than the Democrats of the Left (DS). Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy was established as a single party during the founding congress of Parma in March 2002. On that occasion the Italian People's Party, The Democrats and Italian Renewal merged to form the new party, while the UDEUR decided to remain separate. In the 2006 general election, The Daisy was member of the victorious alliance The Union, and won 39 out of 315 senators. The Olive Tree list, of which DL was a member since the 2004 European Parliament election, won 220 seats out of 630 in the Chamber of Deputies. On 14 October 2007, DL, DS and numerous minor parties merged to form the Democratic Party (PD), a unitary centre-left party in anticipation of a move to a two-party system. Ideology Democracy Is Freedom was a pro-European centrist party, with a strong support among Catholics, especially progressive ones: the party was described as "social Christian". The party put together social conservatives with social progressives, economic liberals and social democrats. Many former members of the Italian People's Party, one of the ancestor parties of DL, were members or close supporters of the Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions (CISL), the Catholic trade union. After the 2004 European elections the new party decided not to become a member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) or of the European People's Party, but founded the European Democratic Party (EDP) together with the Union for French Democracy. In the European Parliament, the EDP and ELDR Europarties established the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group (ALDE). In 2005, DL participated in the foundation of the Alliance of Democrats, a worldwide network of centrist parties, along with the New Democrat Coalition of the United States Democratic Party, the EDP member parties and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats. Members Leading members of the party included: Former Christian Democrats: Gerardo Bianco, Rosy Bindi, Enzo Carra, Pierluigi Castagnetti, Luigi Cocilovo, Sergio D'Antoni, Ciriaco De Mita, Giuseppe Fioroni, Dario Franceschini, Enrico Letta, Renzo Lusetti, Nicola Mancino, Franco Marini, Sergio Mattarella, Lapo Pistelli, Vittorio Prodi, Rosa Russo Jervolino, Patrizia Toia Former Socialists: Laura Fincato, Giuseppe La Ganga, Linda Lanzillotta, Enrico Manca, Pierluigi Mantini, Tiziano Treu Former Social Democrats: Franco Bruno, Andrea Papini, Italo Tanoni Former Liberals: Cinzia Dato, Natale D'Amico, Lamberto Dini, Valerio Zanone Former Republicans: Enzo Bianco, Sandro Gozi, Antonio Maccanico, Roberto