The 2021 Italian by-elections were held to replace members of the Italian Parliament . The elections were held on 3–4 October 2021.
92-689: Enrico Letta ( Italian: [enˈriːko ˈlɛtta] ; born 20 August 1966) is an Italian politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy from April 2013 to February 2014, leading a grand coalition of centre-left and centre-right parties. He was the leader of the Democratic Party (PD) from March 2021 to March 2023. He is currently the Dean of IE University ’s School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs in Madrid, Spain. After working as an academic, Letta entered politics in 1998 when he
184-733: A Graduate School with university status. From 2001 to 2003, Letta was professor at the University Carlo Cattaneo near Varese , and then he taught at the Sant'Anna School in Pisa in 2003 and at the HEC Paris in 2004. Letta, a Catholic, began his political career in the Christian Democracy (DC), the dominant centrist and Roman Catholic party, which ruled Italy for almost fifty years. From 1991 to 1995, Letta
276-578: A hung parliament . On 20 April 2013, when Bersani resigned as Secretary after the candidates for President of the Republic Franco Marini and Romano Prodi were defeated in the presidential election , the whole leadership of the PD, including Deputy Secretary Letta, resigned their positions. Following five inconclusive ballots for the 2013 Italian presidential election , incumbent president Giorgio Napolitano accepted to be re-elected at
368-459: A bellicose authoritarian prime minister, ally and admirer of Bismarck. His career ended amid controversy and failure due to becoming involved in a major banking scandal and subsequently fell from power in 1896 after a devastating colonial defeat in Ethiopia. He is often seen as a precursor of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini . In 1892, Giovanni Giolitti , a leftist lawyer and politician,
460-543: A boat carrying migrants from Libya to Italy sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa . It was reported that the boat had sailed from Misrata , Libya, but that many of the migrants were originally from Eritrea , Somalia and Ghana . An emergency response involving the Italian Coast Guard resulted in the rescue of 155 survivors. On 12 October it was reported that the confirmed death toll after searching
552-546: A change of prime minister; in response, all of the cabinet's centre-right ministers chose to leave the PdL and formed a new party, saying they wished to continue supporting Letta. Despite securing his position, the election in December 2013 of Matteo Renzi as PD secretary brought significant leadership tensions within the PD to public view. After several weeks of denying that he would seek a change, Renzi publicly challenged Letta for
644-809: A few weeks, during a press conference at the conclusion of the Council of the European Union in Brussels , Letta announced that Italy would receive 1.5 billion euros in EU funds to fight youth unemployment. On 31 May, the Council of Ministers resolved to sponsor a bill to abolish party subsidies , which was widely considered a revolution in Italian politics and political parties, which heavily depended on public funds. On 4 June, Letta, within his Minister of Economic Development , Flavio Zanonato and his Minister of
736-406: A government by President Napolitano, following weeks of political deadlock. On 27 April, Letta formally accepted the task of leading a grand coalition government , with support from the centre-left Democratic Party, the centre-right People of Freedom (PdL) of Silvio Berlusconi and the centrist Civic Choice of outgoing PM Mario Monti . The government he formed became the first in the history of
828-404: A new phase with a new executive". Speaking privately to party leaders, Renzi said that Italy was "at a crossroads" and faced either holding fresh elections or a new government without a return to the polls. On 14 February, Letta resigned from the office of prime minister. Following Letta's resignation, Renzi received the task of forming a new government from President Napolitano on 17 February, and
920-720: A radical programme of reforms". Minutes after the party backed Renzi's proposal by 136 votes to 16, with two abstentions, Letta went to the Quirinal Palace, for a bilateral meeting with President Napolitano. In an earlier speech, Renzi had paid tribute to Letta, saying that he did not intend to put him "on trial". But, without directly proposing himself as the next prime minister, he said the Eurozone 's third-largest economy urgently needed "a new phase" and "radical programme" to push through badly-needed reforms. The motion he put forward made clear "the necessity and urgency of opening
1012-601: A result of the Great Recession . Following an agreement between parties, Letta resigned as PD Deputy Secretary and was appointed Prime Minister of Italy on 28 April 2013. His government tried to promote economic recovery by securing a funding deal from the European Union to alleviate youth unemployment and abolished the party subsidies , something seen as a watershed moment for Italian politics , which for years had depended upon public funds . Letta also faced
