Sergio Mattarella

Sergio Mattarella
OMRI OMCA
12th President of Italy
Assumed office
3 February 2015
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
Paolo Gentiloni
Giuseppe Conte
Preceded by Giorgio Napolitano
Judge of the Constitutional Court
In office
11 October 2011 – 2 February 2015
Preceded by Ugo De Siervo
Succeeded by Augusto Barbera
Minister of Defence
In office
22 December 1999 – 11 June 2001
Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema
Giuliano Amato
Preceded by Carlo Scognamiglio
Succeeded by Antonio Martino
Deputy Prime Minister of Italy
In office
21 October 1998 – 21 December 1999
Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema
Preceded by Walter Veltroni
Succeeded by Gianfranco Fini
Minister of Education
In office
22 July 1989 – 27 July 1990
Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti
Preceded by Giovanni Galloni
Succeeded by Gerardo Bianco
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs
In office
28 July 1987 – 22 July 1989
Prime Minister Giovanni Goria
Ciriaco De Mita
Preceded by Gaetano Gifuni
Succeeded by Egidio Sterpa
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
12 July 1983 – 18 April 2008
Constituency Sicily
Personal details
Born (1941-07-23) 23 July 1941
Palermo, Kingdom of Italy
Nationality Italian
Political party DC (Before 1994)
PPI (1994–2002)
DL (2002–2007)
PD (2007–2008)
Independent (2008–present)
Spouse(s) Marisa Chiazzese
(deceased 2012)
Children 3 (including Laura)
Residence Quirinal Palace
Alma mater Sapienza University
Signature

Sergio Mattarella OMRI, OMCA (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsɛrdʒo mattaˈrɛlla]; born 23 July 1941) is an Italian politician, lawyer and academic serving as the 12th and current President of Italy since 2015. He was previously Minister for Parliamentary Affairs from 1987 to 1989, Minister of Education from 1989 to 1990, Deputy Prime Minister of Italy from 1998 to 1999 and Minister of Defence from 1999 to 2001. In 2011, he became an elected judge on the Constitutional Court.[1] On 31 January 2015, he was elected by the Italian Parliament to serve as President of the Italian Republic. He is the first Sicilian to have held the post.[2]

Early life

Sergio Mattarella was born in Palermo of a prominent Sicilian family. His father, Bernardo Mattarella, was an anti-fascist who, alongside Alcide De Gasperi and other prominent Catholic politicians, helped found the Christian Democracy (DC) party, which dominated the Italian political scene for almost fifty years, with Bernardo serving as a minister several times.[3] Sergio Mattarella's brother, Piersanti Mattarella, was also a Christian Democratic politician and President of Sicily from 1978 until his death in 1980, when he was killed by the Sicilian Mafia.[4]

During his youth, Sergio Mattarella was a member of Azione Cattolica, a large Catholic lay association. In 1964, he graduated in law at the Sapienza University of Rome; after a few years he started teaching Parliamentary procedure at the University of Palermo.

Political career

1980s

Mattarella entered politics after the assassination of his brother Piersanti by the Mafia. His parliamentary career began in 1983, when he was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies in left-leaning faction of the DC that had supported an agreement with the Italian Communist Party (PCI) led by Enrico Berlinguer, the so-called Historic Compromise. The following year he was entrusted by the Secretary of the Christian Democrat, Ciriaco De Mita, to "clean up" the Sicilian faction of the party from Mafia control, at a time when men of honor of Cosa Nostra like Salvo Lima and Vito Ciancimino were powerful political figures.[5] In 1985 Mattarella helped the young lawyer Leoluca Orlando, who had worked alongside his brother Piersanti during his governorship of Sicily, to become the new Mayor of Palermo.

