1.
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
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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
2.
President of the European Commission
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The President of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission. The President of the Commission is responsible for allocating portfolios to members of the Commission and they determine the Commissions policy agenda and all the legislative proposals it produces. The President of the Commission also represents the EU abroad, together with the President of the European Council, the post was established in 1958. Each new President is nominated by the European Council and formally elected by the European Parliament, once appointed, he or she, along with the Commission, is responsible to Parliament. As of 2017, the current President is Jean-Claude Juncker, who took office on 1 November 2014 and he is a member of the European Peoples Party and is the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg. Juncker is the twelfth President and his First Vice-President is Frans Timmermans, in 1957 the present Commission was established by the Treaty of Rome, and it also replaced the High Authority and the Commission of Euratom in 1967. The Commissions first president was Walter Hallstein who started consolidating European law, national governments took little heed of his administration at first with the President having to stamp the Commissions authority early on. With the aid of the European Court of Justice the Commission began to be more seriously. These proposals led to a backlash from France. Hallstein knew the proposals would be contentious, and took charge of drafting them. However he did gain the support of Parliament through his proposals to increase its powers and he aimed to demonstrate how he thought the Community ought to be run, in the hopes of generating a wave of pro-Europeanism big enough to get past the objections of member states. However, in this it proved that, despite its past successes, France eventually withdrew its representative from the Council, triggering the notorious empty chair crisis. Although this was resolved under the Luxembourg compromise, Hallstein became the scapegoat for the crisis, the Council refused to renew his term, despite being the most dynamic leader until Jacques Delors. Hallsteins work did enable the Commission to be a real player, during the 1970s the presidents were involved in the major political projects of the day, such as the European Monetary Union. In 1970, President Jean Rey secured the Communitys own financial resources and in 1977, President Roy Jenkins became the first Commission President to attend a G7 summit on behalf of the Community. However, due to such as the 1973 oil crisis. However the Commission began to recover under President Jacques Delors Commission and he is seen as the most successful President, being credited with having given the Community a sense of direction and dynamism. The International Herald Tribune noted the work of Delors at the end of his term in 1992
3.
Neil Kinnock
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Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock, PC is a British Labour Party politician. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and he was the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1983 until 1992, making him the longest-serving Leader of the Opposition in British political history. Three years later he became a European Commissioner and he went on to become the Vice-President of the European Commission under Romano Prodi from 1999 to 2004. Until the summer of 2009, he was also the Chairman of the British Council, Kinnock, an only child, was born in Tredegar, Wales. His father Gordon Herbert Kinnock was a coal miner who suffered from dermatitis and later worked as a labourer. Gordon died of an attack in November 1971 aged 64. In 1953, at eleven years old, Kinnock began his education at Lewis School, Pengam. He went on to the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, obtaining a degree in industrial relations, the following year, Kinnock obtained a postgraduate diploma in education. Between August 1966 and May 1970, he worked as a tutor for a Workers Educational Association and he has been married to Glenys Kinnock since 1967. They have two children – son Stephen Kinnock, and daughter Rachel Kinnock, in June 1969, he won the Labour Party nomination for Bedwellty in South Wales, which became Islwyn in the 1983 general election. He was elected on 18 June 1970, and became a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party in October 1978. On his becoming an MP for the first time, his father said Remember Neil, MP stands not just for Member of Parliament, the Labour government policy at that time was in favour of devolution for Wales, but the wider party was split. Calling himself a unionist, Kinnock was one of six south Wales Labour MPs to campaign against devolution, in the Wales referendum,1979, the proposal for devolution was rejected. Following Labours defeat in the 1979 general election, James Callaghan appointed Neil Kinnock to the Shadow Cabinet as Education spokesman. His ambition was noted by other MPs, and David Owens opposition to the changes to the college was thought to be motivated by the realisation that they would favour Kinnocks succession. He remained as Education spokesman following the resignation of Callaghan as party leader, after Labours landslide defeat in June 1983, Michael Foot resigned as leader aged seventy, and from the outset it was expected that the much younger Kinnock would succeed him. He was finally elected as Labour Party leader on 2 October 1983, with 71% of the vote and his first period as party leader – between the 1983 and 1987 elections – was dominated by his struggle with the hard-left Militant tendency, then still strong in the party. Kinnock was determined to move the political standing to a centrist position
4.
Prime Minister of Italy
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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
5.
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
6.
Massimo D'Alema
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Massimo DAlema is an Italian politician who was the 53rd Prime Minister from 1998 to 2000. Later he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008 and he is also a journalist and served for a time as national secretary of the Democratic Party of the Left. Sometimes media refers to him as Leader Maximo, due to his first name Massimo, earlier in his career he was a member of the Italian Communist Party, and he was the first former communist to become prime minister of a NATO country. Massimo DAlema was born in Rome on 20 April 1949, the son of Giuseppe DAlema and he is married to Linda Giuva, a professor at the University of Siena, and has two children, Giulia and Francesco. He later became a member of Italian Communist Party, part of which in 1991 gave origin to the Democratic Party of the Left. In 1998, succeeding Romano Prodi, he became Prime Minister and he was the first former Communist to become prime minister of a NATO country and the first Prime Minister of Italy born after Italy became a Republic in 1946. While DAlema was Prime Minister, Italy took part in the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999, the attack was supported by Silvio Berlusconi and the centre-right opposition, but the far left strongly contested it. He has been the director of LUnità, formerly the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party, immediately following the April 2006 election, he was proposed as the future President of the Chamber of Deputies. The Communist Refoundation Party, however, strongly pushed for Fausto Bertinotti to become the next President, after a couple of days of heated debate, DAlema stepped back to prevent a fracture between political parties, an act applauded by his allies. The same month, he was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the new Prodi government and he served in those posts until 2008, when Prodis government fell and Berlusconis right-wing coalition prevailed in the election that followed in April 2008. DAlema was re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies in this election as part of the recently formed Democratic Party, while Italian Foreign Minister in the 2006-2008 Romano Prodi center-left government, Massimo DAlema took a very pro-active diplomatic stance during the 2006 Lebanon War. DAlema was briefly a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2006, since 2003 he has been member of the scientific committee of Michel Rocard and Dominique Strauss-Kahns association A gauche en Europe. He still figures on the European scene, he signed the Soros letter and has called for a stronger European integration, since 30 June 2010 DAlema has been the president of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, the political foundation of the Party of European Socialists. 1967, Secondary school-leaving certificate in classical subjects Did not complete studies in philosophy at the famed Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, dialogo su Berlinguer, with Paul Ginsborg, Giunti,1994, ISBN 88-09-20545-6, Un paese normale. LItalia verso le riforme, Mondadori,1997, ISBN 88-04-42161-4, Parole a vista, with Enrico Ghezzi, Bompiani,1998, ISBN 88-452-3777-X, Kosovo. Gli italiani e la guerra, with Federico Rampini, Mondadori,1999, ISBN 88-04-47302-9, Oltre la paura, Mondadori,2002, ISBN 88-04-51206-7
7.
