1.
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
–
The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic was founded as the senior order of knighthood by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi in 1951. The post-nominal letters for the order are OMRI, investiture takes place biannually on 2 June, anniversary of the foundation of the Republic and on 27 December, anniversary of the promulgation of the Italian Constitution. However, those awards on Presidential motu proprio, related to termination of service or granted to foreigners may be made at any time, except in exceptional circumstances, no one can be awarded for the first time a rank higher than Knight. The minimum age requirement is normally 35
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
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Breast star of a Knight Grand Cross of the Republic
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
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Insignia of a Knight of the Italian Republic, since 2001
2.
List of Prime Ministers of Italy
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{{Politics of Italy, officially President of the Council of Ministers, is the political leader of the since 1861. The Palazzo Chigi in Rome is the residence of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is the President of the Council of Ministers, the office was established by Articles 92 through to 96 of the current Constitution of Italy. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Republic after each general election, commonly referred to in Italy as Premier, the right title of the office holder is Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri, or just Presidente del Consiglio. The formal Italian order of precedence lists the office as being ceremonially the fourth most important Italian state office, the office was first established in 1848 in Italys predecessor state, the Kingdom of Sardinia—although it was not mentioned in the constitution, the Albertine Statute. The candidate for office was appointed by the king, and presided over an unstable political system. In its first 60 years of existence, Italy changed its prime minister 37 times, with the proclamation of the Italian Republic in 1946, the office received constitutional recognition and 26 men assumed the office in 70 years
List of Prime Ministers of Italy
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Victor Emmanuel II (1861–1878)
List of Prime Ministers of Italy
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Italian Republic
List of Prime Ministers of Italy
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Umberto I (1878–1900)
List of Prime Ministers of Italy
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Victor Emmanuel III (1900–1946)
3.
Prime Minister of Italy
–
The office of Prime Minister is established by Articles 92 through to 96 of the Constitution of Italy. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Republic after each general election, prior to the establishment of the Italian Republic, the position was called President of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom 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, 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, the position is similar to those in most other parliamentary systems. The formal Italian order of precedence lists the office as being ceremonially the fourth most important Italian state office, as the President of the Council of Ministers the modern Prime Minister leads the Cabinet. In addition the Prime Minister leads a political party and generally commands the majority in the Parliament. Article 95 of the Italian constitution provides that the Prime Minister directs, the Prime Ministers activity has often consisted of mediating between the various parties in the majority coalition, rather than directing the activity of the Council of Ministers. The office was first established in 1848 in Italys predecessor state, the Kingdom of Sardinia—although it was not mentioned in its constitution, from 1848 to 1861 ten Prime Ministers governed the Kingdom, most of them being right-wing politicians. After the Unification of Italy and the establishment of the kingdom, in fact 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, from 1861 to 1911 Historical Right and Left Prime Ministers alternatively governed the country. One of the most famous and influential Prime Ministers of this period was Francesco Crispi, a patriot and statesman. He led the country for six years, from 1887 until 1891, Crispi was internationally famous and often mentioned along with world statesmen such as Bismarck, Gladstone and Salisbury. Originally an enlightened Italian patriot and democrat liberal, he went on to become a bellicose authoritarian prime minister, ally, and admirer of Bismarck. His career ended amid controversy and failure due to becoming involved in a banking scandal. He is often seen as a precursor of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, in 1892 Giovanni Giolitti, a young leftist politician, was elected Prime Minister by king Umberto I, but after less than a year he was forced to resign and Crispi returned to power. In 1903 after a period of instability he was appointed head of the government. Giolitti was the Prime Minister five times between 1892 and 1921 and the second-longest serving Prime Minister in Italian history, after Mussolini, under his influence, the Italian Liberals did not develop as a structured party. They were instead a series of informal personal groupings with no links to political constituencies
Prime Minister of Italy
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Incumbent
Matteo Renzi since 22 February 2014
Prime Minister of Italy
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Flag of the President of the Council of Ministers
Prime Minister of Italy
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Count Camillo Benso of Cavour, first Italian Prime Minister.
Prime Minister of Italy
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Benito Mussolini, longest-serving Prime Minister of Italy and
Duce of
Fascism.
4.
Giorgio Napolitano
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Giorgio Napolitano, OMRI is an Italian politician who was the 11th President of Italy from 2006 to 2015, the only Italian President to be reelected to the Presidency. Due to his dominant position in Italian politics, critics refer to him as Re Giorgio. He is the longest serving President in the history of the modern Italian Republic, although the presidency is a nonpartisan office as guarantor of Italys Constitution, Napolitano was a longtime member of the Italian Communist Party. He was a member of a modernizing faction on the right of the party. First elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1953, he took an assiduous interest in parliamentary life and he was Minister of the Interior from 1996 to 1998 under Romano Prodi. Napolitano was appointed a Senator for life in 2005 by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, in May 2006, he was elected by parliament as President of Italy. During his first term of office, he oversaw both of the centre-left, led by Prodi, and the centre-right, led by Silvio Berlusconi. In November 2011, Berlusconi resigned as Prime Minister amid financial, Napolitano, in keeping with his constitutional role, then asked former EU commissioner Mario Monti to form a cabinet which was referred to as a government of the president by critics. On being reelected as President with broad cross-party support in parliament, when Letta handed in his resignation on 14 February 2014, Napolitano mandated Matteo Renzi to form a new government. After a record eight and a half years as president, Napolitano resigned at age 89 in January 2015, Giorgio Napolitano was born in Naples, in 1925. His father, Giovanni, was a lawyer and poet, his mother was Carolina Bobbio. From 1938 to 1941 he studied at the Classical Lyceum Umberto I of Naples, in 1942, he matriculated at the University of Naples Federico II, studing law. During this period, Napolitano adhered to the local University Fascist Youth, where he met his core group of friends, as he would later state, the group was in fact a true breeding ground of anti-fascist intellectual energies, disguised and to a certain extent tolerated. He played in a comedy by Salvatore Di Giacomo at Teatro Mercadante in Naples, Napolitano dreamt of being an actor and spent his early years performing in several productions at the Teatro Mercadante. Napolitano has often cited as the author of a collection of sonnets in Neapolitan dialect published under a pseudonym, Tommaso Pignatelli. He denied this in 1997 and, again, on the occasion of his presidential election and he published his first acknowledged book, entitled Movimento Operaio e Industria di Stato, in 1962. Following the end of the war in 1945, Napolitano joined the Communist Party and suddenly became its secretary for Naples. In 1947, he graduated in jurisprudence with a dissertation on political economy
Giorgio Napolitano
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President Emeritus Senator for life Giorgio Napolitano
OMRI
Giorgio Napolitano
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Napolitano with
Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1974.
Giorgio Napolitano
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Napolitano in 2014.
Giorgio Napolitano
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Napolitano attending to the Army Parade of the
Republic Day, 2 June 2006.
5.