Mattarella was appointed Minister for Parliamentary Affairs in the governments led by Christian Democratic Prime Ministers Giovanni Goria and Ciriaco De Mita, and in 1989 he became Minister of Education in the sixth cabinet of Giulio Andreotti. Mattarella stood down from his position, together with other ministers, in 1990 upon parliament's passing of the Mammì Act, liberalising the media sector in Italy, which they saw as a favour to the media magnate Silvio Berlusconi.[6]

1990s

Sergio Mattarella in 1994

In 1990 Mattarella was appointed Vice-Secretary of Christian Democracy. He left the post two years later to become director of Il Popolo, the official newspaper of the party. Following the Italian referendum of 1993 he drafted the new electoral law nicknamed Mattarellum.[7] In 1994, when Christian Democracy was dissolved in the wake of the Tangentopoli corruption scandal, he helped found the Italian People's Party (PPI), along with its first leader Mino Martinazzoli and other former Christian Democrats.[6] In the ensuing 1994 general election (in which the newly founded PPI fared poorly) Martinazzoli was again elected to the Chamber of Deputies.[1] He soon found himself engaged in an internal dispute after the election of a new party leader, Rocco Buttiglione, who wished to steer the Italian People's Party towards an electoral alliance with Berlusconi's Forza Italia.[6] Following Buttiglione's appointment, Mattarella resigned as director of Il Popolo in opposition to this policy.[8]

Mattarella was one of the first supporters of the economist Romano Prodi at the head of the centre-left coalition known as The Olive Tree (L'Ulivo) in the 1996 general election. After the electoral victory of the centre-left, Mattarella served as President of the PPI's parliamentary group. Two years later, when Prodi's first government fell, Mattarella was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence in the government of Massimo D'Alema, then-leader of the Democrats of the Left (DS). As Minister of Defence he supported the NATO Intervention in Yugoslavia against the Serbian President Slobodan Milošević; he also approved a reform of the Italian Armed Forces which abolished conscription. After the resignation of D'Alema in 2000, Mattarella kept his position as Minister of Defence in the government of Giuliano Amato.[6]

2000s

Mattarella with the U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen in March 2000

In October 2000 the PPI joined with other centrist parties to form an alliance called The Daisy (DL), later to merge into a single party in March 2002. Mattarella was re-elected to the Italian Parliament in the 2001 and 2006 general elections, standing as a candidate for The Daisy in two successive centre-left coalitions – The Olive Tree and The Union (L'Unione).[1]

In 2007 he was one of the founders of the Democratic Party (PD), a big tent centre-left party formed from a merger of left-wing and centrist parties which had been part of The Olive Tree, including The Daisy and the Democrats of the Left (heirs of the Italian Communist Party).[6]

On 5 October 2011 he was elected by the Italian Parliament with 572 votes to be a judge of the Constitutional Court. He was sworn in on 11 October 2011. He served until he was sworn in as President of the Republic of Italy.[9]

President of Italy

Sergio Mattarella with his predecessor, Giorgio Napolitano

On 31 January 2015 Mattarella was elected President of the Italian Republic at the fourth ballot with 665 votes out of 1,009, with support from the Democratic Party (PD), New Centre-Right (NCD), Civic Choice (SC), Union of the Centre (UDC) and Left Ecology Freedom (SEL).[10][11]

Mattarella was officially endorsed by the Democratic Party, after his name was put forward by the Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.[12] Mattarella replaced Giorgio Napolitano, who had served for nine years, the longest presidency in the history of the Italian Republic. However, since Napolitano had resigned on 14 January, Senate President Pietro Grasso was the Acting President at the time of Mattarella's inauguration on 3 February. Mattarella's first statement as new President was: "My thoughts go first and especially to the difficulties and hopes of our fellow citizens".[13][14][15]

His first presidential visit was on the day of his election, when he visited the Fosse Ardeatine where, in 1944 during World War II, the Nazi occupation troops killed 335 people as a reprisal for a partisan attack. Mattarella stated that "Europe and the world must be united to defeat whoever wants to drag us into a new age of terror".[16]

On 6 May 2015 Mattarella signed the new Italian electoral law, known as Italicum, which provides for a two-round system based on party-list proportional representation, corrected by a majority bonus and a 3% election threshold. Candidates run for election in 100 multi-member constituencies with open lists, except for a single candidate chosen by each party who is the first to be elected.

