Massimo D'Alema

Massimo D'Alema was born in Rome on 20 April 1949,[1] the son of Giuseppe D'Alema, a communist politician. He is married to Linda Giuva, a professor at the University of Siena, and has two children, Giulia and Francesco. He later became a notable member of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), part of which in 1991 gave origin to the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), and in 1998 to the Democrats of the Left (DS). In 1998, succeeding Romano Prodi, he became Prime Minister, as the leader of The Olive Tree centre-left coalition. He was the first former Communist to become prime minister of a NATO country and the first Prime Minister of Italy born after Italy became a Republic in 1946.

While D'Alema was Prime Minister, Italy took part in the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999. The attack was supported by Silvio Berlusconi and the centre-right opposition, but the far left strongly contested it.

In the internal life of his party, mostly during its transition from PCI to PDS, D'Alema stressed that its roots in Marxism should be renovated, with the aim to create a modern Western European social-democratic party.

D'Alema during a PD's meeting

He has been the director of L'Unità, formerly the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party, which subsequently became the newspaper of the Democrats of the Left.

D'Alema was Member of the European Parliament for Southern Italy with the Democrats of the Left, part of the Party of European Socialists group, and sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Fisheries and its Committee on Foreign Affairs, until he stood down following his election to the Italian Chamber of Deputies.

Following Romano Prodi's win in the April 2006 election, D'Alema was initially tipped to become President of the Italian Republic once the Chamber of Deputies reconvened, but D'Alema himself stepped back, endorsing the official candidate of the centre-left coalition, Giorgio Napolitano, who was elected. Immediately following the April 2006 election, he was proposed as the future President of the Chamber of Deputies. The Communist Refoundation Party, however, strongly pushed for Fausto Bertinotti to become the next President. After a couple of days of heated debate, D'Alema stepped back to prevent a fracture between political parties, an act applauded by his allies. The same month, he was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the new Prodi government. He served in those posts until 2008, when Prodi's government fell and Berlusconi's right-wing coalition prevailed in the election that followed in April 2008. D'Alema was re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies in this election as part of the recently formed Democratic Party.[1]

While Italian Foreign Minister in the 2006–2008 Romano Prodi center-left government, Massimo D'Alema took a very pro-active diplomatic stance during the 2006 Lebanon War. Italy led negotiations with the Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni and was proposed by Israel to head the multinational peacekeeping mission Unifil, although the dangers of the mission for Italian troops sparked warnings from the center-right opposition that it could prove a "kamikaze" mission, with the peacekeepers sandwiched between Israel and the well-armed Hezbollah.[3] D’Alema pledged Italy’s willingness to enforce the United Nations resolution on Lebanon and urged other European Union member states to do the same because the stability of the Middle East should be a chief concern for Europeans.[4]

Massimo D'Alema with Condoleezza Rice

D'Alema was briefly a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2006. Since 2003 he has been member of the scientific committee of Michel Rocard and Dominique Strauss-Kahn's association "A gauche en Europe". He still figures on the European scene; he signed the Soros letter ('As concerned Europeans') and has called for a stronger European integration.[5]

Three year after the peace-keeping role in the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon war, D'Alema became one of the favourite candidates for the charges of president of the European Council, high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, or secretary-general for the Council Secretariat[6], without being appointed.

Since 30 June 2010 he has been the president of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), the political foundation of the Party of European Socialists.[7]

D'Alema has been a friend of the Italian banker and Freemason Vincenzo De Bustis.[8]

Massimo D'Alema published eight books, half of which with Mondadori, which is controlled by Fininvest, the family holding company of Silvio Berlusconi.

• Dialogo su Berlinguer ("Dialogue on Berlinguer"), with Paul Ginsborg, Giunti, 1994, ISBN 88-09-20545-6;
• Un paese normale. La sinistra e il futuro dell'Italia ("A normal country. The left wing and Italy's future"), Mondadori, 1995, ISBN 88-04-40847-2;
• Progettare il futuro ("Shaping the future"), Bompiani, 1996, ISBN 88-452-2883-5;
• La sinistra nell'Italia che cambia ("The left wing in the changing Italy"), Feltrinelli, 1997, ISBN 88-07-47013-6
• La grande occasione. L'Italia verso le riforme ("The great chance. Italy towards reforms"), Mondadori, 1997, ISBN 88-04-42161-4;
• Parole a vista ("Words on sight"), with Enrico Ghezzi, Bompiani, 1998, ISBN 88-452-3777-X;
• Kosovo. Gli italiani e la guerra ("Kosovo. Italians and war"), with Federico Rampini, Mondadori, 1999, ISBN 88-04-47302-9;
• Oltre la paura ("Beyond fear"), Mondadori, 2002, ISBN 88-04-51206-7.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Massimo D'Alema.

• Official website
• Massimo D'Alema at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) (in Spanish)
• Personal profile of Massimo D'Alema in the European Parliament's database of members
• Declaration (PDF) of financial interests (in Italian)