Francesco Rutelli
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Francesco Rutelli is an Italian politician and current President of European Democratic Party. He also chairs the Centro per un Futuro Sostenibile and he is co-president of the European Democratic Party, a centrist European political party, today counting approximately 20 MEPs. He has been Mayor of Rome 1994–2001, and president of the centrist party Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy 2002–2007 and he was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and Tourism in the second cabinet of Prime Minister Romano Prodi 2006–2008. In 2008 Rutelli ran unsuccessfully for a new term as Mayor of Rome after the resignation of Walter Veltroni, currently he also chairs Priorità Cultura, Incontro di Civiltà. Born in Rome, he entered politics joining the Radical Party, for which he was elected secretary in 1980. At those times the action of the Italian Radicals was self-defined as inspired by the Gandhian non-violent movement. After quitting the University on 1977, at the age of 62 years old, forty years later, on 2017, some journals speculated he graduated to make more credible his appointment as UNESCO Director-General, being UNESCO the UN-Agency in charge of Culture ad Education. He was then chosen as Ministry of Environment and Urban Areas in 1993 and that same year, he was first elected Mayor of Rome as centre-left coalition candidate, defeating centre-right candidate Gianfranco Fini. Being reelected in 1997, with 985.000 popular votes and he also served as a Member of European Parliament from 1999 to 2004. There hes been committed to promote initiatives for the abolition of penalty, freedom of information improvement. From the mid-1990s onwards his views appeared increasingly moderate and he was also one of the founders of the Democrats, which became part of Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy. Rutelli led the party until it merged into the Democratic Party on 14 October 2007, in 2006 he was named Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Culture in the cabinet of Romano Prodi during Prodis second term as Italian Prime Minister. In February 2008 he announced his intention to run again as mayor of Rome leading a local centre-left coalition, in October 2009 he announced his intention to leave the Democratic Party. The New Pole for Italy was dissolved some time in 2012, Rutelli founded the European Democratic Party, together with the French political leader Francois Bayrou. He has been unanimously voted co-President of the Party in Brussels, the members of the EPD in the European Parliament sit in the ALDE Group. He has been elected to the European Parliament, sitting in the ALDE Group, introducing Reports and many Parliamentary initiatives. He has been one of the promoter of the Referendum for a stronger integration between Italy and the EU, he has been awarded the Crocodile-Altiero Spinelli Prize, as a proEuropean personality. Serving in the Italian Parliament, he has been member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and he also chaired for two terms the Human Rights Committee in the Camera dei Deputati
8.
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
9.
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
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Oscar Luigi Scalfaro was an Italian politician and magistrate, the ninth President of the Italian Republic from 1992 to 1999, and subsequently a senator for life. Formerly a member of Christian Democracy, he belonged to the centre-left Democratic party, Scalfaro was born in Novara, Province of Novara on 9 September 1918. He was raised in a religious atmosphere and he became a member of the association Azione Cattolica at the age of 12 and kept its badge on his lapel until his death. Scalfaro studied law at Milans Università Cattolica and graduated on 30 July 1941, on 21 October 1942, he entered the magistrature. After a three-day-long debate, all six were condemned to death, the sentence was carried out on 23 September 1945. Later on, he obtained one more sentence, but the accused was pardoned before the execution could take place. In 1946 he was elected to the Constituent Assembly and later in 1948 he became a deputy representing the district of Turin and he was re-elected ten times in a row until 1992. Within the Democrazia Cristiana party he was associated with its right wing, on 25 May 1992, he was elected as President of the Italian Republic, after a two-week stalemate of unsuccessful attempts to reach agreement. The killing of anti-Mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone prompted his election and his mandate ended in May 1999, and he automatically became a lifetime member of the Senate. On 7 April 1994 Scalfaro co-officiated at the Papal Concert to Commemorate the Shoah at the Sala Nervi in Vatican City, along with Pope John Paul II, along with all the center-left, Scalfaro considered it to be dangerous for national unity and for other reasons. The opponents of the reform won a victory in the referendum. Scalfaro was the oldest surviving former Italian president and the second oldest member of the Senate and he consequently took the temporary presidency of the newly elected assembly which followed the 2006 general election, as Levi Montalcini refused the role because of her age. He openly supported the coalition, which included Democratic Party of the Left. Despite his age, he actively campaigned, for the No side. This reform had been proposed by Berlusconis House of Freedom coalition during its control of the government, during the Second World War, in 1944, Scalfaro lost his 20-year-old wife Maria Inzitari, by whom he had a daughter, Marianna. After the 2008 parliamentary election, he was asked to preside as pro tempore Speaker of the Senate after Rita Levi-Montalcini again refused the post. Personally, he was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit for School, Culture and Art on 31 July 1973
10.
Walter Veltroni
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He served as Mayor of Rome from June 2001 to February 2008. His father, Vittorio Veltroni, an eminent RAI manager in the 1950s and his mother, Ivanka Kotnik, was the daughter of Ciril Kotnik, a Slovenian diplomat at the Holy See who helped numerous Jews and antifascists to escape Nazi persecution after 1943. Veltroni joined the Italian Communist Youth Federation at the age of 15 and he was then elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1987. As a member of the Italian Communist Partys national secretariat in 1988, Veltroni, a professional journalist, was editor-in-chief of LUnità, the newspaper of the Democratic Party of the Left from 1992-96. He then successfully ran as candidate, together with Romano Prodi. In 1996 he joined the Bilderberg Group meeting, and was from 1996-98 Minister for Cultural Assets, in 1998 he resigned, subsequent to his election as National Secretary of the Democrats of the Left. Despite his background as a journalist, he has involved in controversial episodes related to freedom of expression. In 2001 Veltroni resigned as leader of the party after being elected Mayor of Rome, the percentage of votes that supported Veltronis second term in office was a record in local elections in Rome. Shortly before this confirmation, Veltroni had declared that he was going to leave politics at the end of his term as Mayor. In 2005, as mayor of Rome, he met in Washington, during a visit to the United States, then United States Senator, Barack Obama, being one of his earliest supporters overseas. He wrote the preface to the Italian edition of The Audacity of Hope in 2007 and has referred to as Obamas European counterpart. In June 2007, DS leader Piero Fassino publicly asked Veltroni to run for the party leadership, several other Democratic Party leading members publicly stated their support for a possible candidacy of Veltroni. Furthermore, the strongest of his possible contenders, Pier Luigi Bersani, Veltroni officially presented his candidacy for the leadership of the Democratic Party at a rally in Turin on 27 June 2007. At this occasion he introduced the four key issues his programme would address, environment, generational pact, education, and public security. Veltroni was elected as the first leader of the newly founded Democratic Party on 14 October 2007, winning a primary with around 2.6 millions of votes. Following the defeat of Prodis government in a January 2008 Senate vote, Veltroni resigned as Mayor of Rome on 13 February 2008 to concentrate on the campaign. He has been criticised for his over-frequentation of Rome socialites and advised to focus on practical problems. The Constituent Assembly of the party subsequently convened on 21 February 2009, on 28 September 2014, in Venice, Italy, the former Mayor of Rome was responsible of marrying George Clooney to Amal Alamuddin
11.
Lamberto Dini
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Lamberto Dini is an Italian politician and economist. He was the 51st Prime Minister of Italy from 1995 to 1996, then, in October 1979, he moved to the Banca dItalia, where he served as executive until May 1994. Dini scored a comeback, though, when Silvio Berlusconi formed the Berlusconi I Cabinet in May 1994, due to a split between Berlusconi and his coalition partner Umberto Bossi, the Lega Nord leader, Berlusconis government collapsed in December 1994, after a mere seven months in power. In January 1995, Dini was appointed as Prime Minister by President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Dini also took the portfolio for treasury in the cabinet and was a non-elected prime minister and minister. His cabinet was a technocratic one, in April,1996, a general election was called, in which Berlusconis House of Freedoms coalition, minus the Lega Nord, was pitted against that of Romano Prodi, The Olive Tree. Relations between Dini and Berlusconi had seriously soured by then, and Dini chose to join The Olive Tree with his own centrist party and his party has merged into Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy, a larger party formed out of several centrist parties belonging to the centre-left coalition. The May 2001 the general election was won by Berlusconi and his allies, Dini was elected to the Italian Senate, and, in this capacity, served as a delegate to the Convention in charge of drafting the European Constitution
12.