2016 political crisis

Mattarella and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, April 2017

On Sunday 4 December 2016, a constitutional referendum was held in Italy.[17] Voters were asked whether they approve a constitutional law that amends the Italian Constitution to reform the composition and powers of the Parliament of Italy,[18] as well as the division of powers between the State, the regions, and administrative entities.

The bill, put forward by then- Prime Minister of Italy, Matteo Renzi, and his centre-left Democratic Party, was first introduced by the government in the Senate on 8 April 2014. After several amendments were made to the proposed law by both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, the bill received its first approval on 13 October 2015 (Senate) and 11 January 2016 (Chamber), and, eventually, its second and final approval on 20 January 2016 (Senate) and 12 April 2016 (Chamber).[19]

In accordance with Article 138 of the Constitution, a referendum was called after the formal request of more than one fifth of the members of both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies,[20] since the constitutional law had not been approved by a qualified majority of two-thirds in each house of parliament in the second vote.[21] 59.11% of voters voted against the constitutional reform, meaning it did not come into effect.[22] This was the third constitutional referendum in the history of the Italian Republic; the other two were in 2001 (in which the amending law was approved) and in 2006 (in which it was rejected).

The constitutional reform was rejected with almost 60% of votes, and on 7 December 2016, Prime Minister Renzi announced his resignation. On 11 December Mattarella appointed the incumbent Minister of Foreign Affairs Paolo Gentiloni as new head of the government.[23][24]

2018 general election

The March 2018 election resulted in a hung parliament, with no coalitions able to form a majority of seats in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. The election was seen as a backlash against the establishment with the Five Star Movement (M5S) and the League becoming the two largest parties in the Parliament.[25][26]

After the election's results were known, Luigi Di Maio, leader of the M5S, and Matteo Salvini, secretary of the League, each urged that Mattarella should give him the task of forming a new cabinet because he led the largest party or coalition, respectively.[27] On 5 March, Matteo Renzi announced that the PD would be in the opposition during this legislature and that he would resign as party leader when a new cabinet was formed.[28] On 6 March, Salvini repeated his campaign message that his party would refuse any coalition with the Five Star Movement.[29] On 14 March, Salvini nonetheless offered to govern with the M5S, imposing the condition that League ally Forza Italia, led by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, must also take part in any coalition. Di Maio rejected this proposal on the grounds that Salvini was "choosing restoration instead of revolution" because "Berlusconi represents the past".[30] Moreover a Five Star leader, Alessandro Di Battista, denied any possibility of an alliance with Forza Italia, describing Berlusconi as the "pure evil of our country".[31]

Mattarella with Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, 24 March 2018

The consultations between Mattarella and the political parties on 4 and 5 April failed to result in a candidate for Prime Minister, forcing Mattarella to hold another round of consultation between 11 and 12 April 2018.[32]

On 18 April 2018 Mattarella tasked the President of the Senate, Elisabetta Casellati, with trying to reconcile the issues between the centre-right and the Five Star Movement, in order to break the post-election political deadlock and form a fully functional new government.[33][34] However she failed to find a solution to the conflicts between the two groups, especially between the M5S and Forza Italia.[35] [36] On 23 April 2018, after Casellati's failure, Mattarella gave an exploratory mandate to the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Roberto Fico, to try to create a political agreement between the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party.[37][38][39] However, on 30 April, following an interview of the PD’s former leader Matteo Renzi in which he expressed his strong opposition to an alliance with the M5S, Di Maio called for new elections.[40][41][42]