Silvio Berlusconi
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Silvio Berlusconi is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments. Berlusconi is the controlling shareholder of Mediaset and has owned the Italian football club A. C. Milan since 1986 and he is nicknamed Il Cavaliere for his Order of Merit for Labour, although he voluntarily resigned from this order in March 2014. In 2016, Forbes magazine ranked him as the 188th richest man in the world with a net worth of US$7.1 billion, in 2009, Forbes ranked him 12th in the List of The Worlds Most Powerful People due to his domination in Italian politics. He was the leader of the centre-right party Forza Italia from 1994 to 2009, since November 2013, he has led a revived Forza Italia. Berlusconi was the senior G8 leader from 2009 until 2011 and he holds the record of G8 Summit hosting. After serving nearly 19 years as member of the Chamber of Deputies, Italys lower house, on 1 August 2013, he was convicted of tax-fraud by the final appeal instance, Court of Cassation along with a public office ban for two years. As his age exceeded 70 years, he was exempted from direct imprisonment, because of being sentenced to a gross imprisonment for more than two years, a new Italian anticorruption law made the Senate expel and bar him from serving any legislative office for six years. Berlusconi has pledged to stay leader of Forza Italia throughout the period where he serves his imprisonment sentence, Berlusconi is famous for his populist political style and brash, overbearing personality. Berlusconi was born in Milan in 1936, where he was raised in a middle-class family and his father, Luigi Berlusconi, was a bank employee, and his mother, Rosa Bossi, a housewife. Silvio was the first of three children, he had a sister, Maria Francesca Antonietta Berlusconi, and has a brother, Paolo Berlusconi. After completing his school education at a Salesian college, he studied law at the Università Statale in Milan, graduating in 1961. Berlusconi was not required to serve the standard one-year stint in the Italian army which was compulsory at the time, in later life, he wrote AC Milans anthem with the Italian music producer and pop singer Tony Renis and Forza Italias anthem with the opera director Renato Serio. With the Neapolitan singer Mariano Apicella, he wrote two Neapolitan song albums, Meglio na canzone in 2003 and Lultimo amore in 2006, in 1965, he married Carla Elvira DallOglio, and they had two children, Maria Elvira, better known as Marina, and Pier Silvio. By 1980, Berlusconi had established a relationship with the actress Veronica Lario and he was divorced from DallOglio in 1985, and married Lario in 1990. By this time, Berlusconi was an entrepreneur, and his wedding was a notable social event. One of his best men was Bettino Craxi, a prime minister and leader of the Italian Socialist Party. In May 2009, Lario announced that she was to file for divorce, in addition to his five children, Berlusconi has ten grandchildren. Berlusconis business career began in construction, in the late 1960s, he built Milano Due,4,000 residential apartments east of Milan
Silvio Berlusconi
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Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
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Berlusconi as a singer for
cruise ships in the 1950s.
Silvio Berlusconi
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Berlusconi in his private
jet, in the 1980s
Silvio Berlusconi
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Berlusconi with the
United States President Barack Obama in the
Oval Office
6.
Enrico Letta
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He has also been a Member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2006. Letta was Minister of European Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and Minister of Industry from 1999 to 2001, Letta is a founding member of the Democratic Party, formerly he belonged to Christian Democracy, Italian Peoples Party and The Daisy. His uncle is centre-right politician Gianni Letta, a advisor of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. After spending part of his childhood in Strasbourg he completed his schooling in Italy at the liceo classico Galileo Galilei in Pisa and he has a degree in political science, which he received from the University of Pisa and subsequently obtained a Doctorate at the SantAnna School of Advanced Studies. Letta began his career in the party Christian Democracy, the dominant center right Roman Catholic party. In 1998, he was appointed Minister of European Affairs in Massimo DAlemas Cabinet at the age of 32, in 1999 Letta became Minister of Industry. Having been a member of the Democratic Party in 2007, Letta stood in the first leadership election. During the next election of 2009, he supported the eventual winner, Pier Luigi Bersani. The government he formed became the first in the history of the Italian Republic to include representatives of all the major candidate-coalitions that had competed in the election. His close relationship with his uncle Gianni Letta, one of Silvio Berlusconis most trusted advisors, was perceived as a way of overcoming the hostility between the two opposing camps. Letta appointed Angelino Alfano, secretary of the People of Freedom, Letta was formally sworn-in as Prime Minister on 28 April, during the ceremony, a man fired shots outside Palazzo Chigi and wounded two Carabinieri. On 14 June 2013 Letta promotes a summit at Palazzo Chigi with Ministers of Economy and Labour of Italy, Germany, France, on 15 June, the government issues the Decree of doing, measure aimed at hiring policies for economic recovery. On 17 and 18 June, he participated in his first G8 at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland, the next day, Letta had a meeting with President Napolitano to take stock of the possible alternatives. Previously the Head of State had said he would dissolve parliament only if there were no possible alternatives, on 2 October, Letta won a parliamentary vote of confidence. Dozens of Berlusconis supporters prepared to defy him and vote in favour of the government, prompting him to reverse course and announce that he too would back the prime minister. The government got 235 votes in favor and 70 against in 2 October morning vote in the Senate, Letta could thus continue his Grand coalition government. He called for vote on 11 December after Forza Italia pulled out of the coalition after Berlusconi was evicted from parliament. The growing criticism of the pace of Italian economic reform left Letta increasingly isolated
Enrico Letta
–
Enrico Letta
Enrico Letta
–
Enrico Letta receiving U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry in Rome, 2013.
Enrico Letta
–
Enrico Letta and his wife with
President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto and
First Lady Angélica Rivera.
7.
Giulio Tremonti
–
Giulio Tremonti is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finances under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 2008 to 2011. Tremonti is a professor of law at the University of Pavia, Italy. His particular fields of interest are fiscal and tributary law, as well as fiscal policies, although a member of Forza Italia, on many issues he is closer to the League. He first ran for the Italian Parliament in 1987 with the Italian Socialist Party, Tremonti again served as finances minister from 2001 to 2004 when Berlusconi came back to power. He was compelled to resign after internal disputes about the situation of the country within the House of Freedoms. In late 2005 he was reappointed to the same position for a third time after his substitute Domenico Siniscalco resigned until the end of the Berlusconi III Cabinet. At the 2008 general elections Berlusconi came back to power with a majority in the parliament and assigned Tremonti the Economics. At the end of 2011, following some rumors Tremonti would close to leave Pdl, during his time in office, Tremonti made the first and biggest across the board Income tax cuts in Italy by introducing a No-Tax-Area and reducing the top marginal tax rate. He also made a significant reduction in the Corporate tax rate and has abolished taxes on reinvested profits and he has also completely abolished all Donation taxes, Estate/Inheritance taxes and more importantly Property taxes on Housing/Real Estate at the national level. Nevertheless, after these measures, the OECD stated in its latest report on Italy that tax rates are compared to other countries. He has been the promoter of the Global Legal Standards, as an author, during his life Tremonti has written mostly on taxation and international trade. He expressed how high taxes are a drag for growth and how fiscal federalism can create territorial taxation competition between regions that can reduce the burden on families and workers and he has also been a critic of Chinas dumping trade policy that causes delocalization of jobs from Europe to Asia. Nevertheless, in 2009 he gave an important lecture at the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China and he is currently chairman of the Aspen Institute Italia and a frequent guest columnist on the Corriere della Sera
Giulio Tremonti
–
Tremonti at the
World Economic Forum in
Davos,
Switzerland.
8.
