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Romano Prodi (help·info) (born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician and statesman. He served as President of the Council of Ministers (prime minister) of Italy twice, from 17 May 1996 to 21 October 1998 and from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008. He was also President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004.
Prodi ran in 1996 as Olive Tree candidate, winning the election and serving as Prime Minister until 1998. Following the victory of his The Union (L'Unione) coalition over the House of Freedoms (Casa delle Libertà) led by Silvio Berlusconi in the April 2006 Italian elections he was in power again. On 24 January 2008, he lost a vote of confidence in the Senate house, and consequently tendered his resignation as prime minister to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, but was in office for almost four months for the routine business, until early elections were held and a new government was formed.
On 14 October 2007, he became the first President of the newborn Democratic Party.
[edit] Personal
Prodi was born in Scandiano, in the province of Reggio Emilia (Emilia-Romagna). He is the eighth of nine children of Mario Prodi, an engineer originally from a peasant family, and Enrica, a primary school teacher. He has two sisters and six brothers, five of them being like him university professors (one of whom, Vittorio Prodi, is also a Member of the European Parliament; see also Giorgio Prodi, an oncologist and biosemiotician).
Prodi married Flavia Franzoni in 1969. He was married by then-priest Camillo Ruini, now a well-known cardinal.[1][2] They have two sons, Giorgio and Antonio. He and his family still live in Bologna.
[edit] Academic career
After completing his secondary education at the Liceo Ludovico Ariosto in Reggio Emilia, Prodi graduated in law at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan in 1961, with a thesis on the role of Protectionism in the development of Italian industry. He then carried out postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics.[3]
In 1963, he became a teaching assistant for Beniamino Andreatta in the Department of Economics and the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Bologna, subsequently serving as associate professor (1966) and finally (1971-1999) as Professor of Industrial Organisation and Industrial Policy. Prodi has also been a visiting professor at Harvard University and a researcher at the Stanford Research Institute. His research covers mainly competition regulations and the development of small and medium businesses. He is also interested in relations between states and markets, and the dynamics of the different capitalistic models.
Prodi has received almost 20 honorary degrees from institutions in Italy, and from the rest of Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa.[citation needed]
[edit] Politics
[edit] Beginnings
Prodi's political career began as a left-of-centre reformist Christian Democrat and a disciple of Beniamino Andreatta, another economist turned politician. During the mid-1970s he was appointed Minister of Industry. During Giulio Andreotti's government in 1978 he served as a Technical Minister; through the 1980s and early 1990s he continuously served various government committees.
On April 2, 1978, Prodi and other teachers at the University of Bologna passed on a tip-off that revealed the whereabouts of the safe house where the kidnapped Aldo Moro, the former Prime Minister, was being held captive by the Brigate Rosse Red Brigades. Prodi claimed he had been given this tip-off by the founders of the Christian Democratic Party, contacted from beyond the grave via a séance and a Ouija board. Whilst during this supposed séance Prodi thought the word Gradoli referred to a town on the outskirts of Rome, it probably referred to the Roman address of a Red Brigades safe house, located at no. 96, Via Gradoli. Later, other Italian members of the European Commission claimed Prodi had invented this story to conceal the real source of the tip-off, which they believed to have originated somewhere among the far-left Italian political groups.[4].
This issue came back again in 2005, when Prodi was accused of being "a KGB man" by Mario Scaramella[5]. The same accusation was raised in 90's by Mitrokhin Commission.
From 1982-1989 and 1993-1994 Prodi, an expert economist and negotiator, was CEO of the powerful state-owned industrial holding company IRI. Though in this position he twice came under investigation - firstly for an alleged conflict of interest in relation to contracts awarded to his own economic research company, and secondly concerning the sale of the loss-making state-owned food conglomerate SME to the multinational Unilever, for which he had, for a time, been a paid consultant - however he was fully acquitted on both counts.
[edit] Olive Tree and first cabinet (1996-1998)
- See also: Italian general election, 1996 and Olive Tree
In 1995 Prodi was one of the founders of the centre-left Olive Tree coalition, and as its main leader he defeated Silvio Berlusconi and his Pole of Freedoms coalition in the 1996 Italian general election. This led to his nomination as President of the Council of Ministers, as the position of Prime Minister is usually called in Italy. His program consisted in continuing the past governments' work of restoration of the country's economic health, in order to pursue the then seemingly unreachable goal of leading the country within the strict European Monetary System parameters and make the country join the Euro. He succeeded in this in little more than six months. His government fell in 1998 when the Communist Refoundation Party withdrew its support. This led to the formation of a new government led by Massimo D'Alema as Prime Minister. There are those who claim that D'Alema deliberately engineered the collapse of the Prodi government to become Prime Minister himself (such speculations being the essence of Italian politics). As the result of a vote of no confidence in Prodi's government, D'Alema's nomination was passed by a single vote. This was the first and so far, the only occasion in the history of republican Italy on which a vote of no confidence had ever been called; the Republic's many previous governments had been brought down by a majority "no" vote on some crucially important piece of legislation (such as the budget).
