Paolo Gentiloni

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The Honourable
Paolo Gentiloni
MP
Paolo Gentiloni - Festival Economia 2016.jpg
57th Prime Minister of Italy
Assumed office
12 December 2016
President Sergio Mattarella
Preceded by Matteo Renzi
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
31 October 2014 – 12 December 2016
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
Preceded by Federica Mogherini
Succeeded by Angelino Alfano
Minister of Communications
In office
17 May 2006 – 8 May 2008
Prime Minister Romano Prodi
Preceded by Mario Landolfi
Succeeded by Claudio Scajola (Economic Development)
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
Assumed office
30 May 2001
Constituency Piedmont 2 (2001–2006)
Lazio 1 (2006–present)
Personal details
Born Paolo Gentiloni Silveri
(1954-11-22) 22 November 1954 (age 62)
Rome, Italy
Political party The Daisy (2002–2007)
Democratic Party (2007–present)
Spouse(s) Emanuela Mauro
Alma mater Sapienza University
Profession

Paolo Gentiloni Silveri[1] (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpaːolo dʒentiˈloːni]; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician, member of the Democratic Party and current Prime Minister of Italy since 12 December 2016.[2].

Gentiloni served also as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 31 October 2014 until December 2016 when President Sergio Mattarella asked him form a new government.[3] Previously he was Minister of Communications from 2006 to 2008, during the second government of Romano Prodi.

Early life and family

A descendant of Count Gentiloni Silveri, he is related to the Italian politician Vincenzo Ottorino Gentiloni, leader of the conservative Catholic Electoral Union and a key ally of the long-time Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti. He has the title of Nobile of Filottrano, Nobile of Cingoli and Nobile of Macerata.

Born in Rome, he attended the Classical Lyceum Torquato Tasso in the city and graduated in political sciences at the La Sapienza University; Gentiloni is a professional journalist.

Political career

Gentiloni was a member of the Student Movement (Movimento Studentesco), a left-wing youth organization led by Mario Capanna; when Capanna founded the Proletarian Democracy party, Gentiloni did not follow him, and joined the Workers' Movement for Socialism. During those years he became a close friend of Chicco Testa who helped Gentiloni to become director of La Nuova Ecologia ("The New Ecology"), the official newspaper of Legambiente. As director of this ecologist newspaper he met the young leader of Federation of the Greens, Francesco Rutelli.

Rome City Council

In 1993 he became Rutelli’s spokesman during his campaign to become Mayor of Rome; after the election, which saw a strong victory of Rutelli against the right-wing coalition led by Gianfranco Fini, Gentiloni was appointed Jubilee and Tourism Councillor in the Rome City Council.

Member of Parliament, 2001–2006

In the 2001 general election, Gentiloni was elected as a Member of Parliament and started his national political career. In 2002 he was a founding member of the The Daisy party, being the party’s communications spokesman for five years.[4]

From 2005 until 2006, he was Chairman of the Broadcasting Services Watchdog Committee; the committee oversees the activity of state broadcaster RAI, which is publicly funded.[5]

Minister for Communications, 2006–2008

He was re-elected in the 2006 election as a member of The Olive Tree, the political coalition led by the Bolognese economist Romano Prodi. After the centre-left's victory, Gentiloni served as Minister for Communications in Prodi's second government from 2006 until 2008.[6]

He was one of the 45 members of the national founding committee of the Democratic Party in 2007, formed by the union of the democratic socialists Democrats of the Left and the Christian leftist The Daisy.

Member of Parliament, 2008–2013

Gentiloni was re-elected in the 2008 general election, which saw the victory of the conservative coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi.

On 6 April 2013 he ran in the primary election to select the center-left candidate for Mayor of Rome, placing third after Ignazio Marino, who became Mayor, and the journalist David Sassoli.[7]

2013 general elections and support to Matteo Renzi

Gentiloni was elected again to the Chamber of Deputies in the 2013 general election, as part of the centre-left coalition Italy. Common Good led by Pier Luigi Bersani, Secretary of the PD.

In 2013, after Bersani's resignation as Secretary, Gentiloni supported the Mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi, in the Democratic Party leadership election.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2014–2016

Gentiloni with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome, June 2016.

On 31 October 2014 Gentiloni was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi; Gentiloni succeeded Federica Mogherini, who became High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.[8] He took office two months before Italy's rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union ended in December 2014.[5]

At the time of his appointment, Gentiloni had not been mentioned in political circles as a candidate. Renzi had reportedly wanted to replace Mogherini with another woman, to preserve gender parity in his 16-member cabinet. Also, Gentiloni was not known as a specialist in international diplomacy.[5]

On 13 February 2015, during an interview on Sky TG24, Gentiloni stated that "if needed, Italy will be ready to fight in Libya against the Islamic State, because the Italian government can not accept the idea that there is an active terrorist threat only a few hours from Italy by boat."[9] The following day Gentiloni was threatened by ISIL, which accused him of being a crusader, minister of an enemy country.[10]

In March 2015 Gentiloni visited Mexico and Cuba and met Cuban President Raúl Castro, ensuring the Italian support for the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States.[11]

On 11 July 2015, a car bomb exploded outside the Italian consulate in the Egyptian capital Cairo resulting in at least one death and four people injured; responsibility was claimed by the Islamic State.[12][13][14] On the same day Gentiloni stated that "Italy will be not intimidated" and would continue the fight against terrorism.[15]

Gentiloni with Boris Johnson and Federica Mogherini in September 2016.