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#17327794704281104-600: A scandal in the local healthcare system of her hometown, Benevento . Her resignation was accepted by Letta on the following day, who took the ministerial role ad interim . On 8 December 2013, the Mayor of Florence , Matteo Renzi , won the Democratic Party leadership election by a landslide, immediately starting rumours about the possibility of becoming the new prime minister. On 17 January 2014, while on air at Le invasioni barbariche on La7 TV channel, interviewed about tensions between him and Prime Minister Letta, Renzi tweeted
1196-488: A series of laws that transformed the nation into a one-party dictatorship . Within five years, he had established dictatorial authority by both legal and extraordinary means, aspiring to create a totalitarian state. In 1925 the title of "President of the Council of Ministers" was changed into "Head of the Government, Prime Minister Secretary of State", symbolizing the new dictatorial powers of Mussolini. The convention that
1288-461: A serious socio-economic crisis caused by the Great Recession and the subsequent European debt crisis . In 2013, one of the major problems of the country was the huge youth unemployment , which was valued around 40%. To face this issue, on 14 June 2013, Letta scheduled a summit at Chigi Palace with the ministers of the economy, finance and labour of Italy, Germany , France and Spain , to agree on common EU policies for reducing unemployment. After
1380-738: A very unstable political system as in its first sixty years of existence (1861–1921) Italy changed its head of the government 37 times. Regarding this situation, the first goal of Benito Mussolini , appointed in 1922 , was to abolish the Parliament's ability to put him to a vote of no confidence , basing his power on the will of the King and the National Fascist Party alone. After destroying all political opposition through his secret police and outlawing labor strikes, Mussolini and his Fascist followers consolidated their power through
1472-582: A victory of the centre-right, Letta returned the post to his uncle, when the Berlusconi IV Cabinet was sworn in. In 2007, together with other The Daisy's members, Letta joined the Democratic Party (PD), the new centre-left party, born from the union between The Daisy and the Democrats of the Left . Having been a founding member of the party, Letta run in the first leadership election , which
1564-751: Is established by articles 92–96 of the Constitution of Italy ; the president of the Council of Ministers is appointed by the president of the Republic and must have the confidence of the Parliament to stay in office. Prior to the establishment of the Italian Republic, the position was called President of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of Italy ( Presidente del Consiglio dei ministri del Regno d'Italia ). From 1925 to 1943 during
1656-461: Is required by the Constitution to have the supreme confidence of the majority of the voting members of the Parliament . In addition to powers inherent in being a member of the Cabinet, the prime minister holds specific powers, most notably being able to nominate a list of Cabinet ministers to be appointed by the president of the Republic and the countersigning of all legislative instruments having
1748-700: The 2001 Italian general election , Letta was elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a member of Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy , a newly formed centrist formation to which the Italian People's Party had joined. In the following year, he was appointed national responsible for the economic policies of The Daisy. In 2004, Letta was elected member of the European Parliament , with nearly 179,000 votes, within The Olive Tree list, joining
1840-566: The 2018 Italian general election where the anti-establishment Five Star Movement become the largest party in Parliament, Giuseppe Conte (leader of Five Star) was sworn in as prime minister, at the head of a populist coalition of Five Star Movement and the League . After the 2019 European Parliament election in Italy , where the League exceeded Five Star Movement, Matteo Salvini (leader of
1932-760: The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group. As MEP he became a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs . Letta served also in the committee for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union . In 2006, Letta was re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies and was appointed Secretary of the Council of Ministers in the second government of Romano Prodi, thereby succeeding his uncle Gianni Letta who had held
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#17327794704282024-525: The Ciampi Cabinet headed by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in 1993 and 1994, Letta worked as chief of staff for the minister of foreign affairs, Beniamino Andreatta ; Andreatta, a left-leaning Christian Democrat economist with whom Letta had already been collaborating in a think tank known as Agenzia di Ricerche e Legislazione (AREL), played a highly influential role in Letta's political career. Following
