian regional election of 2010 took place on 28–29 March 2010, as part of Italy's big round of regional elections.Luca Zaia, rising star of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, was elected President by a landslide. With the support of 60.2% of Venetians, he was the most voted President of Veneto since...

 and this ultimately led to the premature death of the coalition. In January 2010 the independentist core of Veneto Freedom broke away from the moderate wing represented by Comencini and formed the Party of the Venetians

Party of the Venetians

The Party of the Venetians was a Venetist-separatist coalition of parties active in Veneto.The alliance, which was formed in January 2010, after the disbandment of Veneto Freedom, was composed of five groups, which continued to be active as factions of Veneto State, since when the PdV was merged...

 (PdV). Silvano Polo, a long-time ally of Comencini within LVR, left that party too in order to be the candidate of the PdV in the next regional election.