Rosy Bindi
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Maria Rosaria Bindi, best known as Rosy Bindi, is an Italian politician and the current President of the Antimafia Commission. Born in Sinalunga, she graduated in political science and she was standing near the lawyer Vittorio Bachelet when he was assassinated by the Red Brigades in 1980. She held the position of vice-president of Azione Cattolica, the most popular Italian Catholic lay association, from 1984 to 1989, the year she joined the Christian Democracy party. After the dissolution of the DC party, Bindi joined the Italian Peoples Party and became a figure in The Olive Tree. Following the coalitions victory in the 1996 general election, she was named Minister of Health, during her tenure at the Ministry of Health, through her circular Circolare Bindi del 2 dicembre 1996, electroshock therapy was re-introduced in Italy to treat psychiatrised patients. It was later corrected by Circolare Bindi del 15 February 1999 limiting use of ECT in particular cases, in the 2001 general election she was elected for the third time to the Chamber of Deputies in the college of Cortona representing Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy. After the victory of The Union in the 2006 Italian general election, she became Minister for the Family, Bindi competed for the leadership of the Democratic Party in the partys founding leadership election, and received 12. 93% of the vote cast. She continues to work for the party, leading the Democrats Really faction
13.
Giulio Andreotti
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Andreotti is widely considered the most powerful and prominent politician of the so-called First Republic. In foreign policy, he guided Italys European Union integration, admirers of Andreotti saw him as having mediated political and social contradictions, enabling the transformation of a substantially rural country into the fifth-biggest economy in the world. Critics said he had nothing against a system of patronage that had led to pervasive corruption. At the height of his prestige as a statesman, Andreotti was subjected to damaging criminal prosecutions, charged with colluding with Cosa Nostra, courts found he had broken the links by the 1980s, and ruled the case out of time. The most sensational allegation came from prosecutors in Perugia, who charged him with ordering the murder of a journalist and he was found guilty at a trial, which led to complaints that the justice system had gone mad. Definitively acquitted by the court, Andreotti remarked, Apart from the Punic Wars, for which I was too young. Andreotti served as the 41st Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and he also served as Minister of the Interior, Defence Minister and Foreign Minister and was a Senator for life from 1991 until his death in 2013. He was also a journalist and author, Andreotti was sometimes called Divo Giulio. During the 16th term of the Senate in 2008–13, he opted to join the parliamentary group UDC – independence, Giulio Andreotti, the youngest of three children, was born on 14 January 1919 in Rome. His father was a school teacher from Segni, a small town in Lazio. Andreotti attended the Liceo Torquato Tasso in Rome and graduated in Law at the University of Rome and he showed some ferocity as a youth, once stubbing out a lit taper in the eye of another altar boy who was ridiculing him. His mother was described as not very affectionate, and an aunt is said to have advised him to remember that few things in life are important, as an adult he was described as having a somewhat unusual demeanor for an Italian politician, being mild-mannered and unassuming. Andreotti did not use his influence to advance his children to prominence, see all, tolerate much, and correct one thing at a time, was a quote that emphasised what has been called his art of the possible view of politics. Andreotti was known for his discretion and retentive memory, and also a sense of humour, Andreotti did not shine at his school and started work in a tax office while studying law at the University of Rome. In this period he became a member of the Italian Catholic Federation of University Students and its members included many of the future leaders of the Italian Christian Democracy. In 1938 while researching the papal navy in the Vatican library, he met Alcide De Gasperi, De Gasperi asked Andreotti if he had nothing better to do with his time, inspiring him to become politically active. Speaking of De Gasperi, Andreotti said, He taught us to search for compromise, in July 1939, while Aldo Moro was president of FUCI, Andreotti became director of its magazine Azione Fucina. In 1942, when Moro was enrolled in the Italian Army, Andreotti succeeded him as president of FUCI, during his early years Andreotti suffered violent migraines that forced him to sporadically make use of psychoactive drugs and opiates
14.
Chamber of Deputies (Italy)
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The Chamber of Deputies is a house of the bicameral Parliament of Italy. The two houses form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical functions, but do so separately. Pursuant to article 56 of the Italian Constitution, the Chamber of Deputies has 630 seats, of which 618 are elected from Italian constituencies, Deputies are styled The Honourable and meet at Palazzo Montecitorio. Previously, the seat of the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy had been briefly at the Palazzo Carignano in Turin and the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Under the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, from 1939 to 1943, the Chamber is composed of all members meeting in session at the Montecitorio. The assembly also has the right to meetings of the Government. If required, the Government is obligated to attend the session, conversely, the Government has the right to be heard every time it requires. The term of office of the House is five years,61.2 of the Constitution, states that representatives whose term has expired shall continue to exercise their functions until the first meeting of the new Chamber. An extension of the term, provided for by art,60.2, can be enacted only in case of war. Election of members to the Chamber of Deputies is by voluntary, universal, terms last for a total of five years, unless an early dissolution of the Chamber is called by the President of the Republic, at which point a snap election is held. Unlike the Senate, which members to be 40 years of age. The current system for elections to the Chamber of Deputies has been in operation since 2015, the territory of Italy is divided into 100 constituencies electing between 3 and 9 deputies depending on their size. For each constituency, the parties designate a list of candidates, head of list candidates can run in up to 10 constituencies, if two preference votes are expressed, they must be of a different sex, otherwise, the second preference is discarded. Only parties passing a 3% minimum threshold in the first round are assigned seats, if the party receiving the plurality of the votes passes a 40% threshold, it is attributed a minimum of 340 seats. The remaining 277 seats are allocated to the other parties using the largest remainder method. This provision was however rendered null and void by a Constitutional Courts judgment in January 2017, the President of the Chamber of Deputies performs the role of speaker of the house and is elected during the first session after the election. During this time the prerogatives of speaker are assumed by the vicepresident of Chamber of Deputies of the legislature who was elected first. If two were elected simultaneously, the oldest deputy serves as president of Chamber of Deputies, the President of Chamber of Deputies has also the role of President during the Parliament joint sessions, when the upper and lower houses have to vote together
15.
