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75-452: In October 1998, the PRC was divided between those who wanted to stop supporting Romano Prodi 's first government , led by PRC secretary Fausto Bertinotti ; and those who wanted to continue the alliance, led by PRC president Cossutta. The central committee endorsed Bertinotti's line, but Cossutta and his followers decided to support Prodi nonetheless. The votes of cossuttiani were not enough and

150-412: A hairdresser ; some polling stations were also provided outside the country for Italians abroad. Most of the party leaders claimed a result of 1 million voters would be a good success for the election, but over four million people for the occasion went to cast a vote in the primary election. After having won the centre-left primary election, Prodi led The Union coalition in the 2006 election . The Union

225-468: A symbolic candidate , to avoid a one-candidate election. After some time, more candidates were presented, like Union of Democrats for Europe leader Clemente Mastella , Italy of Values leader and former magistrate Antonio Di Pietro , Federation of the Greens leader Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio and others few minor candidates. The primary election may have been foreseen an easy win for Romano Prodi, with

300-503: A 65-year-old former metalworker from Marche . In December 2014, the PdCI was transformed into Communist Party of Italy , taking the name of the late Communist Party of Italy . [REDACTED] Media related to Partito dei Comunisti Italiani at Wikimedia Commons Romano Prodi Romano Prodi OMRI ( Italian: [roˈmaːno ˈprɔːdi] ; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician who served as President of

375-479: A century. Prodi's economic programme consisted in continuing the past governments' work of restoration of the country's economic health, in order to pursue the then seemingly unreachable goal of leading the country within the strict European Monetary System parameters in order to allow the country to join the Euro currency. He succeeded in this in little more than six months. During his first premiership, Prodi faced

450-551: A democratic move to bring the public and its opinion closer to the Italian politics. When the primary elections were first proposed, they were mostly meant as a plebiscite for Romano Prodi, since there were no other candidates for the leadership of the coalition. The secretary of the Communist Refoundation Party, Fausto Bertinotti , then announced he would run for the leadership, even if only to act as

525-408: A joint list named Rainbow Left (SA) along with the PRC, the Greens and Democratic Left under Bertinotti's leadership. SA obtained a mere 3.1% (compared to 10.2% won by the constituent parties individually two years before) and no seats. In 2008, Diliberto was re-elected secretary and proposed to the PRC a re-unification of the two parties through a "communist constituent assembly". In the run-up of

600-679: A letter to Siemens from the Frankfurt office of Goldman Sachs regarding the Italdel deal, which revealed that Prodi was made the Senior Advisor of Goldman Sachs International in Italy in March 1990. In November 1996, after Prodi had been elected prime minister, Rome prosecutor Guiseppa Geremia concluded that there was enough evidence to press charges against Prodi for conflict of interest in

675-539: A proposal from the Italian People's Party (PPI) to run for the 1994 European election . On 13 February 1995 Prodi, along with his close friend Arturo Parisi , founded his political alliance The Olive Tree . Prodi's aim was to build a centre-left coalition composed by centrist and leftist parties, opposed to the centre-right alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi, who resigned from the office of prime minister few weeks before, when Lega Nord withdrew his support to

750-575: A stop-gap operation to manage this and buy time, laying the foundations for a planned reconstruction, which after six weeks of debate fell to the Western European Union , creating the Multinational Albanian Police Element around a command structure of Italian Carabinieri , which actually undertook the work of Judicial and Police reconstruction, extending into the elimination of the economic causes of

825-562: A strong supporter of European Integration , became President of the European Commission , thanks to the support of both the conservative European People's Party , the social-democratic Party of European Socialists and the centrist Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party in the European Parliament. His commission took office on 13 September 1999 following the scandal and subsequent resignation of

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900-540: A student, who later became an economist and university professor. The couple was married by Camillo Ruini , now a well-known cardinal . They have two sons, Giorgio and Antonio. His wife Flavia died on 13 June 2023, at the age of 76. After completing his secondary education at the Liceo Ludovico Ariosto in Reggio Emilia, Prodi graduated in law at Milan 's Università Cattolica in 1961 with

