Editing Francesco Cossiga (section)

==After the presidency==

According to the [[Constitution of Italy|Italian Constitution]], after his resignation from the office of President, Cossiga became [[Senators for life in Italy|Lifetime Senator]], joining his predecessors in the upper house of Parliament, with whom he also shared the title of President Emeritus of the Italian Republic.

On 12 January 1997, Cossiga survived unscathed a railway accident ([[:it:Incidente ferroviario di Piacenza]]), while travelling on a high-speed train from [[Milan]] to [[Rome]] that derailed near [[Piacenza]].<ref>{{cite news |title=TERRORE E MORTE SUL PENDOLINO |url=https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1997/01/13/terrore-morte-sul-pendolino.html |agency=La Repubblica}}</ref>

In February 1998, Cossiga created the [[Democratic Union for the Republic]] (UDR), a Christian democratic political party, declaring it to be politically central. The UDR was a crucial component of the majority that supported the [[Massimo D'Alema]] cabinet in October 1998, after the fall of the [[Romano Prodi]]'s government which lost a vote of confidence. Cossiga declared that his support for D'Alema was intended to end the conventional exclusion of the former communist leaders from the premiership in Italy.

In 1999 UDR was dissolved and Cossiga returned to his activities as a Senator, with competences in the Military Affairs' Commission.<ref>{{in lang|it}} [http://www.senato.it/leg/14/BGT/Schede/Attsen/00000698.htm Cossiga's activity as a Senator, on the Senate's website]</ref>

In May 2006, Cossiga gave his support to the formation of Prodi's [[Prodi II Cabinet|second government]]. In the same month, he brought in a bill that would allow the region of [[South Tyrol]] to hold a referendum, where the local electorate could decide whether to remain within the Republic of Italy, take independence, or become part of Austria again.<ref>{{Cite web
 | last = Cossiga
 | first = Francesco
 | author-link = Francesco Cossiga
 | title = Riconoscimento del diritto di autodeterminazione al Land Südtyrol – Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano
 | work=Disegno di Legge Costituzionale N. 592
 | publisher=Senato della Repubblica XV Legislatura
 | date = 8 June 2006
 | url = http://www.senato.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/BGT/00209688.pdf
 | access-date =21 February 2009}}</ref>

On 27 November 2006, he resigned from his position as a lifetime senator. His resignation was, however, rejected on 31 January 2007 by a vote of the Senate.

In May 2008, Cossiga voted in favour of the government of [[Silvio Berlusconi]].