2116-478: The European Central Bank , Prime Minister. His new cabinet was supported by most Italian parties, including the League, M5S, PD, and FI. In October 2022, President Mattarella appointed Giorgia Meloni as Italy's first female prime minister, following the resignation of Mario Draghi amidst a government crisis and a general election . 2021 Italian by-elections An election was held in
2208-536: The Fascist regime , the position was transformed into the dictatorial position of Head of the Government, Prime Minister, Secretary of State ( Capo del Governo, Primo Ministro, Segretario di Stato ) held by Benito Mussolini , Duce of Fascism, who officially governed on the behalf of the king of Italy . King Victor Emmanuel III removed Mussolini from office in 1943 and the position was restored with Marshal Pietro Badoglio becoming prime minister in 1943, although
2300-587: The Italian Communist Party (PCI), the largest one in Western Europe. In the first years of the Republic, the governments were led by De Gasperi, who is also considered a founding father of the European Union . After the death of De Gasperi, Italy returned in a period of political instability and a lot of cabinets were formed in few decades. The second part of the 20th century was dominated by De Gasperi's protégé Giulio Andreotti , who
2392-640: The Italian Red Cross ; a maternal great-uncle is the poet and playwright Gian Paolo Bazzoni. After spending part of his childhood in Strasbourg , Letta completed his schooling in Italy at the liceo classico Galileo Galilei in Pisa. He has a degree in political science , which he received from the University of Pisa and subsequently obtained a PhD at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies ,
2484-493: The Quirinal Palace . Eventually, Napolitano reluctantly agreed to serve for another term in order to safeguard the continuity of the country's institutions. Napolitano was easily re-elected on 20 April 2013, receiving 738 of the 1007 possible votes, and was sworn in on 22 April 2013 after a speech when he asked for constitutional and electoral reforms. After his re-election, Napolitano immediately began consultations with
2576-688: The Syrian civil war . Letta advocated for a diplomatic resolution of the crisis promoted by the United Nations . On 25 September, during his speech in front of the United Nations General Assembly , Letta asked a deep reform of the UN Security Council . On 28 September 2013, five ministers of The People of Freedom resigned on the orders of their leader, Silvio Berlusconi, pointing to the decision to postpone
2668-767: The University of Pisa , member of the Lincean Academy and of the National Academy of the Sciences , and Anna Banchi, born in Sassari and raised in Porto Torres of Tuscan and Sardinian origins. Born into a numerous family, uncles on his father's side include the centre-right politician Gianni Letta , a close advisor of Silvio Berlusconi , and the archaeologist Cesare Letta, while one of his paternal aunts, Maria Teresa Letta, served as vice president of
2760-583: The constitutional reform proposed by Renzi to reduce the powers of the Senate. In the same year, along with the Jacques Delors Institute , he launched a school of political science focused on European issues, known as Académie Notre Europe . In October 2017, he joined the new Comitè Action Publique 2022 , a public commission for the reform of state and public administration in France which
2852-683: The constitutional reform to reduce the number of MPs, considering it the first step to overcome perfect bicameralism . Following his retirement from politics, Letta became advisor of many corporations and international organizations like Abertis , where he became member of the Board of Directors in 2016, Amundi , in which he served as member of the Global Advisory Board since 2016, the Eurasia Group , of which he has been Senior Advisor since 2016, Publicis , where he served within
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2944-495: The court of final instance and the Court of Cassation , which occurred a few months before. Because he had been sentenced to a gross imprisonment for more than two years, the Senate voted to expel him from the Parliament, barring him from serving in any legislative office for six years. After his expulsion from the Parliament, Berlusconi, who disbanded the PdL a few days before re-founding Forza Italia party, withdrew his support to
3036-475: The hashtag #enricostaisereno ("Enrico don't worry") to reassure his party colleague that he was not plotting anything against him. The growing criticism of the slow pace of Italian economic reform left Letta increasingly isolated within his own party. At a PD's meeting on 13 February 2014, the Democratic Party leadership voted heavily in favour of Renzi's motion for "a new government, a new phase and
