Antonio Martino

Antonio Martino (born December 22, 1942) is an Italian politician, who was the minister of foreign affairs in 1994 and minister of defense from 2001 to 2006. He is a founding member of Forza Italia.

Career

Born in Messina, he is the son of Gaetano Martino, former Foreign Minister and prominent member of the late Italian Liberal Party (PLI). In mid-the 1980s he was unsuccessful candidate for the post of PLI secretary. A member of the Italian Parliament, he was first elected in 1994, re-elected in 1996 and 2001.

Since 1992 and for many years, Martino has been a professor of Economics in the Political Science Department at the LUISS University of Rome (currently on Parliamentary leave). He is author of 11 books and over 150 papers and articles on economic theory and policy. He has been a frequent contributor to Italian and international magazines and newspapers (Il Giornale, for example), as well as Italian and international television and radio programs.

In 1988-90, Martino was President of the Mont Pelerin Society, an international society of classical liberals, founded in 1947 by Nobel Prize Winner Friedrich A. Hayek. In the Nineties, he wrote a book in Italian language, Stato Padrone, where he explains his free-market ideas.