975-468: A thesis on the role of protectionism in the development of Italian industry. He then carried out postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics . Prodi has received almost 20 honorary degrees from institutions in Italy, and from the rest of Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. On 25 November 1978, Prodi was appointed Minister of Industry, Commerce, and Crafts in the government of

1050-615: A victory by Silvio Berlusconi 's centre-right House of Freedoms coalition. The PdCI obtained 1.7% of the vote and a handful of deputies and senators. In the 2006 general election , the party was a member of the winning The Union coalition and won 2.4% of the vote and 16 deputies while the Together with the Union electoral list consisting of the PdCI, the Federation of the Greens and United Consumers won 11 senators. Subsequently,

1125-601: A vision, she had seen him there. Prodi spoke to the Italian Parliament 's commission about the case in 1981. In the notes of the Italian Parliament commission on terrorism, the séance is described as a fake, used to hide the true source of the information. In 1997, Andreotti declared that the information came from the Bologna section of Autonomia Operaia , a far-left organization with some ties with

1200-469: The 1996 election and serving as prime minister until losing a vote of confidence 1998. He was subsequently appointed President of the European Commission in 1999, serving until 2004. Following the victory of his new coalition, The Union , over the House of Freedoms led by Silvio Berlusconi , at the 2006 election , Prodi became prime minister a second time. On 24 January 2008, he lost a vote of confidence in

1275-569: The 1997 Albanian civil unrest ; his government proposed the so-called Operation Alba ("Sunrise"), a multinational peacekeeping force sent to Albania in 1997 and led by Italy . It was intended to help the Albanian government restore law and order in their troubled country after the 1997 rebellion in Albania . Following the degenerating loss of administrative control by the Government in

1350-593: The 2009 European Parliament election , the PdCI formed along with the PRC and minor groups the Anticapitalist and Communist List . The list got 3.4% of the vote and no MEPs . In April 2009, the list was transformed into the Federation of the Left , which would be disbanded by the end of 2012 and officially dissolved in 2015. In the 2013 general election , the PdCI ran within Civil Revolution along with

1425-618: The Amsterdam Treaty , but failed to be addressed at the time. The entry into force of the treaty was in doubt for a time, after its initial rejection by Irish voters in a referendum in June 2001. This referendum result was reversed in a subsequent referendum held a little over a year later. In 2004, his last year as Commission President, the European Union was enlarged to admit several more member nations, most formerly part of

1500-547: The Christian Democracy leader Giulio Andreotti . Even if he was a party member, Prodi was widely considered a technical minister. As minister, he promoted a law, known as Prodi law, which aimed a regulating of the extraordinary state administration procedure for the rescue of large enterprises in crisis. On 2 April 1978, Prodi and other teachers at the University of Bologna passed on a tip-off that revealed

1575-731: The Democratic Party upon foundation of the party. On 12 September 2008, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon selected Prodi as president of the African Union –United Nations peacekeeping panel. Since 2021, he is serving as the United Nations Special Envoy for the Sahel . Prodi was born in Scandiano , near Reggio Emilia , in 1939; he is the eighth of nine children. His father, Mario Prodi,

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1650-740: The European Space Agency (ESA). One of his research projects was the Tethered Satellite System , which was part of the payload of the STS-46 mission. Guidoni trained as an alternate payload specialist for that mission and made his first spaceflight aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia STS-75 in 1996, which included the second flight of the TSS system (TSS-1R). In 2001, Guidoni participated in

1725-791: The Maastricht Treaty (or the Treaty on European Union) and the Treaty of Rome (or the Treaty establishing the European Community which, before the Maastricht Treaty, was the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community). The Treaty of Nice reformed the institutional structure of the European Union to withstand eastward expansion, a task which was originally intended to have been done by