European Commissioner for Competition
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The Commissioner for Competition is the member of the European Commission responsible for competition. The current commissioner is Margrethe Vestager, the portfolio has responsibility for such matters as commercial competition, company mergers, cartels, state aid, and anti-trust law. The position became the sole authority for the European Economic Area in September 1990. The Competition Commissioner is one of the most powerful positions in the Commission and is notable in affecting global companies, for example, notably preventing the merge of two US companies, General Electric and Honeywell, in 2001. In 2007, Neelie Kroes was the only Commissioner to make Forbes Magazines List of The Worlds 100 Most Powerful Women, mario Monti is particularly notable for his ruling during the GE-Honeywell merger attempt in 2001. General Electric, a US company, sought to acquire another US company, on 1 May 2004 Monti oversaw a radical change in the Competition powers of the Commission concerning anti-trust regulation, merger controls, licensing agreements and air transport. Since then she states that she promotes a fair and free environment, achieving sustainable economic growth. We learned we may have to look for an effective remedy. Kroes stated that Todays court ruling…shows that the Commission was right to take its decision, either party may appeal to the European Court of Justice. The European Commission does not pass judgement on rulings by US courts, Kroes holds a strong belief in free market principles and was tough with offenders. By the time her term as Competition Commissioner ended, she had completed most major cases, joaquín Almunia, previously the Finance Commissioner, took on the competition portfolio under the second Barroso Commission in 2010 and was expected to have a tenure similar to Kroes stringent run. His appointment was welcomed by lawyers as someone well qualified and experienced. He also impressed Parliament at his hearing and early on in his work has had to deal with whether or not to pursue action against Google and he has also come out in favour of the idea of a European Monetary Fund to deal with defaulting member states. Directorate-General for Competition European Union competition law European Union v. Microsoft Juncker Commissions website EU Competition website Case No
European Commissioner for Competition
–
Incumbent
Margrethe Vestager since 1 November 2014
European Commissioner for Competition
–
Neelie Kroes
European Commissioner for Competition
–
Mario Monti
9.
Romano Prodi
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Romano Prodi, OMRI is an Italian former politician and economist. He twice served as the Prime Minister of Italy, from 17 May 1996 to 21 October 1998 and he was also the tenth President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He is nicknamed Il Professore due to his occupation as professor of Economics at the University of Bologna, following the victory of his coalition The Union over the House of Freedoms led by Silvio Berlusconi in the April 2006 Italian elections, Prodi took power again. Up to this time, he has been the only one candidate of Italian Centre-left who won elections. On 14 October 2007, Prodi became the first President of 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-UN peacekeeping panel. He is currently serving as the UN Special Envoy for the Sahel, Prodi was born in Scandiano, in the province of Reggio Emilia. He is the eighth of nine children of Mario Prodi, an originally from a peasant family, and Enrica. He has two sisters and six brothers, five of them being like him university professors, Prodi married Flavia Franzoni in 1969. He was married by Camillo Ruini, now a well-known cardinal and they have two sons, Giorgio and Antonio. He and his family live in Bologna. He then carried out postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics, Prodi has also been a visiting professor at Harvard University and a researcher at the Stanford Research Institute. His research covers mainly competition regulations and the development of small and he is also interested in relations between states and markets, and the dynamics of the different capitalistic models. Prodi has received almost 20 honorary degrees from institutions in Italy, and from the rest of Europe, North America, Asia, in 1982–1989 Prodi was President of the influential state-owned industrial holding company Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale. After leaving his position, Prodi ran the Bologna based consulting company Analisi e Studi Economici, between 1990 and 1993 the company earned £1.4 million, most of which was paid by the investment bank Goldman Sachs. In 1993-1994 Prodi was again President of the IRI, where he oversaw extensive privatization of public assets, Prodis 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, the case was however shut down within weeks by superiors, while Geremia was exiled to Sardinia. Prodis political career began as a left-of-centre reformist Christian Democrat and a disciple of Beniamino Andreatta, during the mid-1970s he was appointed Minister of Industry. During Giulio Andreottis government in 1978, he served as a Technical Minister, through the 1980s, Prodi claimed he had been given this tip-off by the founders of the Christian Democracy party, contacted from beyond the grave via a séance and a Ouija board
Romano Prodi
–
The Honourable Romano Prodi
OMRI
Romano Prodi
–
Romano Prodi (right) with
Göran Persson and
George W. Bush at
Gunnebo Slott near
Gothenburg, Sweden, 14 June 2001.
Romano Prodi
–
Romano Prodi (second from the right) at the
Helligendamm G8 Summit, 6–8 June 2007.
Romano Prodi
–
Romano Prodi in 2014
10.
Karel Van Miert
–
Karel Van Miert was a Flemish politician of the Different Socialist Party and official of the European Commission. He studied at Ghent University and gained a degree in diplomatic sciences, in 1976 he became adjunct-national secretary of the – at that time – unitary Belgian socialist party. Two years later he became president of the Different Socialist Party, in 1989 he was appointed European commissioner responsible for transport, credit and investment and consumer policy. In 1992 he also became in charge of environment, on 26 May 1992 he was appointed Minister of State. From 1993 till 1999 he served as vice-chairman of the European commission and was responsible for competition policy, in this period Van Miert was according to The Guardian one of the most powerful men in Europe. In 2001, he was awarded the Vlerick Award and he also worked with Eli Lilly and Company, a global pharmaceutical corporation. After his departure from politics Van Miert was an advisor to Goldman Sachs. On 22 June 2009, 67-year-old Van Miert died at his home in Beersel, member of the European Parliament Deputy in the Belgian Chamber European Commissioner
Karel Van Miert
–
Karel Van Miert
11.
Neelie Kroes
–
Neelie Kroes is a retired Dutch politician of the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy. Kroes, a director by occupation, was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives on 3 August 1971 after the Dutch general election of 1971. After the Dutch general election of 1981 she returned as a Member of the House of Representatives on 25 August 1981, Kroes remained Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management in the Cabinet Lubbers II following the Dutch general election of 1986. Kroes semi-retired from active politics and became Chancellor of the Nyenrode Business University serving from 1 June 1991 until 1 September 2000, in 2004 Kroes was selected as European Commissioner for Competition in the First Barroso Commission taking office on 22 November 2004. On 9 February 2010 she became European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, Kroes retired from active politics at the age of seventy-three. Following the end of her political career, Kroes occupied numerous seats on supervisory boards in the business and industry world. Kroes is known for her abilities as a leader and negotiator. Kroes also has been active as an advocate in promoting startup companies, Neelie Kroes was born on 19 July 1941 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Her father owned the transport company Zwatra, Kroes attended a Protestant grammar school in Rotterdam. She continued to a Protestant high school, in 1958 she went to study economics at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. In 1961, Kroes was praeses of the R. V. S. V and she was also elected as a member of the University Council. After obtaining a Bachelor of Economics and later a Master of Economics degree in 1965, during this period Kroes was involved in the womens organisation within the VVD. In this period she also was member of the board of heavy transporting company ZwaTra, Neelie Kroes was first elected member of the Rotterdam city council for the VVD in 1970. In 1971 she was elected to the House of Representatives, forcing her to stop her fellowship, in parliament, she became spokesperson for education. In 1981 she briefly returned to the House of Representatives, while her party, in 1982 she returned to office in the First and Second Lubbers Cabinets, now as the Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, a post that she held until 1989. As a minister she was responsible for the privatisation of the Postgiro, the Post and Telephone Services, Kroes refused to become Minister of Defence in 1988. During her tenure as minister, she was involved in the so-called TCR affair and she had also a business relationship with a tank cleaning company, which illegally received governmental subsidies. In 1991 she became chairperson of Nyenrode University, a business school
Neelie Kroes
–
Neelie Kroes in 2010
Neelie Kroes
–
Neelie Kroes and Wim Simons in 1975
Neelie Kroes
–
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
12.