Emilia-Romagna
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Emilia-Romagna is an administrative Region of Northeast Italy, comprising the historical regions of Emilia and Romagna. It has an area of 22,446 km2, and about 4.4 million inhabitants, Emilia-Romagna is one of the wealthiest and most developed regions in Europe, with the third highest GDP per capita in Italy. Bologna, its capital, has one of Italys highest quality of life indices, the name Emilia-Romagna is a legacy of Ancient Rome. Emilia derives from the via Aemilia, the Roman road connecting Rome to northern Italy, completed in 187 B. C. and named after the consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Romagna derives from Romània, the name of the Eastern Roman Empire applied to Ravenna by the Lombards when the western Empire had ceased to exist, before the Romans took control of present-day Emilia-Romagna, it had been part of the Etruscan world and then that of the Gauls. During the first thousand years of Christianity trade flourished, as did culture and religion, afterwards the University of Bologna—arguably the oldest university in Europe—and its bustling towns kept trade and intellectual life alive. After the referendum of 2006, seven municipalities of Montefeltro were detached from the Province of Pesaro, the municipalities are Casteldelci, Maiolo, Novafeltria, Pennabilli, San Leo, SantAgata Feltria and Talamello. On 20 and 29 May 2012 two powerful earthquakes hit the area and they killed at least 27 people and caused churches and factories to collapse. The 5.8 magnitude quake left 14,000 people homeless, the region of Emilia-Romagna consists of nine provinces and covers an area of 22,446 km2, ranking sixth in Italy. Nearly half of the consists of plains while 27% is hilly. The regions section of the Apennines is marked by areas of flisch, badland erosion, the mountains stretch for more than 300 km from the north to the south-east, with only three peaks above 2,000 m – Monte Cimone, Monte Cusna and Alpe di Succiso. The plain was formed by the retreat of the sea from the Po basin. Almost entirely marshland in ancient times, its history is characterised by the work of its people to reclaim. All the rivers rise locally in the Apennines except for the Po, the northern border of Emilia-Romagna follows the path of the river for 263 km. Emilia Romagna has been a populated area since ancient times. Inhabitants over the centuries have radically altered the landscape, building cities, reclaiming wetlands, all these transformations in past centuries changed the aspect of the region, converting large natural areas to cultivation, up until the 1960s. The trend then changed, and agricultural lands began giving way to residential and industrial areas, the increase of urban-industrial areas continued at very high rates until the end of the 2010s. In the same period, hilly and mountainous areas saw an increase in the registration of semi-natural areas, land use changes can have strong effects on ecological functions
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Bologna
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Bologna is the largest city of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy, located in the heart of an area of about one million. The first settlements back to at least 1000 BC. The city has been a centre, first under the Etruscans. Home to the oldest university in the world, University of Bologna, founded in 1088, Bologna is also an important transportation crossroad for the roads and trains of Northern Italy, where many important mechanical, electronic and nutritional industries have their headquarters. According to the most recent data gathered by the European Regional Economic Growth Index of 2009, Bologna is the first Italian city, Bologna is home to numerous prestigious cultural, economic and political institutions as well as one of the most impressive trade fair districts in Europe. In 2000 it was declared European capital of culture and in 2006, the city of Bologna was selected to participate in the Universal Exposition of Shanghai 2010 together with 45 other cities from around the world. Bologna is also one of the wealthiest cities in Italy, often ranking as one of the top cities in terms of quality of life in the country, after a long decline, Bologna was reborn in the 5th century under Bishop Petronius. According to legend, St. Petronius built the church of S. Stefano. After the fall of Rome, Bologna was a stronghold of the Exarchate of Ravenna in the Po plain. In 728, the city was captured by the Lombard king Liutprand, the Germanic conquerors formed a district called addizione longobarda near the complex of S. Stefano. Charlemagne stayed in this district in 786, traditionally said to be founded in 1088, the University of Bologna is widely considered to be the first university. The university originated as a centre of study of medieval Roman law under major glossators. It numbered Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarca among its students, the medical school is especially famous. In the 12th century, the families engaged in continual internecine fighting. Troops of Pope Julius II besieged Bologna and sacked the artistic treasures of his palace, in 1530, in front of Saint Petronio Church, Charles V was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement VII. Then a plague at the end of the 16th century reduced the population from 72,000 to 59,000, the population later recovered to a stable 60, 000–65,000. However, there was also great progress during this era, in 1564, the Piazza del Nettuno and the Palazzo dei Banchi were built, along with the Archiginnasio, the centre of the University
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Scandiano
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Scandiano is a town and comune in Emilia-Romagna, in the northeast part of the country of Italy, near the city of Reggio nellEmilia and the Secchia river. It had some 24,700 inhabitants as of 31 March 2009, from Scandiano The current residential settlement was founded by Fogliani Gilberto in 1262 with the construction of the Castle around which some houses developed. As a titular Duke of Modena, the current holder of the title of Marquis of Scandiano would be Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este. Notable natives of Scandiano are, Poet Matteo Maria Boiardo, whose family ruled Scandiano in the century, Biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani. Politician Romano Prodi, who served as Prime minister of Italy from 17 May 1996 to 21 October 1998, blansko, Czech Republic, since 1964 Tubize, Belgium, since 1975 Almansa, Spain, since 1989
18.
Kingdom of Italy
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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
19.
Christian Democracy (Italy)
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Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic political party in Italy. The DC was founded in 1943 as the successor of the Italian Peoples Party, which had the same symbol. The party was nicknamed the White Whale, from 1946 until 1994 the DC was the largest party in Parliament, governing in successive coalitions. It originally supported governments based on political positions, before moving to centre-left coalitions. The party was succeeded by a string of parties, including the Italian Peoples Party, the Christian Democratic Centre, the United Christian Democrats. Former Christian Democrats are also spread among other parties, including the centre-right Forza Italia and the New Centre-Right, the DC was a founding member of the European Peoples Party in 1976. The party was founded as the revival of the Italian Peoples Party, a party created in 1919 by Luigi Sturzo. In December 1945 Christian Democrat Alcide De Gasperi was appointed Prime Minister of Italy, in the 1946 general election the DC won 35. 2% of the vote. In May 1947 De Gasperi broke decisively with his Communist and Socialist coalition partners under pressure from U. S. President Harry Truman. This opened the way for a centrist coalition that included the Italian Workers Socialist Party, a centrist break-away from the PSI, as well as its allies, the PLI. In the 1948 general election the DC went on to win a victory, with the support of the Catholic Church and the United States. Under De Gasperi, major reforms were carried out in the poorer rural regions in the early postwar years, with farms appropriated from the large landowners. De Gasperi served as Prime Minister until 1953 and would die a year later. No Christian Democrat would match his longevity in office and, despite the fact that DCs share of vote was always between 38 and 43% from 1953 to 1979, the party was more and more fractious, as a result, Prime Ministers changed more frequently. From 1954 the DC was led by progressive Christian Democrats, such as Amintore Fanfani, Aldo Moro and Benigno Zaccagnini, supported by the influential left-wing factions. In 1963 the party, under Prime Minister Aldo Moro, formed a coalition with the PSI, which returned to ministerial roles after 16 years, the PSDI, similar Organic Centre-left governments became usual through the 1960s and the 1970s. From 1976 to 1979 the DC governed with the support of the PCI. Moro, who was the party leader and who had inspired the Compromise, was abducted and murdered by the Red Brigades
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The Democrats (Italy)
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The Democrats were a centrist and social-liberal political party in Italy. The party was launched in 1999 by Romano Prodi, a few months after his dismissal as Prime Minister and leader of The Olive Tree centre-left coalition, three parties merged into The Democrats, the Democratic Union, Italy of Values and The Network. Also splinters from the Italian Peoples Party joined, in 2002 The Democrats were merged into Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy, which would be merged into the Democratic Party in 2007. Clubs for Prodi and the Citizens for The Olive Tree association were organised, the Olive Tree won the election, the PPI–UD joint list obtained 6. 8% of the vote, and Prodi was sworn in as Prime Minister, at the head of the Prodi I Cabinet. After being ousted as Prime Minister and replaced by Massimo DAlema in November 1998, after a few months after the partys foundation, Prodi gave way to his close associate Arturo Parisi as president. Prodi led The Democrats to a result in the 1999 European Parliament election. Six Democratic MEPs were elected, Cacciari, Di Pietro, Rutelli, Paolo Costa, Pietro Mennea, in September Prodi was appointed President of the European Commission. Of these, all but the latter would be confirmed in Amato II Cabinet, which was formed in April 2000, in early 2000 Parisi asked the Democrats of the Left, then led by Walter Veltroni, to dissolve into a new Democratic Party. The list, which gained a success, was transformed into a party in March 2002 under the name of Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy. This party, led by Rutelli, would be merged into the Democratic Party in October 2007. Several party members were either former Christian Democrats, while others were formerly affiliated to the Italian Republican Party. The ideology of the party ranged from Prodis social Catholicism to Rutellis. At the European level, The Democrats were affiliated to the European Liberal Democrat, the party was fervently Olivist and Europeanist, while also favouring the establishment of a two-party system. The name and symbol of the party were a reference to the Democratic Party of the United States. President, Romano Prodi, Arturo Parisi Official website
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Democratic Party (Italy)
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The Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in Italy. The partys acting leader is Matteo Orfini, who replaced Matteo Renzi after his resignation in February 2017, in April–May the party will hold a leadership election and Renzi is again running for secretary. The PD was founded on 14 October 2007 upon the merger of various centre-left parties which had part of The Olive Tree list. The PDs main ideological trends are thus social democracy and the Italian Christian leftist tradition, the party has been also influenced by social liberalism, which was already present in some of the founding components of the DS and DL, and more generally by a Third Way progressivism. Following the 2013 general election and the 2014 European Parliament election, the PD was the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and the European Parliament. From 2013 the Italian government has been led by three successive Democratic Prime Ministers, Enrico Letta, Matteo Renzi, and Paolo Gentiloni. As of 2017, other than the government, Democrats head fourteen regional governments out of twenty and function as coalition partner in Tuscany. Former bigwigs include Giorgio Napolitano, Sergio Mattarella, Romano Prodi, Giuliano Amato, Massimo DAlema, Pier Luigi Bersani, Francesco Rutelli, the coalition, in alliance with the Communist Refoundation Party, won the 1996 general election and Prodi became Prime Minister. In February 1998 the PDS merged with minor parties to become the Democrats of the Left, while in March 2002 the PPI, RI. In the summer of 2003 Prodi suggested that the forces would participate in the 2004 European Parliament election with a common list. Whereas the Union of Democrats for Europe and the far-left parties refused, four parties accepted, the DS, DL, the Italian Democratic Socialists and the European Republicans Movement. They launched a joint list named United in the Olive Tree, the project was later abandoned in 2005 by the SDI. In the 2006 general election the list obtained 31. 3% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies, eight parties agreed to merge into the PD, Democrats of the Left Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy. Southern Democratic Party, Sardinia Project, European Republicans Movement, Democratic Republicans, Middle Italy, while the DL agreed to the merger with virtually no resistance, the DS experienced a more heated final congress. On 19 April 2007 approximately 75% of party members voted in support of the merger of the DS into the PD, the left-wing opposition, led by Fabio Mussi, obtained just 15% of the support within the party. A third motion, presented by Gavino Angius and supportive of the PD only within the Party of European Socialists, during and following the congress, both Mussi and Angius announced their intention not to join the PD and founded a new party called Democratic Left. On 22 May 2007 the composition of the committee of the nascent party was announced. On 18 June the committee met to decide the rules for the election of the 2,400 members of the partys constituent assembly
22.