In December 2015, Gentiloni hosted a peace conference in Rome with the representatives from both governments of Libya involved in the civil war, but also from the United Nations, the United States and Russia.[16]

As Foreign Minister, Gentiloni had to confront various abductions of Italian citizens. In January 2015, he negotiated the release of Vanessa Marzullo and Greta Ramelli after they had been held hostage by Syrian terrorists for 168 days.[17] Another high-profile case was the murder of Giulio Regeni, an Italian Cambridge University graduate student killed in Cairo following his abduction on January 25, 2016;[18] Regeni was a PhD student[19] researching Egypt's independent trade unions.[20]

At the 2016 United Nations Security Council election, Gentiloni and his Dutch counterpart Bert Koenders agreed on splitting a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council after the United Nations General Assembly was deadlocked on whether to choose Italy or the Netherlands following five rounds of voting for the last remaining 2017–18 seat.[21]

Prime Minister of Italy

Main article: Gentiloni Cabinet
Paolo Gentiloni announcing his cabinet, on 12 December 2016.

On 7 December 2016, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced his resignation, following the rejection of his proposals in the 2016 Italian constitutional referendum.

On 11 December 2016, following Renzi's resignation, Gentiloni was asked by President Mattarella to form a new government.[22][22] On the following day Gentiloni officially sworn in as new head of the government.[23]

He led a coalition government supported by his own Democratic Party and the Christian democratic Popular Area, composed by the New Centre-Right and the Centrists for Italy. This was the same majority which supported Renzi's government for almost three years.[24] While the centrist Liberal Popular Alliance (ALA), led by Denis Verdini, did not support the new cabinet, because any members of ALA was appointed ministers.[25]

References

  1. ^ "Camera dei Deputati- Paolo Gentiloni Silveri". Camera dei Deputati - Paolo Gentiloni Silveri. 
  2. ^ Rovelli, Michela (11 December 2016). "Governo, Gentiloni accetta l'incarico di governo: «Un grande onore»". Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 11 December 2016. 
  3. ^ "Chi è Paolo Gentiloni, nuovo ministro degli esteri". Retrieved 24 October 2016. 
  4. ^ Profilo personale.
  5. ^ a b c Paolo Biondi and Roberto Landucci (October 31, 2014), Italy PM picks Paolo Gentiloni as new foreign minister in surprise choice Reuters.
  6. ^ Giada Zampano (October 31, 2014), Italy’s Prime Minister Names Paolo Gentiloni as Foreign Minister Wall Street Journal.
  7. ^ "Primarie Pd, a Roma stravince Marino: secondo Sassoli, terzo Gentiloni". Retrieved 24 October 2016. 
  8. ^ "Gentiloni giura al Quirinale, è il nuovo ministro degli Esteri: "Governo dev'essere all'altezza"". 31 October 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2016. 
  9. ^ "Italy "ready to fight" in Libya if needed - foreign minister". Retrieved 24 October 2016. 
  10. ^ "Terrorismo, radio dello Stato islamico cita Gentiloni: "Ministro dell'Italia crociata"". 14 February 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2016. 
  11. ^ "Gentiloni incontra Raul Castro a Cuba". Retrieved 24 October 2016. 
  12. ^ "ISIS claims responsibility for bomb attack against Italian consulate in Cairo | News , Middle East". The Daily Star. 2015-07-06. Retrieved 2015-07-11. 
  13. ^ "Islamic State 'behind blast' at Italian consulate in Cairo - BBC News". Bbc.com. Retrieved 2015-07-11. 
  14. ^ "1 dead in car bomb blast at Italian Consulate in Egypt - CNN.com". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2015-07-11. 
  15. ^ AFP/PTI (11 July 2015). "Italy not 'intimidated' by Cairo consulate attack: Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni". Retrieved 24 October 2016 – via Business Standard. 
  16. ^ "Heads of rival Libyan parliaments meet in Malta, seek more time for unity government". Times of Malta. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015. 
  17. ^ Liam Moloney (January 16, 2015), Italy Says Against Paying Ransom for Hostages Wall Street Journal.
  18. ^ "Italian student found dead in Cairo 'killed by violent blow to the head'". The Guardian. 
  19. ^ "Cambridge University student Giulio Regeni 'was tortured and suffered burns' in Egypt, claim reports". Cambridge News. 
  20. ^ "Italy Summons Egyptian Ambassador Over Death of Student in Cairo". The Wall Street Journal. 4 February 2016. 
  21. ^ Michelle Nichols (June 28, 2016), Italy, Netherlands propose split U.N. Security Council seat for 2017-18 Reuters.
  22. ^ a b "L'ascesa di Paolo Gentiloni, dalla Margherita alla Farnesina" [Paolo Gentiloni's rise: from the Daisy to the Farnesina]. La Repubblica (in Italian). Rome: Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso. 31 October 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2015. 
  23. ^ Nasce il governo Gentiloni, ministri confermati tranne Giannini. Alfano agli Esteri. Minniti all'Interno. Boschi sottosegretario
  24. ^ Governo Gentiloni, il ministro scelto da Mattarella: “Stessa maggioranza, gli altri non ci stanno”. Lunedì la squadra
  25. ^ http://www.corriere.it/la-crisi-di-governo/notizie/governo-denis-verdini-si-sfila-no-fiducia-governo-fotocopia-ae48522c-c091-11e6-84a3-703e0bacaa0c.shtml

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Mario Landolfi		 Minister of Communications
2006–2008		 Succeeded by
Claudio Scajola
as Minister of Economic Development
Preceded by
Federica Mogherini		 Minister of Foreign Affairs
2014–2016		 Succeeded by
Angelino Alfano
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