On 7 May, Mattarella held a third round of government formation talks, after which he formally confirmed the lack of any possible majority (M5S rejecting an alliance with the whole centre-right coalition, PD rejecting an alliance with both M5S and the centre-right coalition, and the League's Matteo Salvini refusing to form a government with M5S unless it included Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, whose presence in the government was explicitly vetoed by M5S's leader Luigi Di Maio); as a result, he announced his intention to soon appoint a "neutral government" (ignoring M5S and the League's refusal to support such an option) to take over from the Gentiloni Cabinet which was considered unable to lead Italy into a second consecutive election as it represented a majority from a past legislature, and suggested an early election in July (which would be the very first summer general election in Italy) as an option in light of the ongoing deadlock.[43] The Lega and M5S agreed to hold new elections on 8 July, an option that was however rejected by all other parties.[44][45][46]

On 9 May, after a day of rumours, M5S and the League officially asked Mattarella to give them 24 more hours to strike a coalition agreement between the two parties.[47] Later the same day, in the evening, Silvio Berlusconi publicly announced that Forza Italia would not support an M5S-League government on a vote of confidence, but would nevertheless maintain the centre-right alliance, thus opening the door to a possible majority government between the two parties.[48] On 13 May, the Five Star Movement and League reached an agreement in principle on a government program, likely clearing the way for the formation of a governing coalition between the two parties, but they could not agree regarding the members of a government cabinet, most importantly the prime minister. M5S and League leaders met with Mattarella on 14 May to guide the formation of a new government.[49] At their meeting with Mattarella, both parties asked for an additional week of negotiations to agree on a detailed government program, as well as a prime minister to lead the joint government. Both M5S and the League announced their intention to ask their respective members to vote on the government agreement by the weekend.

Mattarella with Giuseppe Conte at the Quirinal Palace.

On 21 May 2018, a private law professor, Giuseppe Conte, was proposed by Di Maio and Salvini for the role of Prime Minister in the 2018 Italian government.[50][51][52] Despite reports in the Italian press suggesting that Mattarella still had significant reservations about the direction of the new government,[53] Conte was invited to the Quirinal Palace on 23 May 2018 to receive the presidential mandate to form a new cabinet.[54][55] In the traditional statement after the appointment, Conte said that he would be the “defense lawyer of Italian people”.[56]

However on 27 May, Conte renounced his mandate, due to conflicts between Salvini and Mattarella. Salvini had proposed university professor Paolo Savona as Finance Minister, but Mattarella strongly opposed the appointment, considering Savona too Eurosceptic and anti-German.[57] In his speech after Conte's resignation, Mattarella declared that the two parties wanted to bring Italy out of the Eurozone and that, as the guarantor of the Italian Constitution and the country's interest and stability, he could not allow this.[58][59] On 28 May, Mattarella gave economist Carlo Cottarelli the task of forming a new government.[60] On 31 May Giuseppe Conte received again the presidential mandate to form the new cabinet.[61] The new government was sworn in on 1 June.

Personal life

He was married to Marisa Chiazzese, daughter of Lauro Chiazzese, a professor of Roman law and rector of the University of Palermo. His wife died in 2012. He has three children:[62] Bernardo Giorgio (born 1968),[63] Laura (1968) and Francesco (1973).