The Olive Tree (Italy)
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The Olive Tree was a denomination used for several successive centre-left political and electoral alliances of Italian political parties from 1995 to 2007. On 21 April 1996, The Olive Tree won 1996 general election in alliance with the Communist Refoundation Party, on 9 October 1998, the Prodi I Cabinet fell when PRC left the alliance. Since 21 October 1998 The Olive Tree was the core of the led by Massimo DAlema. When DAlema became Prime Minister, it was the first time ever in Italy, on 13 May 2001, led by Francesco Rutelli, who ran in ticket with Piero Fassino, the coalition lost the general elections against Silvio Berlusconi and his House of Freedoms centre-right coalition. On 10 February 2005, the name and logo of that larger electoral coalition was presented and it comprised the Federation of The Olive Tree, the Communist Refoundation Party, the Party of Italian Communists, Italy of Values, the Federation of the Greens and other minor parties. The Democrats of the Left, Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy, also the Italian Democratic Socialist Party and The Italian Socialists had candidates in the list. DS and DL were heavily involved in the foundation of a new unitary party, the Democratic Party. This party was founded on 14 October 2007 and Walter Veltroni was elected party leader by voters in an open primary, Italy Between Europeanization and Domestic Politics. Centre-left coalition Official website of the Democratic Party Italys Olive Tree, article by The Nation
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The Union (Italy)
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The Union was an heterogenous centre-left political and electoral alliance of political parties in Italy. The Union was led by Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of Italy from April 2006 to April 2008, the Union was the direct heir of The Olive Tree coalition which represented the centre-left in the 1996 and 2001 general elections. However, The Union also included parties of the radical left, the parties which were part of the coalition for most of the time are, DS, DL and MRE contested elections as The Olive Tree federation. The Democratic Party, a merger of DS and DL, replaced its predecessor parties as a member of The Union upon its foundation in October 2007, also during that time, the SDI became the Socialist Party. As of 2005, the coalition was assumed to be led by Prodi, primary elections were a novelty in Italian politics, as the proportional system in place until the early 1990s was supposed to present sufficient variety to electors. With the new electoral system, two clear blocks emerged since 1996. The primary elections for The Union took place on 16 October 2005, the institute of primary election came under criticism from some centre-left moderates, as in their opinion it had produced a useless candidate doomed to failure. When the primary elections were first proposed, they were meant as a plebiscite for Romano Prodi. The secretary of the Communist Refoundation Party, Fausto Bertinotti, then announced he would run for the leadership, even if only to act as a symbolic candidate, after some time, more candidates were presented. The seven candidates for the leadership of The Union were, in the order in which appear on the electoral ballot, Fausto Bertinotti. Antonio Di Pietro, former prosecutor in the Mani Pulite investigation. Ivan Scalfarotto, a living in London and a blogger. The faceless candidate, formally represented in person by Simona Panzino and this was a symbolic candidate from the anti-globalization movement. Some priests close to these movements were initially suggested for the name to place on the ballots. Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, secretary of the Federation of the Greens, other than environmentalism, he had a civil rights-oriented and pacifist agenda. Romano Prodi, leader of The Olive Tree coalition, former Prime Minister of Italy, Prodi was supported by DS, DL and PdCI. Clemente Mastella, leader of the Union of Democrats for Europe, a former ally of Silvio Berlusconi, he was considered the most Catholic and centrist candidate. The primary election had been held nationwide on 16 October 2005, Most of the party leaders claimed a result of 1 million voters would be a good success for the election
24.
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
25.
London School of Economics
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The London School of Economics is a public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LSE is located in Westminster, central London, near the boundary between Covent Garden and Holborn, the area is historically known as Clare Market. The LSE has more than 10,000 students and 3,300 staff and it had a total income of £340.7 million in 2015/16, of which £30.3 million was from research grants. 155 nationalities are represented amongst LSEs student body and the school has the highest percentage of students of all British universities. Despite its name, the school is organised into 25 academic departments and institutes which conduct teaching and research across a range of legal studies, in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, the School had the highest proportion of world-leading research among research submitted of any British non-specialist university. The LSE is usually considered part of the triangle of highly research-intensive universities in southeast England. It is a member of organisations such as the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the European University Association. LSE has produced notable alumni in the fields of law, history, economics, philosophy, business, literature, media. Alumni and staff include 52 past or present heads of state or government and 20 members of the current British House of Commons. To 2016, 27% of all the Nobel Prizes in Economics have been awarded or jointly awarded to LSE alumni, current staff or former staff, LSE alumni and staff have also won 3 Nobel Peace Prizes, and 2 Nobel Prizes in Literature. Out of all European universities, LSE has educated the most billionaires according to a 2014 global census of U. S dollar billionaires, LSE graduates earn higher incomes on average than those of any other British university. The London School of Economics was founded in 1895 by Beatrice and Sidney Webb, Hutchinson, a lawyer and member of the Fabian Society, left the money in trust, to be put towards advancing its objects in any way they deem advisable. The five trustees were Sidney Webb, Edward Pease, Constance Hutchinson, William de Mattos, LSE records that the proposal to establish the school was conceived during a breakfast meeting on 4 August 1894, between the Webbs, Graham Wallas and George Bernard Shaw. The proposal was accepted by the trustees in February 1895 and LSE held its first classes in October of that year, in rooms at 9 John Street, Adelphi, in the City of Westminster. The School joined the federal University of London in 1900, and was recognised as a Faculty of Economics of the university, the University of London degrees of BSc and DSc were established in 1901, the first university degrees dedicated to the social sciences. Expanding rapidly over the years, the school moved initially to the nearby 10 Adelphi Terrace, then to Clare Market. The foundation stone of the Old Building, on Houghton Street, was laid by King George V in 1920, the 1930s economic debate between LSE and Cambridge is well known in academic circles. The dispute also concerned the question of the role
26.
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
27.