Jacques Santer
–
Jacques Santer is a Luxembourg politician. As Prime Minister of Luxembourg he also led the negotiations on the Single European Act and he was the President of the European Commission from 1995 to 1999. He graduated in 1959 from the Paris Institute of Political Studies, from 1972 to 1974 he was a junior minister in the government. After the general election of 1984, Pierre Werner retired as Prime Minister and from life in general. This CSV / LSAP coalition was to last until 1999, there were weapons caches established in 1973, but direct access would not have been granted, according to Santer. On 14 October 1990 the remaining members of the organisation were informed and requested to return their radio communication equipment, Santer selection was barely ratified by a European Parliament upset with the process for which Commission presidents are selected. In the same year,1995, Santer became the first recipient of the Vision for Europe Award, allegations of corruption concerning individual EU-commissioners led to an investigation into administrative failings by an independent group of experts. Despite clearing most commissioners, the stated that they had not found a single person showing the slightest sense of responsibility. From 1999 until 2004, Santer was a member of the European Parliament and he also was on General Mediterranean Holdings board, a financial holding owned by Anglo-Iraqi Nadhmi Auchi. He is currently President of Group Europe, a section of the Union of European Federalists. He also sits on the board of directors of RTL Group, in May 2013, Santer became Honorary Member of SME Europe, the official pro-business organisation of the European Peoples Party
Jacques Santer
–
Jacques Santer
Jacques Santer
–
The euro was introduced as common currency in most member states. (
De Silguy and Santer displaying the
€1 coin in 1998)
13.
Frits Bolkestein
–
Frederik Frits Bolkestein is a Dutch retired politician of the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy. Bolkestein a corporate director by occupation, was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the Dutch general election of 1977 taking office on 16 January 1978. He served as Undersecretary for Foreign Trade from 5 November 1982, until 14 July 1986 and he served in this position for eight years until 30 July 1998. From 15 September 1999, until 22 November 2004, he was the European Commissioner for Internal Market, in the European Commission, Bolkestein was responsible for internal market taxation and customs union issues. Frederik Bolkestein was born on 4 April 1933 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands and his father was president of the Court in Amsterdam. His grandfather, Gerrit Bolkestein, was Minister of Education, Arts, bolkesteins mother was born in the Dutch East Indies to Dutch parents. Bolkestein attended the Barlaeus Gymnasium in Amsterdam from 1945 to 1951, upon completing his gymnasium education, he was an undergraduate in mathematics at Oregon State College from 1951 to 1953. Subsequently he returned to Amsterdam, where he received a degree in mathematics and physics in 1955. In 1959 he received a degree in philosophy and Greek. Bolkestein subsequently received a BSc from The London School of Economics in 1963, during his studies in Amsterdam, Bolkestein was editor for the satirical student magazine Propria Cures. He was also a member of the board of the student union ASVA, before entering Dutch politics, Bolkestein worked for the oil company Royal Dutch Shell from 1960 to 1975. During this period he was assigned to postings in East Africa, Honduras and El Salvador, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, in Paris, he served on the board of the Shell Chimie from 1973 to 1975. In 1976, Bolkestein wrote an English language play named Floris, Count of Holland, Bolkestein left Shell in 1978 and became a member of parliament for the VVD. From 1982–1986, he served as Minister of International Trade, after joining the parliament again, he was Minister of Defence from 1988–1989. In 1990 he was elected Leader of the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy of the VVD, between 1978 and 1999, when he became European Commissioner, he was member of parliament for 17 years. During the 1990s, he was successful as the political frontman of the VVD. From 1990–1994 he was the opposition leader and continued his outspoken. During the regional elections of 1995, his criticism of Dutch immigration policies made his party the largest of the country, the incident was known as the Dear Els-incident, because the letter was addressed to Borst personally
Frits Bolkestein
–
Frits Bolkestein in 2011
Frits Bolkestein
–
Bolkestein as member of the
House of Representatives in 1980
14.
Varese
–
Varese is a city and comune in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy,55 kilometres north of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Varese, the hinterland or urban part of the city is called Varesotto. The city of Varese lies at the feet of Sacro Monte di Varese, part of the Campo dei Fiori mountain range, that hosts an astronomical observatory, as well as the Prealpino Geophysical Centre. The village which is in the middle of the mountain is called Santa Maria del Monte because of the medieval sanctuary, which is reached through the avenue of the chapels of the Sacred Mountain. Varese is situated on seven hills, the San Pedrino Hill, the Giubiano Hill, the Campigli Hill, the SantAlbino Hill, the Biumo Superiore Hill, Colle di Montalbano, the city also looks over Lake Varese. Vareses winters are less mitigated by the proximity of the Lago Maggiore, low temperatures in the late autumn and winter frequently go down a few degrees below zero. This differentiates it from south of the city. As in other cities in the foothills of Lombardy, fog is an infrequent phenomenon, Varese is on average cooler than other cities of the Lombard Prealps, especially in winter. The rainfall of Varese is among the highest in Italy, with more than 1,500 millimetres of annual average, in winter, snow falls quite frequently, especially in January. Varese, like the province, has a high immigrant population owing to both its economy and its location. In 1859, Giuseppe Garibaldi confronted Austrian forces led by Field Marshal-Lieutenant Carl Baron Urban near Varese, also, it was here where Alessandro Marchettis Savoia-Marchetti SM.93 made his first test flights. In particular, the movements are incoming and internally to Varese. In the average weekday over 113,000 vehicles enter in Varese, the most used form of transportation in Varese is the private vehicle, followed by the local public transport. The A8 motorway connects Varese with Milan and this motorway was part of the first toll road system in the world. The city has also a Ring Road System, Vareses Ring Road, consists of a road currently in operation, many important statal and provincial roads pass through Varese. The entire rail network serving the capital is electrified, in addition, there is a project under way to connect Varese with Malpensa Airport, this line would then continue past Varese to Mendrisio and Lugano in Switzerland. International bus services are operated by Swiss Post Bus of the line 523 that link Varese to Lugano, in Varese there is also a funicular service on the line Vellone-Sacro Monte. The city is home to the Sacro Monte di Varese, a place of pilgrimage and it is one of the Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, included on the UNESCO World Heritage list
Varese
–
Palazzo Estense, town hall of Varese
15.