[edit] President of the European Commission (1999–2004)
-
In September 1999 Prodi, a prominent pro-European, became President of the European Commission, thanks to the support of both the Christian Democrat and the Social Democratic parties in the European Parliament. It was during Prodi's presidency, in 2002, that eleven EU member states abandoned their national currencies and adopted the Euro as their single currency; and in 2004, still during Prodi's presidency, the EU was enlarged to admit several more countries, most of them formerly part of the Soviet bloc. Prodi's mandate expired on the 18 November 2004, whereupon he returned to domestic politics.
[edit] Prodi's return to Italian politics and his second government
- See also: Italian general election, 2006 and Prodi II Cabinet
Shortly before the end of his term as President of the European Commission, Prodi returned to national Italian politics at the helm of the centre-left coalition, The Union.
Having no party of his own, in order to officially state his candidacy for the 2006 general election, Prodi ideated an apposite primary election, the first of such kind to be ever introduced in Europe and seen by its creator (Prodi himself) as a democratic move to bring the public and its opinion closer to the Italian politics, held on October 2005, which he won with over 70% of votes. Over four million people for the occasion went to cast a vote in the primary election. He thus led his coalition to the electoral campaign preceding the election, eventually won by a very narrow margin of 25,000 votes, and a final majority of two seats in the Senate, on April 10. Prodi's appointment was somewhat delayed, as the outgoing President of the Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, ended his mandate in May, not having enough time for the usual procedure (consultations made by the President, appointment of a Prime Minister, motion of confidence and oath of office). After the acrimonious election of Giorgio Napolitano to replace Ciampi, Prodi could proceed with his transition to government. On May 16 he was invited by Napolitano to form a government. The following day, Prodi and his cabinet were sworn in.
Romano Prodi and his cabinet were sworn in on 17 May 2006. Prodi's cabinet drew in politicians from across his centre-left winning coalition, in addition to Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, an unelected former official of the European Central Bank with no partisan membership.
Romano Prodi obtained the support for his cabinet on 19 May at the Senate and on 23 May at the Chamber of Deputies. Also on May 18, Prodi laid out some sense of his new foreign policy when he pledged to withdraw Italian troops from Iraq and called the Iraq war a "grave mistake that has not solved but increased the problem of security".[6]
The coalition led by Romano Prodi, thanks to the electoral law which gives the winner a sixty seat majority, can count on a good majority in the Chamber of Deputies but only on a very narrow majority in the Senate. The composition of the coalition is very varied, throwing parties of Communist inspiration like "Comunisti Italiani" (Party of Italian Communists) and "Rifondazione Comunista" (Communist Refoundation Party) together with parties of Catholic and liberal inspiration, like "Margherita" (Democracy is Freedom – Daisy) and "UDEUR" (Union of Democrats for Europe), led by Clemente Mastella, a former member of Christian Democratic Party. Therefore, according to critics, it is difficult to have a single policy in different key areas, such as economics and foreign politics (for instance, Italian military presence in Afghanistan). In his earlier months as PM, Prodi had a key role in the creation of a multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon following the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.