3128-556: The leadership election of 2009 , Letta supported the eventual winner, the social-democrat Pier Luigi Bersani , being appointed Deputy Secretary by the party's national convention. In June 2010, Letta organized a three-day meeting in Verona , during which he met, within its association, entrepreneurs and key leaders of Lega Nord , the largest party in Veneto and eastern Lombardy . An opinion poll among northern Democrats, released during
3220-547: The " Clean Hands " ( mani pulite ) investigation—demanded radical reforms. The scandals involved all major parties, but especially those in the government coalition: the Christian Democrats, who ruled for almost 50 years, underwent a severe crisis and eventually disbanded, splitting up into several factions. Moreover, the Communist Party was reorganised as a social-democratic force, the Democratic Party of
3312-430: The "Nord Camp", showed that they were keener on an alliance with Lega Nord than Berlusconi's The People of Freedom . Letta was praised both by Roberto Maroni and Umberto Bossi . In the 2013 Italian general election , the centre-left alliance Italy Common Good led by Bersani won a clear majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies, thanks to a majority bonus that has effectively trebled the number of seats assigned to
3404-570: The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. In May 2021, the centre-right coalition nominated Tommaso Marrocchesi Marzi, a wine entrepreneur from Siena, as its candidate. The Democratic Party (PD) nominated party Secretary and former Prime Minister Enrico Letta , who had not been a member of Parliament since 2015. An election was held in the constituency of Rome Primavalle in Lazio to replace Emanuela Del Re ( Five Star Movement ). In June 2021, she
3496-531: The Chamber of Deputies and resigned. His successor, Mario Monti , formed a new government, composed of "technicians" and supported by both the center-left and the center-right. In April 2013, after the general election in February, the Vice Secretary of the Democratic Party (PD) Enrico Letta led a government composed by both center-left and the center-right. On 22 February 2014, after tensions in
3588-411: The Chamber with 453 votes in favour, 152 against and 17 abstentions. On the following day, he won the confidence vote in Senate too, with 233 votes in favour, 59 against 18 abstentions. In his first speech in front of the Parliament, Letta stressed "necessity to restore decency, sobriety and a sense of honour"; he also advocated for a reduction of politics' costs. During his premiership, Letta had to face
3680-474: The Community Policies in cabinet of Massimo D'Alema at the age of 32, becoming the youngest cabinet minister in post-war Italy. In 1999, Letta became Minister of Industry, Commerce and Crafts in the second government of D'Alema; a position that he held until 2001, serving also in the cabinet of Giuliano Amato . During Amato's government he held the role of Minister of Foreign Trade too. In
3772-490: The Democratic Party the PD's Secretary Matteo Renzi was sworn in as the new prime minister. Renzi proposed several reforms, including a radical overhaul of the Senate and a new electoral law. However, the proposed reforms were rejected on 4 December 2016 by a referendum . Following the referendum's results, Renzi resigned and his Foreign Affairs Minister Paolo Gentiloni was appointed new prime minister. On 1 June 2018, after
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3864-528: The Environment , Andrea Orlando , announced the receivership of Ilva , one of the largest steel makers in Europe, for a duration of 36 months, appointing Enrico Bondi as receiver. On 15 June, the government approved the so-called "Action Decree" on hiring policies enabling economic recovery. The decree was later approved by the Parliament between July and August 2013 with a confidence vote . The reform
3956-562: The International Advisory Board since 2019 and Tikehau Capital, of which he became member of the International Advisory Board. Prime Minister of Italy The prime minister of Italy , officially the president of the Council of Ministers (Italian: Presidente del Consiglio dei ministri ), is the head of government of the Italian Republic . The office of president of the Council of Ministers
4048-477: The Italian Republic to include representatives of all the major coalitions that had run in the latest election. His close relationship with his uncle, Gianni Letta, one of Berlusconi's most trusted advisors, was perceived as a way of overcoming the bitter hostility between the two opposing factions. Letta appointed Angelino Alfano , secretary of the People of Freedom, as his Deputy Prime Minister . The new government
4140-475: The Italian Republic and the third-longest serving in the whole history after Mussolini and Giolitti. Ousted after a few months of government, Berlusconi returned to power in 2001, lost the 2006 general election five years later to Romano Prodi and his Union coalition, but won the 2008 general election and was elected prime minister for the third time in May 2008. In November 2011, Berlusconi lost his majority in