Lombardy
–
Lombardy is one of the twenty administrative regions of Italy, in the northwest of the country, with an area of 23,844 square kilometres. Milan, Lombardys capital, is the second-largest city and the largest metropolitan area in Italy, the word Lombardy comes from Lombard, which in turn is derived from Late Latin Longobardus, Langobardus, derived from the Proto-Germanic elements *langaz + *bardaz, equivalent to long beard. Some sources derive the second element instead from Proto-Germanic *bardǭ, *barduz, Lombardy referred during the early Middle Ages to the entire territory of Italy ruled by the Lombards, a Germanic tribe who conquered much of the Italian peninsula beginning in the 6th century. During the late Middle Ages, the term shifted meaning and was used to identify the whole of Northern Italy, with a surface of 23,861 km2, Lombardy is the 4th largest region of Italy. It is bordered by Switzerland and by the Italian regions of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, three distinct natural zones can be fairly easily distinguished in the Lombardy region, mountains, hills and plains – the latter being divided in Alta and Bassa. Inconsistent with the three distinctions above made is the subregion of Oltrepò Pavese, formed by the Apennine foothills beyond the Po River. The mighty Po river marks the border of the region for a length of about 210 km. In its progress it receives the waters of the Ticino River, the other streams which contribute to the great river are, the Olona, the Lambro, the Adda, the Oglio and the Mincio. The numerous lakes of Lombardy, all of glacial origin, lie in the northern highlands, from west to east these are Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano, Lake Como, Lake Iseo, Lake Idro, then Lake Garda, the largest in Italy. A minor mountainous area, the Oltrepò Pavese, lies south of the Po, in the plains, intensively cultivated for centuries, little of the original environment remains. The most commons trees are elm, alder, sycamore, poplar, willow, in the area of the foothills lakes, however, grow olive trees, cypresses and larches, as well as varieties of subtropical flora such as magnolias, azaleas, acacias. Numerous species of flora in the Prealpine area include some kinds of saxifrage, the Lombard garlic, groundsels bellflowers. The highlands are characterized by the vegetation of the whole range of the Italian Alps. At a lower levels oak woods or broadleafed trees grow, on the slopes beech trees grow at the lowest limits. Shrubs such as rhododendron, dwarf pine and juniper are native to the summital zone, Lombardy has a wide array of climates, due to local variances in elevation, proximity to inland water basins, and large metropolitan areas. In addition, there is a seasonal temperature variation. A peculiarity of the climate is the thick fog that covers the plains between October and February. In the Alpine foothills, characterised by an Oceanic climate, numerous lakes exercise a mitigating influence, in the hills and mountains, the climate is humid continental
Lombardy
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Mount Adamello
Lombardy
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Lombardy Lombardia
Lombardy
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Bridge over the
Ticino river
Lombardy
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The
Alpine ibex (Capra ibex)
16.
Kingdom of Italy
–
The state was founded as a result of the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered its legal predecessor state. Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia in 1866, Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power. Italy entered into a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882, victory in the war gave Italy a permanent seat in the Council of the League of Nations. Fascist Italy is the era of National Fascist Party rule from 1922 to 1943 with Benito Mussolini as head of government, according to Payne, Fascist regime passed through several relatively distinct phases. The first phase was nominally a continuation of the parliamentary system, then came the second phase, the construction of the Fascist dictatorship proper from 1925 to 1929. The third phase, with activism, was 1929–34. The war itself was the phase with its disasters and defeats. Italy was allied with Nazi Germany in World War II until 1943 and it switched sides to the Allies after ousting Mussolini and shutting down the Fascist party in areas controlled by the Allied invaders. Shortly after the war, civil discontent led to the referendum of 1946 on whether Italy would remain a monarchy or become a republic. Italians decided to abandon the monarchy and form the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of Italy claimed all of the territory which is modern-day Italy. The development of the Kingdoms territory progressed under Italian re-unification until 1870, the state for a long period of time did not include Trieste or Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, which are in Italy today, and only annexed them in 1919. After the Second World War, the borders of present-day Italy were founded, the Kingdom of Italy was theoretically a constitutional monarchy. Executive power belonged to the monarch, as executed through appointed ministers, two chambers of parliament restricted the monarchs power—an appointive Senate and an elective Chamber of Deputies. The kingdoms constitution was the Statuto Albertino, the governing document of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In theory, ministers were responsible to the king. However, in practice, it was impossible for an Italian government to stay in office without the support of Parliament, members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected by plurality voting system elections in uninominal districts. A candidate needed the support of 50% of those voting, and of 25% of all enrolled voters, if not all seats were filled on the first ballot, a runoff was held shortly afterwards for the remaining vacancies. After a brief multinominal experimentation in 1882, proportional representation into large, regional, Socialists became the major party, but they were unable to form a government in a parliament split into three different factions, with Christian Populists and classical liberals
Kingdom of Italy
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Italian unification process.
Kingdom of Italy
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Flag
Kingdom of Italy
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Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, the first Prime Minister of the unified Italy.
Kingdom of Italy
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Victor Emmanuel II, the first King of the united Italy.
17.
Civic Choice
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Civic Choice is a centrist and liberal political party in Italy founded by Mario Monti. The party was formed in the run-up of the 2013 general election to support the outgoing Prime Minister Monti and continue his political agenda. In the election SC was part of a centrist coalition named With Monti for Italy, along with Union of the Centre of Pier Ferdinando Casini and Future, in April 2013 SC became part of the grand coalition government led by Enrico Letta of the Democratic Party. In February 2014 after Lettas resignation, Civic Choice supported the cabinet of Matteo Renzi, in order to compete in the upcoming general election, on 4 January 2013 technocratic Prime Minister Mario Monti launched SC as an electoral list of the civil society to implement his agenda. It was announced that SC would be part of the With Monti for Italy coalition, alongside the Union of the Centre and Future and Freedom. Other minor groups and individuals, notably including Linda Lanzillotta, Alberto Bombassei, Luigi Marino, Mario Sechi, Ilaria Capua, Valentina Vezzali, in the 2013 general election SC obtained 8. 3% of the vote,37 deputies and 15 senators. After the election, SC deputies and senators formed joint groups named Civic Choice, including also UdC and FLI MPs, in both houses of Parliament. The rest of the leadership was composed mainly by former Democrats, Maria Paola Merloni, Lorenzo Dellai, Gianluca Susta, Andrea Causin, Pietro Ichino, no member of Future Italy, a liberal think tank, took a leading role. Since then, the party was riven by internal disputes. Monti twice presented his resignation from president, in late July he clashed with the Catholic wing of the party, especially with Olivero, whom he accused of being too close to the UdC. Also Future Italy, seemed to have patience with the Catholic wing. In this phase, an issue which divided SC was the debate on European party affiliation and it later emerged that Monti had favoured the EPP and had consequently started talks with the EPPs leadership in order to appease the partys Christian democrats led by Mauro and avoid a split. On 17 October 2013 Monti resigned as president of SC and was replaced by his deputy Alberto Bombassei as acting president. Monti cited his disagreement with 12 senators, including Mario Mauro, Andrea Olivero, Gabriele Albertini, Pier Ferdinando Casini, Maria Paola Merloni, Luigi Marino and Lucio Romano. Particularly, Monti criticized Mauros line of unconditioned support to the government and of transforming SC in a larger centre-right political party, one of the 12 senators, Tito Di Maggio, was even unveiled as PdL–SC–UdC joint candidate for President in Basilicata. On 22 October the executive voted in favour of the separation from the UdC. On 15 November the Populars walked away from the national assembly. The assembly elected Bombassei president and appointed Stefania Giannini secretary, on 23 November the Populars, led by Mauro, Dellai and Olivero, launched Populars for Italy
Civic Choice
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Mario Monti, former Prime Minister and party's founder
Civic Choice
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Civic Choice Scelta Civica
Civic Choice
–
Matteo Renzi, announcing his
government 's composition
Civic Choice
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Enrico Zanetti, party leader since January 2015
18.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
Alma mater
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The Alma Mater statue by
Mario Korbel, at the entrance of the
University of Havana in
Cuba.
Alma mater
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John Legate's Alma Mater for Cambridge in 1600
Alma mater
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Alma Mater (1929, Lorado Taft),
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
19.
