Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The party was launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007 and officially founded in a party congress on 27 29 March 2009, when Forza Italia merged with National Alliance, Berlusconi was elected President of the party and Sandro Bondi, Ignazio La Russa and Denis Verdini national coordinators. In coalition with Lega Nord and the Movement for Autonomies, the party currently forms Italy''s government. Following the run up to the 2006 general election there had been talk among the components of the House of Freedoms regarding a possible merger into a "united party of moderates and reformers". Forza Italia (FI), the National Alliance (AN) and the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC) all seemed interested in the project. Soon after the election, however, UDC leader Pier Ferdinando Casini started to distance his party from its historical allies. Lega Nord (LN) showed no interest in the idea, because it wanted to retain its role as a regional party.