4232-778: The League) proposed a no-confidence vote in Conte. Conte resigned, but after the consultations between the President Sergio Mattarella and the political parties, Conte was reappointed as prime minister, heading a government of the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party of Nicola Zingaretti . In January 2021, the centrist party Italia Viva , led by former prime minister Renzi, withdrew its support to Conte's government. In February 2021, President Mattarella appointed Mario Draghi , former President of
4324-400: The Left . In the midst of the mani pulite operation which shook political parties in 1994, media magnate Silvio Berlusconi , owner of three private TV channels, founded Forza Italia (Forward Italy) party and won the elections, becoming one of Italy's most important political and economic figures for the next decade. Berlusconi is also the longest-serving prime minister in the history of
4416-542: The Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) of the same institute. Along with his commitment to Sciences Po, he also had teaching periods at the University of Technology Sydney and the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego . In the same year, Letta launched Scuola di Politiche (School of Politics), a course of political science for young Italians. In 2016, Letta supported
4508-433: The assassination of the Christian Democrat leader Aldo Moro in 1978 and the Bologna railway station massacre in 1980, where 85 people died. In the 1980s, for the first time since 1945 two governments were led by non-Christian Democrat prime ministers: one Republican ( Giovanni Spadolini ) and one Socialist ( Bettino Craxi ). However, the Christian Democrats remained the main government party. During Craxi's government,
4600-399: The boat was 359, but that further bodies were still missing; a figure of "more than 360" deaths was later reported, becoming the deadliest shipwreck occurred in the Mediterranean Sea . After the Lampedusa tragedy, Prime Minister Letta decided to strengthen the national patrolling of Sicilian channel by authorizing Operation Mare Nostrum , a military and humanitarian operation whose purpose
4692-399: The candidate for office was appointed by the king and presided over a very unstable political system. The first prime minister was Camillo Benso di Cavour , who was appointed on 23 March 1861, but he died on 6 June the same year. From 1861 to 1911, Historical Right and Historical Left prime ministers alternatively governed the country. According to the letter of the Statuto Albertino ,
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#17327794704284784-406: The centre-left." In support of his candidacy, Letta founded the 360 Association , a centrist and Christian leftist group, mainly composed by former members of The Daisy. Letta's candidacy was supported by prominent members of the Italian centre-left, like Francesco Cossiga , Paolo De Castro , Gianni Pittella , Vito De Filippo and many other former members of The Daisy. Moreover, Letta's faction
4876-413: The chairmen of the Chamber of Deputies , Senate and political forces, after the failure of the previous attempt with Bersani, and the establishment of a panel of experts by the President himself (dubbed as wise men by the press), in order to outline priorities and formulate an agenda to deal with the persistent economic hardship and growing unemployment. On 24 April 2013, Enrico Letta was invited to form
4968-418: The collapse of the DC in 1994, Letta joined its immediate successor, the Italian People's Party (PPI); after serving as secretary general of the Euro Committee within the Ministry of Treasury from 1996 to 1997, he became deputy secretary of the party in 1997 and 1998, when it was fully allied with the centre-left . In 1998, after the fall of Romano Prodi 's first government, Letta was appointed Minister for
5060-409: The constituency of Siena , Tuscany to replace Pier Carlo Padoan ( Democratic Party ), who resigned in October 2020. Padoan was included in the board of directors of the Italian bank Unicredit , and therefore left his post in the Chamber of Deputies due to possible conflicts of interest. Initially expected by March 31, 2021, the elections were postponed to October 3 and 4 of the same year, due to
5152-441: The decree that prevented the increase of the VAT from 21 to 22%, thus opening a government crisis. On the following day, Letta had a meeting with President Napolitano to discuss the possible alternatives to solve the crisis. The head of State stressed that he would dissolve parliament only if there were no other possible alternatives. In the following days, dozens of members of PdL prepared to defy Berlusconi and vote in favour of
5244-424: The early stages of the 2015 European migrant crisis , including the 2013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck , the deadliest shipwreck in the recent history of the Mediterranean Sea ; in response, Letta implemented Operation Mare Nostrum to patrol the maritime borders and rescue migrants. In November 2013, PdL leader Silvio Berlusconi attempted to withdraw his party's support from the government in order to bring about