1800-561: The Santer Commission which had damaged the reputation of the institution. It took over from the interim Marín Commission. The College consisted of 20 Commissioners which grew to 30 following the Enlargement of the European Union in 2004. It was the last commission to see two members allocated to the larger member states . This commission (the 10th) saw in increase in power and influence following Amsterdam Treaty . Some in

1875-688: The Soviet bloc . It was the largest single expansion of the European Union (EU), in terms of territory, number of states, and population to date; however, it was not the largest in terms of gross domestic product. It occurred on 1 May 2004. The simultaneous accessions concerned the following countries (sometimes referred to as the "A10" countries ): Cyprus , the Czech Republic , Estonia , Hungary , Latvia , Lithuania , Malta , Poland , Slovakia , and Slovenia . Seven of these were part of

1950-605: The UK Independence Party 's Gerard Batten , the member of the European Parliament for London who stated that he was informed of this by Litvinenko, who was his constituent and former FSB operative. The 16 February 2018 indictment of Paul Manafort unsealed on 23 February, as part of the Mueller special counsel investigation , alleges that foreign politicians hypothesized to be Prodi and Alfred Gusenbauer took payments exceeding $ 2 million from Manafort to promote

2025-536: The Commission, constitute part of the fifth enlargement. The commission was due to leave office on 31 October 2004, but due to opposition from the European Parliament to the proposed Barroso Commission which would succeed it, it was extended and finally left office on 21 November 2004. When his mandate expired, Prodi returned to domestic politics. Shortly before the end of his term as President of

2100-770: The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), and substitute of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), and the Temporary Committee on Climate Change. He has been rapporteur for the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) for Research and Innovation. He also proposed the amendment 16 to protect the freedom of the press from the strict application of the EU directive ( IPRED2 ) on criminal measures aimed at ensuring

2175-607: The European Commission from 1999 to 2004 and twice as Prime Minister of Italy , from 1996 to 1998, and again from 2006 to 2008. Prodi is considered the founder of the Italian centre-left and one of the most prominent figures of the Second Republic . He is often nicknamed Il Professore ("The Professor") due to his academic career. A former professor of economics and international advisor to Goldman Sachs , Prodi ran as lead candidate of The Olive Tree coalition, winning

2250-452: The European Commission, Prodi returned to national Italian politics at the helm of the enlarged centre-left coalition, The Union . Having no party of his own, in order to officially state his candidacy for the 2006 general election , Prodi came up with the idea of an apposite primary election , the first of such kind to be ever introduced in Europe and seen by its creator (Prodi himself) as

2325-643: The Italdel- Siemens merger, and secondly concerning the sale of the loss-making state-owned food conglomerate SME to the multinational Unilever , for which he had previously been a paid consultant. Prodi's former employer Goldman Sachs was involved in both of the deals. In February 2007 the Italian Treasury Police raided the Milan office of Goldman Sachs, where they removed a file called " MTononi /memo-Prodi02.doc". They also obtained

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2400-561: The Mitrokhin Commission for allegations that it was manipulated for political purposes. In a December 2006 interview given to the television program La storia siamo noi , colonel ex-KGB agent Oleg Gordievsky, whom Scaramella claimed as his source, confirmed the accusations made against Scaramella regarding the production of false material relating to Prodi and other Italian politicians, and underlined their lack of reliability. Despite this, those claims were further repeated by

2475-454: The PRC, the Greens, Italy of Values and minor groups, gaining 2.2% of the vote and no seats. The PdCI did not contest the 2014 European Parliament election , withdrawing its early support for The Other Europe electoral list. Before and after the 2009 European election, the PdCI lost its right- and left-wings, respectively. In February, Unite the Left , led by Katia Bellillo (a former minister) and Umberto Guidoni (an incumbent MEP), left

2550-402: The PdCI entered Prodi's second government , which would last until January 2008. In the meantime, Diliberto had become the undisputed leader of the party and since 2005 clashes between him and Cossutta became frequent. In 2006, the latter resigned from president and was replaced by Antonino Cuffaro . In 2007, Cossutta left the party altogether. For the 2008 general election , the PdCI formed