Bocconi University
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Bocconi University is a private university in Milan, Italy. Bocconi provides undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate education, in addition to a range of degree programs, in the fields of economics, management, finance, law. SDA Bocconi, the business school, offers MBA and Executive MBA programs. Its MBA program was ranked 22nd in the Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 2017, SDA Bocconi was also ranked 16th by Businessweeks Top Global Schools for its MBA and 7th among European business schools. Bocconi University is renowned as one of the business and management schools worldwide. Bocconi complements its research through several dedicated research centers, Bocconi University was founded in 1902 by Ferdinando Bocconi and was named after his son, who died in the Battle of Adwa during the First Italo-Ethiopian War. The university was affiliated to the engineering school Politecnico di Milano. Bocconi is an internationally oriented institution in business, economics, and it is also a research university, receiving funds for its research projects from national and international institutions. Bocconi University is structured around five schools, Undergraduate School, Graduate School, Law School, PhD School, Bocconi presently offers bachelors degrees, Master of Science degrees, MBAs, MPAs and Ph. Ds in Finance, Economics, Management, Statistics, Law and other disciplines. It also has a number of programs, and administers many customized executive education courses. The campus was located in Via Statuto near the Pinacoteca di Brera. It hosts classrooms, an aula magna, a restaurant, and its entrance features two lion statues which are the subject of several university myths. The different floors have a form and bear the shape of a symmetric L letter. The SDA Bocconi building, which is also in Via Ferdinando Bocconi, was opened in 1985, the building was extended in 2001, especially to host EGEA, the university bookstore. The campus football pitch is placed between the pensionato and the SDA Bocconi building, the modern Velodromo building was projected by Ignazio Gardella and opened in 2001. It is called so due to its form resembling an ellipsoid velodrome, each of its four floors has about ten classrooms with a capacity of 150. The Velodromo uses a geothermal heat pump as its air conditioning system. A marble statue of Ferdinando Bocconi overlooks the foyer of the ground floor, in 2007, a new building was inaugurated in Via Roentgen known as Grafton Building from the name of the Irish practice Grafton Architects which designed the innovative building
Bocconi University
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Bocconi University
Bocconi University
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Full view on the ellipsoid Velodromo building, as seen from EGEA
Bocconi University
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The pensionato building, between which the SDA Bocconi building is seen
Bocconi University
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The Dubini Residence (Residenza E.Dubini) of Bocconi University
20.
Yale School of Management
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The Yale School of Management is the graduate business school of Yale University and is located on Whitney Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. As of August 2015,668 students were enrolled in its MBA program,114 in the EMBA program,63 in the MAM program, beginning in the 2017-2018 school year, the school will launch a one-year Master of Management Studies degree in Systemic Risk. The School has 86 full-time faculty members, and the dean is Edward A. Snyder, the School conducts education and research in leadership, behavioral economics, operations management, marketing, entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, and other areas. The EMBA program offers focused study in healthcare, asset management, beginning in the 1950s, Yale University started to expand coursework offerings in business and organization management. In 1971, Yale University received a donation establishing a program in management from Frederick W. Beinecke, two years later, the Yale Corporation approved the establishment of a School of Organization and Management. Arriving in 1976, the first class of the program that awarded a masters degree in public. Historically known for its strength in studies regarding nonprofits and the public sector, shortly thereafter in 1999, the School began offering a master of business degree and discontinued the MPPM degree. Yale SOM launched an executive MBA program for professionals in 2005. That same year in January, SOMs new building, Edward P. Evans Hall, opened at 165 Whitney Avenue, one block away from the old campus on Hillhouse Avenue. Edward P. Evans Hall, a 249, 743-square-foot building named after the Yale alumnus who donated $50 million to the school, is the new home for Yale School of Management as of January 2014. An inaugural conference entitled Business + Society, Leadership in an Increasingly Complex World marked the opening of the new campus, the three-day conference examined major trends transforming markets and organizations around the world. Foster + Partners, the firm chaired by Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Lord Norman Foster ARCH ’62, Edward P. Evans Hall houses technology-enabled classrooms, faculty offices, academic centers, and student and meeting spaces organized around an enclosed courtyard. The Master of Advanced Management program is a program based at SOMs New Haven campus for business students from Global Network for Advanced Management schools. All MAM students matriculate into the MAM program immediately after their graduation from their business schools to continue the studies at SOM. The MAM class of 2016 is composed of 63 students from 34 countries and 20 Global Network for Advanced Management schools and is 38% women. For the 2006–2007 academic year, the School introduced its Integrated Curriculum, the Orientation to Management is the first segment of the curriculum, which introduces students to core concepts and business skills. The core of the curriculum and first-year experience is a series of interdisciplinary. These courses include Employee, Innovator, Operations Engine, Sourcing and Managing Funds, Competitor, Customer, Investor, The Global Macro-economy, and State and Society
Yale School of Management
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Yale SOM Logo
Yale School of Management
Yale School of Management
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Founders Hall, the school's former main building
Yale School of Management
–
Steinbach Hall, a mansion formerly used by the school on
Hillhouse Avenue
21.
Mario Monti
–
Mario Monti, OMRI is an Italian economist who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of technocrats in the wake of the Italian debt crisis. Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the Internal Market, Services, Customs and Taxation from 1995 to 1999, Monti has also been Rector and President of Bocconi University in Milan for many years. From 16 May 2013 to 17 October 2013 Monti was the President of Civic Choice, Monti was born in Varese on 19 March 1943. Montis father went back to Argentina during World War II, Monti studied at the private Leo XIII High School and attended Bocconi University of Milan, where he obtained a degree in economics in 1965. Later, he won a scholarship to Yale University where he studied under James Tobin and he also served as President of the SUERF from 1982 to 1985. His research helped to create the Klein-Monti model, aimed at describing the behaviour of banks operating under monopoly circumstances, in 1994, Monti was appointed to the Santer Commission, along with Emma Bonino, by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. In his office as a European Commissioner from 1994 to 1999, he was responsible for internal market, financial services and financial integration, customs and his work with the Commission earned him the nickname Super Mario from his colleagues and from the press. Monti was also responsible for levying the EUs largest ever fine at the time against Microsoft for abusing its dominant market position in 2004. Monti was criticised in the media and by lawyers for the perceived inflexibility of the merger oversight process. Monti, however, was defended by supporters who saw his actions as an important step in the development of law in the EU. The reforms were adopted by the EU as Regulation 139/2004, in 2004, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi returned to power in Italy and chose not to re-appoint Monti to the Commission when his second term ended. In 2010, Monti was asked by Commission President Manuel Barroso to draft a Report on the Future of the Single Market proposing further measures towards the completion of the EUs Single Market. The published report, adopted by the EU on 13 April 2011, on 9 November 2011, Monti was appointed a lifetime senator by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. He was seen as a favourite to replace Silvio Berlusconi to lead a new unity government in Italy in order to implement reforms, on 12 November 2011, following Berlusconis resignation, Napolitano invited Monti to form a new government. On 16 November 2011, Monti was sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy and he also chose to hold the post of Minister of Economy and Finances. On 17 and 18 November 2011, the Italian Senate and Italian Chamber of Deputies both passed motions of confidence supporting Montis government, with only Lega Nord voting against, the austerity package called for increased taxes, pension reform and measures to fight tax evasion. Monti also announced that he would be giving up his own salary as part of the reforms, on 16 December 2011, the Lower House of the Italian Parliament adopted the measures by a vote of 495 to 88. Six days later the Upper House gave final approval to the package by a vote of 257 to 41, on 20 January 2012, Montis government formally adopted a package of reforms targeting Italys labour market
Mario Monti
–
Senator for life Mario Monti
OMRI
Mario Monti
–
Mario Monti served as a
European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004.