5336-459: The economy recovered and Italy became the world's fifth-largest industrial nation, gaining entry into the Group of Seven , but as a result of his spending policies, the Italian national debt skyrocketed during the Craxi era, soon passing 100% of the GDP. In the early 1990s, Italy faced significant challenges as voters—disenchanted with political paralysis, massive public debt and the extensive corruption system (known as Tangentopoli ) uncovered by
5428-444: The enactment of several policies of government intervention. Besides putting in place several tariffs , subsidies and government projects, Giolitti also nationalized the private telephone and railroad operators. Liberal proponents of free trade criticized the "Giolittian System", although Giolitti himself saw the development of the national economy as essential in the production of wealth. The Italian prime minister presided over
5520-479: The force of law that are signed by the president of the Republic. Article 95 of the Italian constitution provides that the prime minister "directs and coordinates the activity of the ministers". This power has been used to a quite variable extent in the history of the Italian state as it is strongly influenced by the political strength of individual ministers and thus by the parties they represent. The prime minister's activity has often consisted of mediating between
5612-422: The government, prompting him to announce that he would back the Prime Minister. On 2 October, the government received 235 votes in favor and 70 against in the Senate , and 435 in favor and 162 against in the Chamber of Deputies. Letta could thus continue his grand coalition government. On 23 November, the Senate had to vote about the expulsion of Berlusconi from the Parliament, due to a conviction of tax fraud by
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#17327794704285704-495: The government. However, the interior minister Angelino Alfano did not follow his former leader, founding, along with other ministers and many members of the parliament, the New Centre-Right party, remaining in government. The government later won key confidence votes in December 2013, with 173 votes in favour in the Senate and 350 in the Chamber. On 26 January 2014, the Minister of Agriculture , Nunzia De Girolamo , resigned from her post due to claims of improper conduct linked to
5796-406: The method of making a flexible, fluid centrist coalition in Parliament which sought to isolate the extremes of the left and the right in Italian politics. Under his influence, the Italian Liberals did not develop as a structured party. They were instead a series of informal personal groupings with no formal links to political constituencies. The period between the start of the 20th century and
5888-507: The most famous and influential prime ministers of this period was Francesco Crispi , a left-wing patriot and statesman, the first head of the government from Southern Italy . He led the country for six years from 1887 until 1891 and again from 1893 until 1896. Crispi was internationally famous and often mentioned along with world statesmen such as Otto von Bismarck , William Ewart Gladstone and Salisbury . Originally an enlightened Italian patriot and democrat liberal, Crispi went on to become
5980-407: The newly formed Christian Democracy ( Democrazia Cristiana , DC) political party. Following the 1946 Italian institutional referendum , the monarchy was abolished and De Gasperi became the first Prime Minister of the Italian Republic. The First Republic was dominated by the Christian Democracy which was the senior party in each government coalitions from 1946 to 1994 while the opposition was led by
6072-401: The office as being, ceremonially, the fourth-highest Italian state office after the president and the presiding officers of the two houses of parliament. In practice, the prime minister is the country's political leader and de facto chief executive. Giorgia Meloni has been the incumbent prime minister since 22 October 2022. As the president of the Council of Ministers , the prime minister
6164-450: The original denomination of President of the Council was only restored in 1944, when Ivanoe Bonomi was appointed to the post of prime minister. Alcide De Gasperi became the first prime minister of the Italian Republic in 1946. The prime minister is the president of the Council of Ministers which holds executive power and the position is similar to those in most other parliamentary systems . The formal Italian order of precedence lists
6256-477: The party. Many prominent members of the party asked Letta to become the new leader; after a few days, Letta announced that he would return to Italy to accept the candidacy, and he was elected as new secretary by the national assembly on 14 March 2021. On 4 October 2021, Letta was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the Siena district. Letta was born in Pisa , Tuscany, to Giorgio Letta, an Abruzzo -born professor of mathematics who taught probability theory at
6348-422: The position of prime minister on 13 February 2014. Letta quickly lost the support of his colleagues and resigned as prime minister on 22 February. Following his resignation, Letta initially retired from politics, leaving Italy to accept appointment as dean of the School of International Affairs at Sciences Po in Paris . In March 2021, the PD secretary Nicola Zingaretti resigned after growing tensions within