2625-539: The Red Brigades, and that Francesco Cossiga also knew the true source. Judge Ferdinando Imposimato considered Andreotti's theory as possible but accused him of having kept information that could have been valuable in a trial about Moro's murder. Moro's widow later declared that she had repeatedly informed the police that a Via Gradoli existed in Rome, but the investigators did not consider it; some replied to her that

2700-640: The Roman address of a Red Brigades safe house, located at no. 96, Via Gradoli. The information was trusted and a police group made an armed blitz in the town of Gradoli, 80 km from Rome , on the following day, 6 April, although Moro was not found. The supernatural element was generally not overlooked during the investigations. For example, the Italian government had engaged a diviner , hoping that he would find Moro's location. The police made another fruitless blitz in Viterbo after an abbess declared that, during

2775-455: The Senate and consequently tendered his resignation as prime minister to President Giorgio Napolitano ; he continued in office for almost four months for routine business until early elections were held and a new government was formed. Prodi was the first left-leaning candidate to finish first in an Italian general election since 1921 . On 14 October 2007, Prodi became the founding president of

2850-529: The Senate to 156 for Berlusconi's coalition. Even so, Berlusconi refused to concede defeat, claiming unproven fraud. Prodi's appointment was somewhat delayed, as the outgoing president of the Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi , ended his mandate in May, not having enough time for the usual procedure (consultations made by the president, appointment of a prime minister, the motion of confidence and oath of office). After

2925-927: The Space Shuttle's STS-100 mission, being the first European on board International Space Station (ISS). On that flight, the Space Shuttle Endeavour carried the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module for its maiden flight as well as the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), the Canadian robotic arm used extensively to assemble the ISS. In September 2001, Guidoni was assigned to ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) as crew support for

3000-585: The Unilever deal. The case was however shut down within weeks by superiors, while Geremia was "exiled to Sardinia ". On 25 May 1994, Prodi went to Palazzo Chigi to announce his resignation as IRI President to the new Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ; the resignation had been formalised on 31 May and became effective on 22 July. On 11 August, Prodi announced to the Gazzetta di Reggio of his intent to enter politics. A few months earlier, Prodi had rejected

3075-482: The acrimonious election of Giorgio Napolitano to replace Ciampi, Prodi could proceed with his transition to government. On 16 May he was invited by Napolitano to form a government. The following day, 17 May 2006, Prodi and his second cabinet were sworn into office. Umberto Guidoni Umberto Guidoni (born 18 August 1954 in Rome ) is an Italian astrophysicist, science writer and a former ESA astronaut , being

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3150-498: The case of his client, Viktor Yanukovich ; both denied this and said their work was focused to get closer European Union–Ukraine relations . After leaving his position in 1989, Prodi ran the Bologna based consulting company Analisi e Studi Economici , which he jointly owned along with his wife. Between 1990 and 1993 the company earned £ 1.4 million, most of which was paid by the investment bank Goldman Sachs . In 1993, Prodi

3225-549: The count progressed. On 11 April 2006, Prodi declared victory; Berlusconi never conceded defeat explicitly but this is not required by the Italian law . Preliminary results showed The Union leading the House of Freedoms in the Chamber of Deputies , with 340 seats to 277, thanks to obtaining a majority bonus (actual votes were distributed 49.81% to 49.74%). One more seat is allied with The Union ( Aosta Valley ) and 7 more seats in

3300-445: The crisis. The Italian 3rd Army Corps assumed responsibility for the stop-gap mission as Operation Alba, the first multinational Italian-led Mission since World War II. Eleven contributing European Nations brought humanitarian aid to a country that was in a dramatic economic and political situation. In 1997, Prodi declared that "the problem of the safety of the country seems to be no longer one of external safety, but an internal one:

3375-660: The enforcement of intellectual property rights. Guidoni joined the Party of Italian Communists (PdCI) around 2004. He led a tendency within PdCI called ' Unite the Left '. Guidoni left PdCI in 2009. In 2007 was the speaker of the radio program entitled “From the Sputnik to the Shuttle” (the series "At 8 in the evening" by Radio Rai 2), in which he retraced the main steps of the Space Era. In 2009, he presented another cycle of

3450-469: The far-left Italian political groups. This issue came back again in 2005, when Prodi was accused of being "a KGB man" by Mario Scaramella . The allegations were rejected by Prodi. Former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer Alexander Litvinenko also said that FSB deputy chief Anatoly Trofimov "did not exactly say that Prodi was a KGB agent, because the KGB avoids using that word." The same accusation

3525-571: The first "Prime Minister of the European Union". As well as the enlargement and Amsterdam Treaty, the Prodi Commission also saw the signing and enforcement of the Treaty of Nice as well as the conclusion and signing of the European Constitution : in which he introduced the "Convention method" of negotiation. The treaty was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003. It amended

3600-407: The first European to visit the International Space Station . He is a veteran of two NASA Space Shuttle missions. He was also a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2004 to 2009, with the Group of the European United Left ( GUE/NGL ). Guidoni earned a doctorate in astrophysics from the University of Rome La Sapienza in 1978 and worked in the Italian Space Agency (ASI) as well as in

3675-574: The first coalition composed of a post-communist party to win a general election since the Second World War . In the Senate, The Olive Tree obtained the majority; in the Chamber, it required the external support of Communist Refoundation Party . On 17 May 1996, Prodi received from President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro the task of forming a new government. He ultimately formed a 23-member cabinet that included 16 PDS ministers (including Deputy Prime Minister Walter Veltroni ) and 10 PDS junior ministers–the first (former) Communists to take part in government in half

3750-406: The first days of March 1997, culminating in the desertion of most Police and many Republican Guard and Army units, leaving their armouries open to the inevitable looting which soon followed, several Nations autonomously helped evacuate their Nationals in Operation Silver Wake and Operation Libelle . The UN Security Council therefore agreed the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1101 as

3825-477: The foreign constituency. The House of Freedoms had secured a slight majority of Senate seats elected within Italy (155 seats to 154), but The Union won 4 of the 6 seats allocated to voters outside Italy , giving them control of both chambers. On 19 April 2006, Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation ruled that Prodi had indeed won the election, winning control of the Chamber of Deputies by only 24,755 votes out of more than 38 million votes cast, and winning 158 seats in

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3900-504: The former Eastern Bloc (of which three were from the former Soviet Union and four were and still are members of the Central European alliance Visegrád Group ), one of the former Yugoslavia (together sometimes referred to as the "A8" countries ), and the remaining two were Mediterranean islands and former British colonies . Part of the same wave was the 2007 enlargement of the European Union that saw accession of Bulgaria and Romania, who were unable to join in 2004, but, according to

3975-441: The government lost a confidence vote in Parliament. The dissidents, who controlled the majority of deputies and senators, split and formed a rival communist outfit, the PdCI, which immediately joined the first cabinet led by Massimo D'Alema , leader of the Democrats of the Left and first post-communist to hold the job of Prime Minister of Italy . Under D'Alema, PdCI's Oliviero Diliberto served as Minister of Justice . Despite

4050-688: The government. The movement was immediately supported by Mariotto Segni , leader of the centrist Segni Pact ; after few weeks the post-communist Democratic Party of the Left of Massimo D'Alema , the PPI and the Federation of the Greens also joined the Olive Tree coalition. On 19 February 1996, the outgoing Prime Minister Lamberto Dini announced that he would run in the election with a new party called Italian Renewal , allied with Prodi's Olive Tree rather than Berlusconi's Pole for Freedoms . Shortly after Berlusconi claimed that Dini "copied his electoral programme". On election day, Prodi's Olive Tree coalition won over Berlusconi's Pole for Freedoms, becoming