Mario Monti
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Monti's Cabinet swearing-in ceremony at the presence of
President Napolitano.
Mario Monti
–
Monti with
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
22.
Italian general election, 2013
–
Close behind, the new anti-establishment Five Star Movement of comedian Beppe Grillo became the third force, clearly ahead of the centrist coalition of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti. In the Senate, no group or party won an outright majority. Eventually a coalition between the centre-left, centre and centre-right was formed, following the European sovereign debt crisis, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned from his position in November 2011. He was replaced as Prime Minister by technocratic Senator for Life Mario Monti, in December 2012, Berlusconi announced his intention to run for Prime Minister for a sixth time. The Constitution of Italy then requires an election to be held within 70 days of the dissolution of parliament by President Giorgio Napolitano, during Montis tenure, Italy had faced tax increases and state spending cuts, as well as reforms intended to improve the competitiveness of the Italian economy. In the approximately one year since Monti took office, unemployment rose by almost two percent, previously Monti had controversially told the rising tide of youth unemployment to forget about a steady job for life, saying such is monotonous its nice to change and take on challenges. The same reforms and austerity-focused policies which upset many Italians are perceived to have improved international confidence in Italy, Monti was supported by other Eurozone leaders, such as Germanys Angela Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble added that he did not foresee any destabilisation in the eurozone expect Italy to keep going forward by respecting its European commitments. Montis statement that he would resign after the budget was passed, was suggested by Reuters to be indicative of him seeking to run for office. The two largest parties in parliament, the PdL and the Democratic Party said they would be willing to work together to expedite passage of the budget, Bersani had won the centre-left primary election shortly before the PdL withdrew from the government. Following a defeat in the primary, Mayor of Florence Matteo Renzi ruled out an approach, in writing, in the following weeks, both PD and Left Ecology Freedom announced their intention to hold primary elections for MP candidates on 29 and 30 December. A few days later, Monti published a political agenda for Italy, dubbed the Monti agenda, after the Third Pole promptly agreed to use it as their own platform for the upcoming elections, talks started regarding a direct involvement of Monti as premiership candidate. Berlusconi said the platform his party would run on includes opposition to Montis economic performance and he also told the media, on the sidelines of AC Milans practice session, I race to win. To win, everyone there had to be a tested leader. Its not that we did not look for one, but there isnt one. Im doing it out of a sense of responsibility. Berlusconi and Five Star Movement leader Beppe Grillo criticised the eurozone, Grillo wrote that the average Italian is literally terrified about the prospects of five more years of Monti-like rule. On 8 December 2012, a new party formed around a think tank named Fermare il Declino, on an initiative by the economic journalist Oscar Giannino. On 19 December 2012, the name FARE per Fermare il Declino was chosen, and it is led by celebrity magistrate Antonio Ingroia and Mayor of Naples Luigi de Magistris
Italian general election, 2013
–
All 630 seats to the
Chamber of Deputies and 315 (out of the 319) seats to the
Senate of the Republic
Italian general election, 2013
Italian general election, 2013
23.
Monti Cabinet
–
The Monti cabinet was the sixty-first cabinet of the government of Italy and was announced on 16 November 2011. This Experts cabinet was composed of independents, three of whom were women and was formed as an interim government. The government ran the country for eighteen months until the aftermath of the elections in Spring 2013 and then replaced by the Letta Cabinet, on 9 November 2011, Monti was appointed a Lifetime Senator by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. He was seen as a favourite to replace Silvio Berlusconi and lead a new unity government in Italy in order to implement reforms, the ultimate purpose of Montis appointment was to save Italy from the eurozone sovereign debt crisis. On 12 November 2011, following Berlusconis resignation, Napolitano asked Monti to form a new government, on 16 November 2011, Monti was sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy, after making known a technocratic cabinet composed entirely of unelected professionals. He also chose to hold personally the post of Minister of Economy and his tenure in the latter post lasted until 11 July 2012 when Vittorio Grilli, previously vice-minister, became Minister. On 17 and 18 November 2011, the Italian Senate and Italian Chamber of Deputies both passed motions of confidence supporting Montis government, with only Lega Nord voting against and this was the first time the government of a provincial capital had been dismissed
Monti Cabinet
–
Monti cabinet
Monti Cabinet
–
Prime Minister
Monti Cabinet
–
Minister of the Interior
Monti Cabinet
–
Minister of Foreign Affairs
24.
European debt crisis
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The European debt crisis is a multi-year debt crisis that has been taking place in the European Union since the end of 2009. The detailed causes of the debt crisis varied, in several countries, private debts arising from a property bubble were transferred to sovereign debt as a result of banking system bailouts and government responses to slowing economies post-bubble. The structure of the eurozone as a union without fiscal union contributed to the crisis. European banks own a significant amount of debt, such that concerns regarding the solvency of banking systems or sovereigns are negatively reinforcing. The ECB also contributed to solve the crisis by lowering interest rates, return to economic growth and improved structural deficits enabled Ireland and Portugal to exit their bailout programmes in July 2014. Greece and Cyprus both managed to regain market access in 2014. Spain never officially received a bailout programme and its rescue package from the ESM was earmarked for a bank recapitalization fund and did not include financial support for the government itself. In 1992, members of the European Union signed the Maastricht Treaty, under which they pledged to limit their deficit spending and debt levels. The crisis subsequently spread to Ireland and Portugal, while raising concerns about Italy, Spain, and the European banking system, in Greece, the low forecast was reported until very late in the year, clearly not corresponding to the actual situation. The fact that the Greek debt exceeded $400 billion and France owned 10% of that debt, as of January 2009, a group of 10 central and eastern European banks had already asked for a bailout. At the time, the European Commission released a forecast of a 1. 8% decline in EU economic output for 2009, the many public funded bank recapitalizations were one reason behind the sharply deteriorated debt-to-GDP ratios experienced by several European governments in the wake of the Great Recession. The states that were affected by the crisis faced a strong rise in interest rate spreads for government bonds as a result of investor concerns about their future debt sustainability. Together these three international organisations representing the creditors became nicknamed the Troika. By the end of 2011, Germany was estimated to have more than €9 billion out of the crisis as investors flocked to safer. By July 2012 also the Netherlands, Austria, and Finland benefited from zero or negative interest rates, looking at short-term government bonds with a maturity of less than one year the list of beneficiaries also includes Belgium and France. While Switzerland equally benefited from lower interest rates, the crisis also harmed its export sector due to an influx of foreign capital. This is the biggest Swiss intervention since 1978, in total, the debt crisis forced five out of 17 eurozone countries to seek help from other nations by the end of 2012. This has also greatly diminished contagion risk for other eurozone countries, as of October 2012 only 3 out of 17 eurozone countries, namely Greece, Portugal, and Cyprus still battled with long-term interest rates above 6%
European debt crisis
–
Total (gross) government debt around the world as a percent of
GDP by IMF
European debt crisis
–
Long-term interest rates (
secondary market yields of government bonds with maturities of close to ten years) of all eurozone countries except
Estonia,
Latvia and
Lithuania. A yield being more than 4% points higher compared to the lowest comparable yield among the eurozone states, i.e. yields above 6% in September 2011, indicates that financial institutions have serious doubts about credit-worthiness of the state.
European debt crisis
–
100,000 people protest against the austerity measures in front of parliament building in Athens, 29 May 2011
European debt crisis
–
Standard & Poor's Headquarters in Lower Manhattan, New York City
25.