Italian general election, 1996
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A snap national general election was held in Italy on 21 April 1996 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left coalition The Olive Tree, won the election, narrowly defeating Silvio Berlusconi, Lega Nord also resented the fact that many of its MPs had switched to Forza Italia, allegedly lured by promises of more prestigious portfolios. Berlusconi remained as prime minister for a little over a month until his replacement by a technocratic government headed by Lamberto Dini. Dini had been a key minister in the Berlusconi cabinet, in the end, however, Dini was only supported by most opposition parties but not by Forza Italia and Lega Nord. Favourably to this proposal sided both, in a TV debate on 19 January 1996, Silvio Berlusconi and Democratic Party of the Left leader Massimo DAlema. Although there were problems on this theme in both coalition, in fact Gianfranco Fini and Romano Prodi wanted a snap election, not sure that the reforms would be helpful for the country. On 16 February 1996, an election was called. On 19 February 1996, the outgoing Prime Minister Lamberto Dini announced that he would run in the election with a new party allied with The Olive Tree rather than Berlusconis Pole of Freedoms, shortly after Berlusconi claimed that Dini copied our electoral programme. In the Senate The Olive Tree obtained the majority, but in the Chamber it required the support of Communist Refoundation Party. Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy,1996 Election Results, Chamber of Deputies Minister of Internal Affairs of Italy,1996 Election Results, Senate of the Republic
28.
European Parliament election, 1999
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The European Parliament Election,1999 was a European election for all 626 members of the European Parliament held across the 15 European Union member states on 10,11 and 13 June 1999. The voter turn-out was generally low, except in Belgium and Luxembourg, where voting is compulsory and this was the first such election where Austria, Finland and Sweden voted alongside other the other members, having joined in 1995 and voted separately. The next election was held in 2004, the national results as at 13 June 1999 are as follows, The EUL/NGL group picked up one seat in the election and seven in the subsequent regrouping, raising its total from 34 to 42. The PES group did badly, losing 34 of its seats in the election, the ELDR group did moderately well, picking up one seat in the election and seven in the regrouping, giving a total of 50 seats and retaining its place as the third biggest group. The European Radical Alliance were not so fortunate and slipped badly, the EPP group did well, picking up 23 seats in the election and nine in the regrouping, giving a total of 233 seats and overtaking the left to become the biggest group. The Union for Europe group slipped during the election and lost 17 seats, the group split during the regrouping, with Irelands Fianna Fáil and Portugals CDS/PP forming a new group called Union for Europe of the Nations. UEN started the Fifth Parliament with 31 MEPs, no explicitly far-right group per se was in existence immediately before or after the election. All far-right MEPs that were elected sat as Independents, the Green Group solidified its position, picking up 11 seats in the election to give it 38 MEPs. The European Free Alliance members of the ERA joined with the Green Group to create the Greens/EFA group, the I-EN group trod water, gaining six members in the election but losing five in the regrouping, leaving it with 16 members. The group was renamed Europe of Democracies and Diversities for the new Parliament, the Non-Inscrits did badly, losing 20 MEPs to the election. Disparate members tried to gain Group privilege by creating a group called the Technical Group of Independent Members, the attempt initially succeeded, with the group allowed to start the Fifth Parliament until the legal position could be checked. In September, the Constitutional Affairs Committee ruled that they lacked a coherent position and were disbanded - the only ever to be forcibly dissolved. The TGI members returned to the Non-Inscrits, increasing their number to 27, Members of the European Parliament 1999–2004 European Election Studies www. europeanelectionstudies
29.
Italian general election, 2006
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The 2006 Italian general election for the two Chambers of the Italian Parliament was held on 9 and 10 April 2006. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left coalition The Union, narrowly defeated the incumbent Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, initial exit polls suggested a victory for Prodi, but the results narrowed as the count progressed. On 11 April 2006, Prodi declared victory, Berlusconi never conceded defeat explicitly, 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. One more seat is allied with The Union and 7 more seats in the foreign constituency. The House of Freedoms had secured a majority of Senate seats elected within Italy. Even so, Berlusconi refused to concede defeat, claiming unproven fraud, the House of Freedoms was the coalition supporting the incumbent government led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and mainly included the same parties as in the previous general election. The NPSI contested the election with a joint list with the Christian Democracy for the Autonomies, on 27 October 2005, Lorenzo Cesa was appointed as new UDC secretary, becoming the successor of Follini himself. The coalition announced a system, meaning that the Prime Ministerial candidate will be the political leader, among Casini, Fini and Berlusconi. Since Berlusconis party was known to be by far the largest one, prodis candidacy was confirmed by a national primary election, held on 16 October 2005. The former coalition was enlarged in order to cover the whole ensemble of Italian centre-left to left-wing factions, however, Bobo Craxi was able to enter in the Lower House, as he was one of the leading candidates for The Olive Tree in Lombardy. The Union is also supported by a number of parties and movements. For some time, Silvio Berlusconi had challenged Romano Prodi to a debate on national television, Prodi, however, said he would accept only if certain rules had been set. Possibly because he thought he was behind in the polls, Berlusconi saw the debate as a chance to turn the tables and it is notable that, in the 2001 elections, it was Berlusconi who refused to meet the centre-left candidate, Francesco Rutelli. Two televised debates were set by the Parliamentary Committee of Inspection on RAI, however, Prodi contested the deliberation of this Committee, which allowed Berlusconi to also hold a final televised speech after the debates as Prime Minister. Prodi refused to participate in any debate until this final speech had been cancelled, the issue was resolved on 3 March, when Berlusconi finally agreed to cancel the final speech. The debates lasted about 90 minutes each, did not include commercials, and had a time for each answer and each reply. The candidates were forbidden to bring any kind of notes with them, even though they could write some down during the debate. This set of rules was very unusual in Italian political talk shows, at the end of the debates, the candidates are allowed to make a final statement of 3 minutes
30.
Iraq War
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The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 3–4 years of conflict and it became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition, the insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue. The invasion began on 20 March 2003, with the U. S. joined by the United Kingdom and several allies, launching a shock. Iraqi forces were overwhelmed as U. S. forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Baathist government, President Hussein was captured during Operation Red Dawn in December of that same year, the United States responded with a troop surge in 2007. The winding down of U. S. involvement in Iraq accelerated under President Barack Obama, the U. S. formally withdrew all combat troops from Iraq by December 2011. Select U. S. officials accused Saddam of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda, while others cited the desire to end a repressive dictatorship, after the invasion, no substantial evidence was found to verify the initial claims about WMDs. The rationale and misrepresentation of pre-war intelligence faced heavy criticism within the U. S. in the aftermath of the invasion, Iraq held multi-party elections in 2005. Nouri al-Maliki became Prime Minister in 2006 and remained in office until 2014, the al-Maliki government enacted policies that were widely seen as having the effect of alienating the countrys Sunni minority and worsening sectarian tensions. The Iraq War caused hundreds of thousands of civilian, and thousands of military casualties, the majority of casualties occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007. A1990 Frontline report on The arming of Iraq said, Officially, most Western nations participated in an arms embargo against Iraq during the 1980s. Western companies, primarily in Germany and Great Britain, but also in the United States, sold Iraq the key technology for its chemical, missile, any Western governments seemed remarkably indifferent, if not enthusiastic, about those deals. N Washington, the government consistently followed a policy which allowed and perhaps encouraged the growth of Saddam Husseins arsenal. The Western arming of Iraq took place in the context of the Iran-Iraq War, prior to September 2002, the CIA was the George W. Bush administrations main provider of intelligence on Iraq. The agency was out to disprove linkage between Iraq and terrorism the Pentagon adviser told me, the U. N. had prohibited Iraq from developing or possessing such weapons after the Gulf War and required Iraq to permit inspections confirming compliance. This was confirmed by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, during 2002, Bush repeatedly warned of military action against Iraq unless inspections were allowed to progress unfettered. In accordance with U. N. Security Council Resolution 1441, Iraq agreed to new inspections under United Nations Monitoring, as part of its weapons inspection obligations, Iraq was required to supply a full declaration of its current weapons capabilities and manufacturing
31.