Honours

National Honours

Foreign Honours

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Sergio Mattarella chi è?". Il Post (in Italian). 29 January 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  2. ↑ Walker, Keith (31 January 2015). "73-year-old Sicilian Sergio Mattarella is Italy's new president". Euronews. Reuters. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  3. ↑ Gigante Lorenzo. "Personaggi Trapanesi - Bernardo Mattarella". trapaninostra.it.
  4. ↑ "The Andreotti Affair: Supergrasses target Andreotti", The Independent, April 16, 1993.
  5. ↑ Messina, Sebastiano (29 January 2015). "Sergio Mattarella: dalla morte di Piersanti al no sulla Mammì, una carriera con la schiena dritta". Repubblica.it.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Cedrone, Giovanni (30 January 2015). "Sergio Mattarella, 35 anni di politica all'insegna della riservatezza". La Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "È il Mattarellum il piano B del governo - Corriere.it". Corriere della Sera.
  8. ↑ Credazzi, Guido (2 August 1994). "Mancino: non saro' capogruppo, e Mattarella lascia il 'Popolo'". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  9. ↑ "The Constitutional Court: Composition of the Court". Constitutional Court of Italy. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  10. ↑ Scacchioli, Michela (31 January 2015). "Mattarella eletto al Quirinale con 665 voti. "Pensiero a difficoltà e speranze dei cittadini"". Repubblica.it.
  11. ↑ Italy's Lawmakers Elect Sergio Mattarella as President
  12. ↑ "PM backs anti-mafia figure for Italy President". Yahoo News UK. 29 January 2015.
  13. ↑ "Mattarella: "Il pensiero va alle difficoltà e alle speranze dei nostri concittadini"". Video Corriere.
  14. ↑ "Italy MPs elect judge Sergio Mattarella as president". BBC News. 1 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  15. ↑ "Italy Elects President, While Mulling a Change in Role". New York Times. 1 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  16. ↑ Saviano, Carmine (31 January 2015). "Mattarella, davanti alla tv con i figli. Poi in Panda e, a sorpresa, va alle Fosse Ardeatine". Repubblica.it.
  17. ↑ "Italiani al voto per il referendum costituzionale". Ministero dell'interno. 2016-11-18.
  18. ↑ "Scheda / La nuova Costituzione e il nuovo Senato (versione solo testo)". 12 October 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  19. ↑ "Camera.it – XVII Legislatura – Lavori – Progetti di legge – Scheda del progetto di legge". Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  20. ↑ "Referendum riforme, depositate le firme di maggioranza e opposizione". Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  21. ↑ "Constitution of the Italian Republic" (PDF). Senate of the Republic. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  22. ↑ "Referendum [Scrutini] (In complesso) - Referendum costituzionale del 4 dicembre 2016 - Ministero dell'Interno". Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  23. ↑ @lex_sala. "Referendum costituzionale 2016 Il No al 60%, la riforma non passa Renzi: «Ho perso io, mi dimetto". Corriere.it. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  24. ↑ "Paolo Gentiloni, Italian foreign minister, appointed PM". BBC News. 11 December 2016.
  25. ↑ "Populists vie for power after Italy vote". BBC News. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  26. ↑ "La possibile alleanza - Governo, verso l'intesa M5S-Lega: ambasciatori a lavoro, ma sulla Camera è impasse".
  27. ↑ "Salvini: "La Lega guiderà governo". Di Maio: "Inizia Terza Repubblica"".
  28. ↑ "Renzi: "Lascerò dopo nuovo governo. Pd all'opposizione". Ma è scontro nel partito: "Via subito"". 5 March 2018.
  29. ↑ "Was die Populisten wirklich wollen". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 6 March 2018.
  30. ↑ "Italy's Salvini open to coalition with 5Stars". POLITICO. 14 March 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  31. ↑ Di Battista: “Berlusconi è il male assoluto del nostro Paese”. Forza Italia: “Ignobile, M5s lo condanni”
  32. ↑ @chedisagio, Marco Castelnuovo. "Cosa sappiamo dopo il primo giro di consultazioni".
  33. ↑ "Casellati set for 'exploratory' mandate". ANSA. 18 April 2018.
  34. ↑ Italy president taps Berlusconi ally to try to break impasse