Economist
–
An economist is a practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. A generally accepted interpretation in academia is that an economist is one who has attained a Ph. D. in economics, teaches economic science, the professionalization of economics, reflected in academia, has been described as the main change in economics since around 1900. Economists debate the path they believe their profession should take, surveys among economists indicate a preference for a shift toward the latter. Most major universities have a faculty, school or department. However, many prominent economists come from a background in mathematics, business, political science, law, sociology, getting a PhD in economics takes six years, on average, with a median of 5.3 years. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, established by Sveriges Riksbank in 1968, is a prize awarded to each year for outstanding intellectual contributions in the field of economics. The prize winners are announced in October every year and they receive their awards on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobels death. In contrast to regulated professions such as engineering, law or medicine, in academia, to be called an economist requires a Ph. D. degree in Economics. A professional working inside of one of many fields of economics or having a degree in this subject is often considered to be an economist. In addition to government and academia, economists are employed in banking, finance, accountancy, commerce, marketing, business administration, lobbying. Politicians often consult economists before enacting economic policy, many statesmen have academic degrees in economics. Economics graduates are employable in varying degrees depending on the regional economic scenario, small numbers go on to undertake postgraduate studies, either in economics, research, teacher training or further qualifications in specialist areas. Nearly 135 colleges and universities grant around 900 new Ph. D. s every year, incomes are highest for those in the private sector, followed by the federal government, with academia paying the lowest incomes. As of January 2013, PayScale. com showed Ph. D. economists salary ranges as follows, all Ph. D. economists, $61,000 to $160,000, Ph. D. The largest single grouping of economists in the UK are the more than 1000 members of the Government Economic Service. This figure compares very favourably with the picture, with 64 percent of economics graduates in employment. Some current well-known economists include, Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014, milton Friedman, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences laureate in Economics
Economist
–
Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan testifies before the
U.S. House Committee on Financial Services
26.
Government
–
A government is the system by which a state or community is controlled. In the case of this broad definition, government normally consists of legislators, administrators. Government is the means by which state policy is enforced, as well as the mechanism for determining the policy of the state. Forms of government, or forms of governance, refers to the set of political systems. Governments control the economy, social freedoms, and political systems and this usage is analogous to what is called an administration in American English. Finally, government is sometimes used in English as a synonym for governance. In addition to the political meanings, in grammar and theoretical linguistics
Government
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presidential republics
27.
European sovereign-debt crisis
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The European debt crisis is a multi-year debt crisis that has been taking place in the European Union since the end of 2009. The detailed causes of the debt crisis varied, in several countries, private debts arising from a property bubble were transferred to sovereign debt as a result of banking system bailouts and government responses to slowing economies post-bubble. The structure of the eurozone as a union without fiscal union contributed to the crisis. European banks own a significant amount of debt, such that concerns regarding the solvency of banking systems or sovereigns are negatively reinforcing. The ECB also contributed to solve the crisis by lowering interest rates, return to economic growth and improved structural deficits enabled Ireland and Portugal to exit their bailout programmes in July 2014. Greece and Cyprus both managed to regain market access in 2014. Spain never officially received a bailout programme and its rescue package from the ESM was earmarked for a bank recapitalization fund and did not include financial support for the government itself. In 1992, members of the European Union signed the Maastricht Treaty, under which they pledged to limit their deficit spending and debt levels. The crisis subsequently spread to Ireland and Portugal, while raising concerns about Italy, Spain, and the European banking system, in Greece, the low forecast was reported until very late in the year, clearly not corresponding to the actual situation. The fact that the Greek debt exceeded $400 billion and France owned 10% of that debt, as of January 2009, a group of 10 central and eastern European banks had already asked for a bailout. At the time, the European Commission released a forecast of a 1. 8% decline in EU economic output for 2009, the many public funded bank recapitalizations were one reason behind the sharply deteriorated debt-to-GDP ratios experienced by several European governments in the wake of the Great Recession. The states that were affected by the crisis faced a strong rise in interest rate spreads for government bonds as a result of investor concerns about their future debt sustainability. Together these three international organisations representing the creditors became nicknamed the Troika. By the end of 2011, Germany was estimated to have more than €9 billion out of the crisis as investors flocked to safer. By July 2012 also the Netherlands, Austria, and Finland benefited from zero or negative interest rates, looking at short-term government bonds with a maturity of less than one year the list of beneficiaries also includes Belgium and France. While Switzerland equally benefited from lower interest rates, the crisis also harmed its export sector due to an influx of foreign capital. This is the biggest Swiss intervention since 1978, in total, the debt crisis forced five out of 17 eurozone countries to seek help from other nations by the end of 2012. This has also greatly diminished contagion risk for other eurozone countries, as of October 2012 only 3 out of 17 eurozone countries, namely Greece, Portugal, and Cyprus still battled with long-term interest rates above 6%
European sovereign-debt crisis
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Total (gross) government debt around the world as a percent of
GDP by IMF
European sovereign-debt crisis
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Long-term interest rates (
secondary market yields of government bonds with maturities of close to ten years) of all eurozone countries except
Estonia,
Latvia and
Lithuania. A yield being more than 4% points higher compared to the lowest comparable yield among the eurozone states, i.e. yields above 6% in September 2011, indicates that financial institutions have serious doubts about credit-worthiness of the state.
European sovereign-debt crisis
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100,000 people protest against the austerity measures in front of parliament building in Athens, 29 May 2011
European sovereign-debt crisis
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Standard & Poor's Headquarters in Lower Manhattan, New York City
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European Commissioner
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A European Commissioner is a member of the 28-member European Commission. Each Member within the Commission holds a portfolio, and the Commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent of national ministers, each Commissioner is first nominated by their member state in consultation with the Commission President, although the President holds little practical power to force a change in candidate. The more capable the candidate is, the likely the Commission President will assign them a powerful portfolio. The Presidents team is subject to hearings at the European Parliament which will question them. If members of the team are found to be inappropriate, the President must then reshuffle the team or request a new candidate from the state or risk the whole Commission being voted down. As Parliament cannot vote against individual Commissioners there is usually a compromise whereby the worst candidates are removed, once the team is approved by parliament, it is formally put into office by the European Council. It should be noted however that although Members of the Commission are allocated between member-states they do not represent their states, instead they are supposed to act in European interests. Normally a member-state will nominate someone of the political party as that which forms the government of the day. Partly due to the selection procedure, only 9 of the current 28 Members are women. Peter Mandelson was the first openly gay Commissioner, the first female Commissioners were Christiane Scrivener and Vasso Papandreou in the 1989 Delors Commission. European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek proposed in 2010 that Commissioners be directly elected and that would give them individually, and the body as a whole, a democratic mandate. Each Member is required to take an oath before the Court of Justice of the European Union, as of December 2009, the Charter of Fundamental Rights has gained legal force and Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has proposed that Commissioners should swear to uphold it also. The second Barroso Commission went to the Court of Justice on 3 May 2010 for the first such oath alongside their usual oath. I formally note the undertaking of each Member State to respect this principle, until 2004, the larger member states received two Commissioners and the smaller states received one. Nice also specified that once the number of members reached 27 then the number of Commissioners should be reduced to less than the number of Member States. The exact number of Commissioners would have to be decided by a vote of the European Council. Following the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in January 2007, this took effect for the following commission
European Commissioner
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Margot Wallström has said that the EU has to get more political and controversial.
European Commissioner
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Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
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