6440-441: The primary election, Veltroni won by a landslide with 75.8% of votes, followed by the former Minister of Health Rosy Bindi with 12.9% and Letta with 11.0%. After the primary election, Veltroni appointed Letta as the national responsible for labour. In May 2008, after the defeat in the 2008 election , Letta was appointed Shadow Minister of Labour and Social Policies in the second and last Shadow Cabinet formed in Italy. During
6532-446: The prime minister and other ministers were politically responsible to the king and legally responsible to Parliament. With time, it became all but impossible for a king to appoint a government entirely of his own choosing or keep it in office against the will of Parliament. As a result, in practice the prime minister was now both politically and legally responsible to Parliament, and had to maintain its confidence to stay in office. One of
6624-543: The prime minister needs the support of the president, who could theoretically refuse to re-appoint them following their resignation. The office was first established in 1848 in Italy's predecessor state, the Kingdom of Sardinia —although it was not mentioned in its constitution, the Albertine Statute . After the unification of Italy and the establishment of the kingdom , the procedure did not change. In fact,
6716-489: The prime minister was responsible to Parliament had become so entrenched that Mussolini had to pass a law stating that he was not responsible to Parliament. Mussolini remained in power until he was deposed by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1943 following a vote of no confidence by the Grand Council of Fascism and replaced by General Pietro Badoglio . A few months later, Italy was invaded by Nazi Germany and Mussolini
6808-489: The same position in the outgoing cabinet of Silvio Berlusconi . In this post, he became the closest advisor of Prime Minister Prodi, becoming one of the most influential politicians within the government. However, Prodi's government fell after only two years following tensions within its majority caused by the resignation of the Minister of Justice, Clemente Mastella . Following the 2008 Italian general election , which saw
6900-522: The start of World War I , when he was prime minister and Minister of the Interior from 1901 to 1914 with only brief interruptions, is often called the Giolittian Era. A left-wing liberal with strong ethical concerns, Giolitti's periods in the office were notable for the passage of a wide range of progressive social reforms which improved the living standards of ordinary Italians, together with
6992-772: The summit, Letta had his first bilateral meeting with the President of the United States , Barack Obama . On 17 October, Letta was invited to the White House by President Obama, who stated that he had been really impressed by the Italian Prime Minister and his reforms plan. On 5 and 6 September, Letta took part in the G20 summit in Saint Petersburg . The summit was focused on the aftermath of
7084-441: The various parties in the majority coalition, rather than directing the activity of the Council of Ministers. The prime minister's supervisory power is further limited by the lack of any formal authority to fire ministers. In the past, in order to make a cabinet reshuffle, prime ministers have sometimes resigned so that they could be re-appointed by the president and allowed to form a new cabinet with new ministers. In order to do this
7176-418: The winning party, while in the popular vote, it narrowly defeated the centre-right alliance of former prime minister Berlusconi. Close behind, the new anti-establishment Five Star Movement of comedian Beppe Grillo became the third-strongest force, clearly ahead of the centrist coalition of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti . In the Senate , no political group or party won an outright majority, resulting in
7268-409: Was appointed prime minister by King Umberto I , but after less than a year he was forced to resign and Crispi returned to power. In 1903, he was appointed again head of the government after a period of instability. Giolitti was prime minister five times between 1892 and 1921 and the second-longest serving prime minister in Italian history. Giolitti was a master in the political art of trasformismo ,
7360-484: Was appointed prime minister seven times from 1972 to 1992. From the late 1960s until the early 1980s, the country experienced the Years of Lead , a period characterised by economic crisis (especially after the 1973 oil crisis ), widespread social conflicts and terrorist massacres carried out by opposing extremist groups, with the alleged involvement of United States and Soviet intelligence. The Years of Lead culminated in
7452-418: Was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for the Community Policies , a role he held until 1999 when he was promoted to become Minister of Industry, Commerce, and Crafts . In 2001, he left the Cabinet upon his election to the Chamber of Deputies . From 2006 to 2008, he was appointed Secretary of the Council of Ministers . In 2007, Letta was one of the senior founding members of the Democratic Party, and in 2009