[edit] 2007 crisis, resignation and reappointment
Prodi's government faced a crisis over policies in early 2007, after just nine months of government. Three ministers in Prodi's Cabinet boycotted a vote in January to continue funding for Italian troop deployments in Afghanistan. Lawmakers approved the expansion of the US military base Caserma Ederle at the end of January, but the victory was so narrow that Deputy Prime Minister Francesco Rutelli criticised members of the coalition who had not supported the government. At around the same time, Justice Minister Clemente Mastella, of the coalition member Popular–UDEUR, said he would rather see the government fall than support its unwed couples legislation.[7]
Tens of thousands of people marched in Vicenza against the expansion of Caserma Ederle, which saw the participation of some leading radical left members.[8] Harsh debates followed in the Italian Senate on 20 February 2007. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Massimo D'Alema declared during an official visit in Ibiza, Spain that, without a majority on foreign policy affairs, the government would resign. The following day, D'Alema gave a speech at the Senate representing the government, clarifying his foreign policy and asking the Senate to vote for or against it. In spite of the fear of many senators that Prodi's defeat would return Silvio Berlusconi to power, the Senate did not approve a motion backing Prodi's government foreign policy, two votes shy of the required majority of 160.[9]
After a Government meeting on 21 February, Romano Prodi tendered his resignation to the President Giorgio Napolitano, who cut short an official visit to Bologna in order to receive the Prime Minister. Prodi's spokesman indicated that he would only agree to form a new Government "if, and only if, he is guaranteed the full support of all the parties in the majority from now on."[10] On 22 February, centre-left coalition party leaders backed a non-negotiable list of twelve political conditions given by Prodi as conditions of his remaining in office. President Napolitano held talks with political leaders on February 23 to decide whether to confirm Prodi's Government, ask Prodi to form a new government or call fresh elections.[11]
Following these talks, on 24 February, President Napolitano asked Prodi to remain in office but to submit to a vote of confidence in both houses.[12][11] "I will seek a vote of confidence as soon as possible, with renewed impetus and a united and determined coalition," Prodi said after meeting with President Giorgio Napolitano.[13] On 28 February, the Senate voted to grant confidence to Prodi's Government. Though facing strong opposition from the center-right coalition, the vote resulted in a 162–157 victory. He then faced a vote of confidence in the lower house on 2 March, which he won as expected with a large majority of 342–198.[14]
[edit] 2008 crisis
- See also: 2008 Italian political crisis
In early January, Justice Minister and Popular-UDEUR leader Clemente Mastella resigned after his wife Sandra Lonardo was put under house arrest for corruption charges. He initially announced external support for the government, only to withdraw it a few days later citing lack of solidarity from the majority parties, and declaring his party would vote against the government bills since then. With three Senators, UDEUR was instrumental to ensure a narrow centre-left majority in the Italian Senate.[15] On 17 January 2008, Prodi became the Minister of Justice ad interim.
This caused Prodi to ask for a confidence vote in both Chambers: he won a clear majority in the Chamber of Deputies on 23 January,[16] but was defeated 156 to 161 (with 1 abstention)[17] in the Senate the next day. He consequently tendered his resignation as Prime Minister to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who accepted it and appointed the President of the Senate, Franco Marini, with the task of evaulating the possibility to form an interim government to implement electoral reforms prior to holding elections. Marini, after consultation with all major political forces, acknowledged the impossibility of doing so on 5 February, forcing Napolitano to announce the end of the legislature.[18] Prodi has said that he would not seek to lead a new government.[19]
[edit] Democratic Party
On 14 October 2007, Prodi oversaw the merger of two main Italian centre-left parties, the Democrats of the Left and Daisy, creating the new Italian Democratic Party. Prodi himself led the merger of the two parties, which had been planned over a twelve year period. Since then, Romano Prodi has served as first President of the party. He announced resignation on 16 April 2008, two days after the outcome of the general election which resulted in a victory for Silvio Berlusconi's coalition.
[edit] See also
- ^ Profile: Romano Prodi. BBC News (1999-05-10). Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ Fisher, Ian (2006-04-12). A tenuous time for Mr. Serenity. International Herald Tribune. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ Biography of Romano Prodi (in Italian)
- ^ Willan, Philip (1999-08-03). Seance points to problem for Prodi. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ 'Multiple attempts' on Litvinenko. BBC (22 January 2007).
- ^ Sturcke, James (2006-05-18). Prodi condemns Iraq war as 'grave mistake'. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ Rift threatens Italian coalition. BBC News (2007-02-02). Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ Italians march in US base protest. BBC News (2007-02-17). Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ Italian PM Prodi resigns after foreign policy defeat. CBC News (2007-02-21). Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ Italian PM hands in resignation. BBC News (2007-02-21). Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
- ^ a b Italian coalition 'to back Prodi. BBC News (2007-02-23). Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
- ^ Italian PM asked to resume duties. BBC News (2007-02-24). Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
- ^ Italy's Leader Asks Premier to Stay on. Associated Press, 25 February 2007.
- ^ http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/03/02/italy.prodi.reut/index.html
- ^ "Italy's ruling coalition weakened", BBC News, 2008-01-17. Retrieved on 2008-01-24.
- ^ "Embattled Italy PM backed by MPs", BBC News, 2008-01-23. Retrieved on 2008-01-24.
- ^ http://it.wikinews.org/wiki/Crisi_di_governo:_il_Senato_sfiducia_Prodi
- ^ (Italian) DOMANI LO SCIOGLIMENTO DELLE CAMERE. Ansa (2008-02-05). Retrieved on 2008-02-05.
- ^ Andrew Davis and Steve Scherer, "Prodi Government Near Collapse After Key Ally Defects (Update2)", Bloomberg.com, January 22, 2008.
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