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
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The mandate had to be adjusted twice, due to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. The first UNIFIL troops were deployed in the area on 23 March 1978, during the occupation, UNIFILs function was mainly to provide humanitarian aid. UNIFILs mandate is renewed by United Nations Security Council annually, the current mandate expires on 31 August 2017. During the 1982 Lebanon War, UN positions were overrun, primarily by the SLA forces under Saad Haddad and this was the Lebanese paramilitary force supported by the IDF in Southern Lebanon. In 1999, Israel undertook a withdrawal, which concluded in 2000, UNIFIL is currently deployed in Southern Lebanon and primarily along the United Nations-drawn Blue Line, which is the border between Israel and Lebanon. The forces activities have centered around monitoring military activity between Hezbollah and the Israeli Defense Forces with the aim of reducing tensions and allaying tension along the border. UNIFIL has also played an important role in clearing landmines, assisting displaced persons, under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which passed as a result of the 2006 Lebanon War, its mandate and rules of engagement changed. The mandate changed to allow up to 15,000 personnel in order to assist the Lebanese Armed Forces in deploying in Southern Lebanon to implement the Lebanese governments sovereignty. The rules of engagement changed to allow the troops to fire in certain cases, mostly in cases of self-defense but also in order to protect civilians, UN personnel and facilities. ”On 27 August 2006, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that UNIFIL would not intercept arms shipments from Syria. The Maritime Task Force is the component of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. As of February 2012, the MTF is under the command of Rear Admiral Wagner Lopes de Moraes Zamith of Brazil, the Brazilian frigate Constituição is the flagship of the fleet comprising vessels from Brazil, Bangladesh, Germany, Greece, Indonesia and Turkey. With its establishment in October 2006, the force was led by the German Navy which was also the major contributor to the force. The Germans lead the MTF up until 29 February 2008 when they passed control over to EUROMARFOR – a force made up of ships from Portugal, Spain, Italy and France. To date UNIFIL has suffered 272 fatalities,261 troops, two observers, five international civilian staff, and four local staff. Prior to the July 2006 Lebanon War, Israel had been lobbying for UNIFIL to either take an active role vis-a-vis Hezbollah or to step out of the region. Israel was concerned when it was reported that Indonesia was being considered to replace Italy as commander of UNIFILs naval force, according to the book, in 1992, two detained Lebanese men escaped from Khiam prison. Shortly afterward, Israeli Army commander Moshe Tamir visited the Norwegian battalions camp, immediately after the confrontation, the Lebanese men were smuggled onto a bus used by Norwegian peacekeepers on leave, which took them to Beirut. Hezbollah supporters have accused UNIFIL of siding with Israel, especially since the passage of Resolution 1701 which they view as one-sided
32.
2008 Italian political crisis
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On 24 January 2008 Prime Minister of Italy Romano Prodi lost a vote of confidence in the Senate by a vote of 161 to 156 votes, causing the downfall of his government. Prodis resignation led President Giorgio Napolitano to request the president of the Senate, Franco Marini, the other possibility would have been to call for early elections immediately. Marini acknowledged impossibility to form a government due to the unavailability of the centre-right parties. Prodi had at the time been in office for 20 months, in February 2007, the Prime Minister handed in his resignation, only to be asked to remain by the President, and winning a vote of confidence in the Parliament. Prodi had built his government around a coalition called The Union and this situation was in turn the result of an electoral system of proportional representation, due to legislation passed by Berlusconi three months before he lost power. When the media reported an extensive corruption investigation involving Mastella and his wife – an UDEUR politician in Campania – Mastella resigned, the decision of former Minister of Justice Mastella arrived a few days after the confirmation of the Constitutional Court which confirmed the referendum to modify the electoral system. As stated many times by Minister Mastella, if the referendum would have confirmed this would lead directly to the fall of the government. The fall of the government would disrupt a pending election-law referendum that if passed would make it harder for small parties like Mastellas to gain seats in parliament, uDEURs defection forced the question of whether Prodi still had the parliamentarian support to govern. Presenting a motion of confidence to parliament, he won easily in the lower house of the Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies. Yet a win in the upper house – or Senate – seemed unlikely, the vote, held between 3pm and 9pm, was heated and dramatic. During its course the UDEUR party Senator Stefano Cusumano decided to confirm the confidence and to support the prime minister, even against the orders of his partys leader. Cusumano was subsequently subjected to the abuse of his colleagues, being called a faggot, traitor. At this point Cusumano apparently fainted, and was carried out on a stretcher, cusumanos defection had no effect, however, Prodi lost the vote with 161 to 156 votes, and promptly handed in his resignation. On the announcement of the certain members of the opposition, including National Alliance MP Nino Strano started celebrating with champagne. On 30 January 2008, Napolitano appointed Franco Marini to try to form a government with the goal of changing the current electoral system. On 4 February, the Liberal Populars seceded from UDC to join Berlusconis People of Freedom later this year, President Napolitano summoned Bertinotti and Marini, the two speakers of the houses of the Italian parliament, acknowledging the end of the legislature, on 5 February 2008. He dissolved parliament on 6 February 2008, elections were held on 13 April and 14 April 2008, together with the administrative elections. The elections resulted in a victory for Berlusconis centre-right coalition
33.
Prodi I Cabinet
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The Prodi I Cabinet was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 17 May 1996 to 21 October 1998. On 21 April 1996, the Olive Tree won 1996 general election in alliance with the Communist Refoundation Party, the average age of the ministers was 55.9 years and 14 ministers has parliamentary experience. The number of ministers was three. The government fell in 1998 when the Communist Refoundation Party withdrew its support and this led to the formation of a new government led by Massimo DAlema as Prime Minister. There are those who claim that DAlema deliberately engineered the collapse of the Prodi government to become Prime Minister himself, as the result of a vote of no confidence in Prodis government, DAlemas nomination was passed by a single vote. Italian Government - Prodi I Cabinet
34.
Prodi II Cabinet
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The Prodi II Cabinet was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008, a total of 722 days, or 1 year,11 months and 21 days. The 59th cabinet of the Italian Republic, it was the cabinet of the XV Legislature. It was composed of 26 ministers,10 deputy-ministers and 66 under-secretaries, for a total of 102 members. Romano Prodi led his coalition to the campaign preceding the election, eventually won by a very narrow margin of 25,000 votes. Prodis appointment was delayed, as the outgoing President of the Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, ended his mandate in May. After 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 cabinet were sworn into office. Romano Prodi obtained the support for his cabinet on 19 May at the Senate, the latter was led by Clemente Mastella, former chairman of Christian Democracy. Therefore, according to critics, it was difficult to have a policy in different key areas, such as economics. In his earlier months as PM, Prodi had a key role in the creation of a peacekeeping force in Lebanon following the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. Prodis government faced a crisis over policies in early 2007, after just nine months of government, three ministers in Prodis Cabinet boycotted a vote in January to continue funding for Italian troop deployments in Afghanistan. At around the time, Justice Minister Clemente Mastella, of the coalition member UDEUR Populars. Tens of thousands of people marched in Vicenza against the expansion of Caserma Ederle, harsh debates followed in the Italian Senate on 20 February 2007. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Massimo DAlema declared during a visit in Ibiza, Spain that, without a majority on foreign policy affairs. The following day, DAlema gave a speech at the Senate representing the government, clarifying his foreign policy and asking the Senate to vote for or against it. Prodis spokesman indicated that he would agree to form a new Government if. On 22 February, centre-left coalition party leaders backed a non-negotiable list of political conditions given by Prodi as conditions of his remaining in office. President Napolitano held talks with leaders on 23 February to decide whether to confirm Prodis Government
35.