4125-403: The house where the séance was performed) responded to the call; they confirmed the circumstances of the séance, and that Gradoli had appeared in several sessions, even if the participants had changed. Later, other Italian members of the European Commission alleged that Prodi had invented this story to conceal the real source of the tip-off, which they believed to have originated somewhere among

4200-471: The media described president Prodi as being the first "Prime Minister of the European Union ". It was during Prodi's presidency, in 2002, that 11 EU member states ditched their national currencies and adopted the euro as their common currency. This commission (the 10th) saw an increase in power and influence following the Amsterdam Treaty . The treaty was the result of long negotiations which began in Messina, Sicily , on 2 June 1995, nearly forty years after

4275-450: The member states agreed to devolve certain powers from national governments to the European Parliament across diverse areas, including legislating on immigration, adopting civil and criminal laws, and enacting foreign and security policy (CFSP), as well as implementing institutional changes for expansion as new member nations join the EU. Due to this increased power of the Commission President, some media described President Prodi as being

4350-425: The most centrist; other rumours indicated such "fake" left-wing voters would vote for Bertinotti, because his leadership would likely lose any grip on the political centre . The election had been held nationwide on 16 October 2005, from 8 am to 10 pm. Poll stations were mainly managed on a voluntary basis; they were hosted mainly in squares, local party quarters, schools, and even restaurants , bars , campers and

4425-413: The other candidates running mostly to "measure their strengths" in the coalition, and they often talked about reaching a certain percentage rather than winning. However, there were rumours of supporters of the House of Freedoms trying to participate in the elections, and vote in favour of Mastella, reputed to be the least competent of the candidates and the least likely to win against Berlusconi, other than

4500-402: The party in order to participate in the election with the Left and Freedom list and would eventually merge into Left Ecology Freedom . In June, Marco Rizzo (the other incumbent MEP and former Diliberto's number two) was expelled and would later form the hard-line Communist Party . In July 2013, Diliberto stepped down from secretary after thirteen years and was replaced by Cesare Procaccini ,

4575-427: The payloads to be developed for the Columbus Laboratory. Columbus and its payloads are the European contribution to the scientific research performed on board the International Space Station. He retired from active astronaut status in June 2004. In June 2004 Guidoni was elected to the European Parliament , in the Group of the European United Left (GUE/NGL). He was a member of the Committee on Budgetary Control and

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4650-451: The publication of telephone interceptions between the chairman of the Mitrokhin Commission, Forza Italia senator Paolo Guzzanti , and Scaramella. In the wiretaps, Guzzanti made it clear that the true intent of the Mitrokhin Commission was to support the hypothesis that Prodi would have been an agent financed or in any case manipulated by Moscow and the KGB. According to the opposition, which submitted its own minority report, this hypothesis

4725-417: The result of a vote of no confidence in Prodi's government, D'Alema's nomination was passed by a single vote. This was the first occasion in the history of the Italian Republic on which a vote of no confidence had ever been called; the Republic's many previous governments had been brought down by a majority "no" vote on some crucially important piece of legislation (such as the budget). In September 1999 Prodi,

4800-436: The safety of citizens in their everyday life". Prodi's government fell in 1998 when the Communist Refoundation Party withdrew its external support. This led to the formation of a new government led by Massimo D'Alema as prime minister. There are those who claim that D'Alema, along with People's Party leader Franco Marini , deliberately engineered the collapse of the Prodi government to become prime minister himself. As

4875-496: The same series where he narrated the epic history of the Apollo lunar missions. Starting from this program, in 2011, was published the book “From the Earth to the Moon”. Guidoni is involved in popularizing science and organizes events related to space. He has written articles and books including books for children such as "Martino on Mars", "Astrolibro" and the most recent published in 2019: "Voglio la LUNA" and "Guida per Giovani Astronauti". [REDACTED] On 15 April 1996, Guidoni