  35. ↑ Casellati: "Ci sono spunti". Ma l'ultimo tentativo fallisce
  36. ↑ "Italian president makes fresh push to form government". The Financial Times. 18 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  37. ↑ Mandato a Fico per governo Pd-M5s. Di Maio scarica Salvini: "Ci ho provato". Martina: "Dialogo se finiscono ambiguità"
  38. ↑ Fico da Mattarella: M5S-PD, governo possibile?
  39. ↑ "Italy Picks New Mediator in Search for Government Majority". Bllomberg. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  40. ↑ "Fünf-Sterne-Bewegung fordert Neuwahlen". Zeit. 30 April 2018.
  41. ↑ "Fünf-Sterne-Bewegung verlangt Neuwahlen". Spiegel Online. 30 April 2018.
  42. ↑ "Ratlosigkeit in Rom: Sind Neuwahlen nötig?". OÖNachrichten. 2 May 2018.
  43. ↑ "Italian president says 'neutral' government should lead until end of year". The Guardian. 7 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  44. ↑ "Staatspräsident erklärt Regierungsbildung für gescheitert". DIE ZEIT. 7 May 2018.
  45. ↑ "Regierungsbildung ist gescheitert – Italien steht vor Neuwahlen". Handelsblatt. 7 May 2018.
  46. ↑ Giorgio, Massimiliano Di. "Italy repeat election looms in July as parties still far apart". U.K. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  47. ↑ "Italy's populist parties given 24 hours to avert fresh elections". Financial Times. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  48. ↑ "Governo M5S-Lega, Berlusconi: nessun veto all'intesa ma no alla fiducia". Repubblica.it (in Italian). La Repubblica. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  49. ↑ "Italy's populist 5 Star, League parties reach deal on government program". MarketWatch. 13 May 2018.
  50. ↑ "Chi è Giuseppe Conte, scelto da Luigi Di Maio per la possibile squadra di governo". formiche.net (in Italian). 28 February 2018.
  51. ↑ "Italy populist government pact: Candidate for prime minister named". BBC News. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  52. ↑ "Italian president in talks as populist parties put forward novice for PM". The Guardian.
  53. ↑ "Italy's Populists Move Closer to Power, With Little-Known Pick for Prime Minister". The New York Times.
  54. ↑ The Latest: Populists' premier gets presidential mandate
  55. ↑ Conte giunto al Quirinale per l'incarico
  56. ↑ Governo, Mattarella conferisce a Conte lʼincarico: "Sarò lʼavvocato difensore degli italiani"
  57. ↑ Governo, Conte rimette l'incarico. M5S: "Il Colle ha posto veto su Savona". Il leader leghista: "Torniamo al voto"
  58. ↑ L'ora più buia di Mattarella: la scelta obbligata di difendere l'interesse nazionale dopo il no dei partiti alla soluzione Giorgetti per l'Economia
  59. ↑ Governo, telefonate di solidarietà al Colle e sui social #iostoconMattarella
  60. ↑ Cottarelli al Colle alle 11.30. Mattarella: "Contro intolleranza, fedeltà a democrazia"
  61. ↑ http://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/articoli/Giuseppe-Conte-riceve-e-accetta-incarico-Presentata-a-Mattarella-la-lista-dei-ministri-1d8b9d38-c0c1-40c1-a6e9-44558da0fe1a.html
  62. ↑ "Sergio Mattarella: profilo privato di un uomo misurato" (in Italian). Panorama. January 30, 2015. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  63. ↑ "Prof. Bernardo Giorgio Mattarella, ordinario dell'Università Luiss". IRPA - Istituto di Ricerche sulla Pubblica Amministrazione. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
Political offices
Preceded by
Gaetano Gifuni		 Minister for Parliamentary Affairs
1987–1989		 Succeeded by
Egidio Sterpa
Preceded by
Giovanni Galloni		 Minister of Education
1989–1990		 Succeeded by
Gerardo Bianco
Preceded by
Walter Veltroni		 Deputy Prime Minister of Italy
1998–1999		 Vacant
Title next held by
Gianfranco Fini
Preceded by
Carlo Scognamiglio		 Minister of Defence
1999–2001		 Succeeded by
Antonio Martino
Preceded by
Giorgio Napolitano		 President of Italy
2015–present		 Incumbent
Legal offices
Preceded by
Ugo De Siervo		 Judge of the Constitutional Court
2011–2015		 Succeeded by
Augusto Barbera
Order of precedence
First Order of precedence of Italy
as President		 Succeeded by
Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati
as President of the Senate
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