7544-402: Was composed by politicians considered close to Prime Minister Romano Prodi , a Christian leftist professor and founding father of the Italian centre-left. However, Letta had to face the politician who, more than any other, had worked to the formation of the Democratic Party and who was unanimously considered the future leader of the centre-left, Walter Veltroni , the incumbent Mayor of Rome . In
7636-448: Was elected as its Deputy Secretary. After the 2013 Italian general election produced an inconclusive result, and following negotiations between party leaders, President Giorgio Napolitano gave him the task of forming a national unity government ( Letta Cabinet ), composed of Letta's PD, the centre-right The People of Freedom (PdL), and the centrist Civic Choice , in order to mitigate the economic and social crises engulfing Italy as
7728-504: Was formally sworn in as prime minister on 22 February. In 2015, Letta resigned as a member of the Chamber of Deputies, after having voted against the new electoral law proposed by Prime Minister Renzi; at the same time, he announced that he would not renew the PD's membership. In April 2015, Letta moved to Paris to teach at the Sciences Po , a higher education institute of political science . Since 1 September, he became dean of
7820-420: Was formally sworn-in as on 28 April. During the swearing ceremony, a man fired gunshots outside Chigi Palace and wounded two Carabinieri . The attacker, Luigi Preiti, was stopped and arrested; he declared that he wanted to kill politicians or at least to hit a "symbol of politics" and that he was forced by despair being unemployed and recently divorced. On 29 April, Letta's government won the confidence vote in
7912-501: Was harshly criticized by the anti-establishment Five Star Movement . On 29 August, the government abolished IMU, the Italian tax on real estate introduced by the technocratic government of Mario Monti , for primary homes and for farm buildings . As a result of the Libyan and Syrian Civil Wars , a major problem faced by Letta upon becoming prime minister in 2013 was the high levels of illegal immigration to Italy. On 3 October 2013,
8004-514: Was held as an open primary . He announced his candidacy in July 2007 through a YouTube video. A few weeks after the announcement, he compared the PD to Misplaced Pages , stating: "As in Misplaced Pages, even in the PD each of the hundreds of thousands of members must bring their own contributions, their own skills, which in certain fields are certainly more important than mine and those of the other leaders of
8096-687: Was president of the Youth of the European People's Party , the official youth wing of the European People's Party , a European political party founded by national-level Christian democratic parties, including the Italian DC; he used his presidency to help strengthen long-term connections among a variety of centrist parties in Europe, and has since remained a convinced supporter of the European Union and European integration . During
8188-594: Was reinstated as head of a puppet State called Italian Social Republic , while the authorities of the Kingdom were forced to relocate in Southern Italy , which was under the control of the Allied Forces. In 1944 Badoglio resigned and Ivanoe Bonomi was appointed to the post of prime minister, restoring the old title of "President of the Council of Ministers. Bonomi was briefly succeeded by Ferruccio Parri in 1945 and then by Alcide de Gasperi , leader of
8280-599: Was strongly supported by President Emmanuel Macron . In March 2019, following the victory of Nicola Zingaretti in the PD leadership election , Letta announced that he would re-join the party after four years. In the same year, Letta also served on the advisory board of the annual Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), co-chaired by Thomas Piketty and Tharman Shanmugaratnam . In 2020, he spoke in favour of
8372-645: Was the first foreign leader he met, just a few days after his sworn in, on 30 April. Letta also built a warm relationship with the French President François Hollande , with whom he shared a common view on austerity policies, considered outdated to face the economic crisis; Letta and Hollande often stressed the necessity to increase the public expenditures in investments. On 17 and 18 June, Letta participated in his first G8 summit at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland . During
8464-562: Was to patrol the maritime border and provide relief to migrants. This operation had two main purposes: to safeguard life at sea and to combat the illegal smuggling of migrants. The operation brought at least 150,000 migrants to Europe, mainly from Africa and the Middle East . The operation ended a few months after the end of his premiership, on 31 October 2014. A strong pro-Europeanist politician, Letta built up close relations with other prominent European leaders like Angela Merkel , who
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