4950-425: The signing of the Treaty of Rome , and reached completion in Amsterdam on 18 June 1997. Following the formal signing of the Treaty on 2 October 1997, the member states engaged in an equally long and complex ratification process. The European Parliament endorsed the treaty on 19 November 1997, and after two referendums and 13 decisions by parliaments, the member states finally concluded the procedure. Under this treaty

5025-440: The split of most of PRC's parliamentary representation, the PRC remained more popular than the PdCI with voters, both in the 1999 European Parliament election (4.3% to 2.0%) and the 2001 general election (5.0% to 1.7%). Diliberto, who had been elected secretary in 2000, led the PdCI to continue its participation in the centre-left coalition (known at the time as The Olive Tree ) at the 2001 general election , which registered

5100-526: The street did not appear in Rome's maps. This is confirmed by other Moro relatives but strongly denied by Cossiga, who served as Interior Minister during Moro's kidnapping. In the 1990s, the séance matter was reopened by the Italian Parliament's commission on terrorism. While Prodi (then Prime Minister) declared that he had no time for an interview, both Mario Baldassarri (senator and vice-minister in two Silvio Berlusconi cabinets) and Alberto Clò (Minister of Industry in Lamberto Dini 's cabinet and owner of

5175-426: The whereabouts of the safe house where the kidnapped Aldo Moro , the former prime minister, was being held captive by the Red Brigades . Prodi stated that he had been given this tip-off by the founders of Christian Democracy, contacted from beyond the grave via a séance and a Ouija board. Whilst during this supposed séance Prodi thought Gradoli referred to a town on the outskirts of Rome, it probably referred to

5250-417: Was a heterogeneous alliance, which was formed by centrist parties like UDEUR and communists like PRC and Party of Italian Communists . Prodi led his coalition to the electoral campaign preceding the election, eventually on 9 and 10 April won by a very narrow margin of 25,000 votes, and a final majority of two seats in the Senate . Initial exit polls suggested a victory for Prodi, but the results narrowed as

5325-543: Was an engineer grown up in a peasant family, and his mother, Enrichetta, was an elementary school teacher. Most of the brothers are, or have been, university professors, among them Giovanni Prodi (professor of mathematical analysis), Vittorio Prodi (professor of physics and member of the European Parliament ), Paolo Prodi (professor of modern history), Franco Prodi  [ it ] (professor of atmospheric physics), and Giorgio Prodi (professor of general pathology). In 1969, Prodi married Flavia Franzoni, at that time

5400-644: Was appointed Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic by Oscar Luigi Scalfaro , President of Italy. [REDACTED] On 11 May 2001, he was promoted to Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi , President of Italy. [REDACTED] For his first orbital flight ( STS-75 ) in 1996, Guidoni also received the NASA Space Flight Medal [REDACTED] A second Space Flight Medal

5475-806: Was between the main candidates to become Prime Minister of Italy at the head of a technocratic government ; instead, the Governor of the Bank of Italy , Carlo Azeglio Ciampi , was chosen for this office by President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro . In 1993–1994, Prodi was appointed again President of the IRI, by Ciampi, where he oversaw extensive privatization of public assets. For his activities in this period Prodi would later twice come under investigation – firstly for an alleged conflict of interest in relation to contracts awarded to his own economic research company in relation to

5550-458: Was false, and the purpose of the commission was therefore to discredit him. In the wiretaps, Scaramella had the task of collecting testimonies from some ex-agents of the Soviet secret service refugees in Europe to support these accusations; he was later charged for calumny . In November 2006, the new Italian Parliament with a centre-left coalition majority instituted a commission to investigate

5625-605: Was raised in 2002 by the Mitrokhin Commission , which was closed in 2006 with a majority and a minority report, without reaching shared conclusions, and without any concrete evidence given to support the original allegations of KGB ties to Italian politicians contained in the Mitrokhin Archive . Led by the centre-right coalition majority, it was criticized as politically motivated, as it was focused mainly on allegations against opposition figures. 2006 saw

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