Prodi Commission
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The Prodi Commission was the European Commission in office between 1999 and 2004. The administration was led by former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, the commission took office on 13 September 1999 following the scandal and subsequent resignation of 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 member states. This commission saw in increase in power and influence following Amsterdam Treaty, some in the media described president Prodi as being the first Prime Minister of the European Union. From 1999 Prodi saw in the euro and by 2002 it came into cash form, the body was however criticised for being lacklustre, with poor communication and failing to make an impact despite major events such as enlargement and the euro. When the Commission took office in 1999, there were 20 Commissioners, one from each member state,2004 saw 15 new Commissioners,5 replacing existing Commissioners who had resigned before the end of their mandate and 10 from the new member states who joined in that year. Most of these Commissioners continued to serve in the following Barroso Commission, the members from the new states shared a portfolio with an existing member, rather than creating new posts or having Commissioners without a portfolio. The colours reflect those used in the table of Commissioners below, bolkestein Directive Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe President Prodis Website Prodi Commission profiles, portfolios and homepages
36.
Amsterdam Treaty
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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, the treaty of Amsterdam comprises 13 Protocols,51 Declarations adopted by the Conference, and 8 Declarations by Member States, plus amendments to the existing Treaties set out in 15 Articles. Article 1 amends the provisions of the Treaty on European Union and covers the CFSP and cooperation in criminal. The next four Articles amend the EC Treaty, the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty, the Euratom Treaty, the final provisions contain four Articles. The new Treaty also set out to simplify the Community Treaties, deleting more than 56 obsolete articles, by way of example, Article 189b on the codecision procedure became Article 251. The most pressing concerns of ordinary Europeans, such as their legal and personal security, immigration, in particular, the EU became responsible for legislating on immigration, civil law or civil procedure, insofar as this is necessary for the free movement of persons within the EU. At the same time, intergovernmental co-operation was intensified in the police, the Union aims to establish an area of freedom, security and justice for its citizens. The Schengen Agreements have now incorporated into the legal system of the EU. The European Council will lay down common strategies, which then be put into effect by the Council acting by a qualified majority. In other cases, some Member States may choose to abstain constructively and these provisions make the Commission more politically accountable, particularly vis-à-vis the European Parliament. Finally, the new Treaty enables, under strict conditions. The Amsterdam Treaty did not settle all institutional questions, work was still in progress on reforming the institutions to make them capable of operating effectively and democratically in a much enlarged EU. The most pressing issues were the composition of the Commission and the weighting of Member States votes upon qualified majority voting and these questions were addressed in the Treaty of Lisbon
37.
Treaty of Nice
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The Treaty of Nice was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003. It amended the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaty of Rome, 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, the Nice Treaty was attacked by many people as a flawed compromise. This was also rejected by France for similar reasons, the Treaty provided for an increase after enlargement of the number of seats in the European Parliament to 732, which exceeded the cap established by the Treaty of Amsterdam. As a transitional measure it specified that after 1 January 2005, Germany, France, the Treaty provided for the creation of subsidiary courts below the European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance to deal with special areas of law such as patents. The Treaty of Nice provides for new rules on closer co-operation, the rules introduced in the Treaty of Amsterdam being viewed as unworkable, the Treaty also contained provisions to deal with the financial consequences of the expiry of the European Coal and Steel Community treaty. Under the current rules for the amendment of the Treaties, the Treaties can only be amended by a new Treaty, which must be ratified by each of the Member States to enter into force. In all the EU member states the Treaty of Nice was ratified by parliamentary procedure, except in Ireland where, an Taoiseach, any amendments that result in a transfer of sovereignty to the European Union require a constitutional amendment. Irelands Constitution can only be amended by a referendum, to the surprise of the Irish government and the other EU member states, Irish voters rejected the Treaty of Nice in June 2001. However, many Irish voters were critical of the Treaty contents, others questioned the impact of the Treaty on Irish neutrality. The result was a 60% Yes vote on a near-50% turn-out, by then all other EU member states had ratified the Treaty. Ratification by all parties was required by the end of the year and they claim that, consequently, the treaty was vitally important for the integration and future progress of these former Eastern Bloc countries. Many people who were in favour of greater scope and power of the EU project felt that it did not go far enough and they also claimed that the Treaty of Nice would create a two-tier EU, which might marginalise Ireland. Opponents pointed out that leading pro-treaty politicians had admitted that if referendums had been held in other than Ireland. However, in the end this did not come to pass, the German regions were also demanding a clearer separation of the powers of the Union from the Member States
38.
Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe
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The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European Union. The Treaty was signed on 29 October 2004 by representatives of the then 25 member states of the European Union and it was later ratified by 18 member states, which included referendums endorsing it in Spain and Luxembourg. However the rejection of the document by French and Dutch voters in May, following a period of reflection, the Treaty of Lisbon was created to replace the Constitutional Treaty. This contained many of the changes that were placed in the Constitutional Treaty but was formulated as amendments to the existing treaties. Signed on 13 December 2007, the Lisbon Treaty entered into force on 1 December 2009, the drafting for European Constitution began in a call for a new debate on the future of Europe at the Laeken European Council in December 2001. Giscard dEstaing proposed to draft a Constitution, romano Prodi, the President of the European Commission backed a draft text, called the Penelope Project, which contained a deeper integration of the countries and a clearer institutional model. The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was signed in Rome on 29 October 2004 by 53 senior political figures from the 25 member states of the European Union. In most cases heads of state designated plenipotentiaries to sign the treaty, most designated plenipotentiaries were prime ministers and foreign ministers. On 12 January 2005 the European Parliament voted a legally non-binding resolution in support of the Constitution by 500 votes in favour to 137 votes against, before an EU treaty can enter into force, it must be ratified by all member states. Ratification takes different forms in each country, depending on its traditions, constitutional arrangements, most member states ratify EU treaties following parliamentary votes, while some — notably Ireland and Denmark — sometimes hold referendums. As a reaction to what was seen as the nature of the Constitution, many advocates. On 20 April 2004 then British prime minister Tony Blair unexpectedly announced an intention to hold a referendum, Spain was the first country to hold a referendum on the Constitution. On 20 February 2005, Spanish voters backed the treaty with 76% voting in favour to 24% against, on 29 May 2005 the French public rejected the Constitution by margin of 55% to 45% on a turnout of 69%. Just three days later, the Dutch rejected the constitution by a margin of 61% to 39% on a turnout of 62%, notwithstanding the rejection in France and the Netherlands, Luxembourg held a referendum on 10 July 2005 approving the Constitution by 57% to 43%. It was the last referendum to be held on the Constitution as all of the member states that had proposed to hold referendums cancelled them. After the French and Dutch referendum results European leaders decided to hold a period of reflection on what to do next, as part of this reflection period a group of wise men was set up to consider possible courses of action. This group of high-level European politicians – former prime ministers, ministers and members of the European Commission – first met on 30 September 2006 in Rome, on 4 June 2007, this group, known as the Amato Group, presented its report. The new treaty would be based on the first and fourth parts of the Constitution, in the June 2007 European summit meeting, Member States agreed to abandon the constitution and to amend the existing treaties, which would remain in force
39.
2004 enlargement of the European Union
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It occurred on 1 May 2004. Seven of these were part of the former Eastern Bloc, one of the former Yugoslavia, and the remaining two were Mediterranean islands and former British colonies. Part of the wave of enlargement was the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, who were unable to join in 2004. With the end of the Second World War in 1945, Europe found itself divided between a capitalist Western Bloc and a communist Eastern Bloc, as well as Third World neutral countries. The European Economic Community was created in 1957 between six countries within the Western Bloc and later expanded to countries across Europe. European communist countries had a looser economic grouping with the USSR known as Comecon, to the south there was a non-aligned communist federated country - Yugoslavia. In 1989, the Cold War between the two superpowers was coming to an end, with the USSRs influence over communist Europe collapsing. As the communist states began their transition to free market democracies, aligning to Euro-Atlantic integration, the Phare strategy was launched soon after to adapt more the structure of the Central and Eastern European countries to the European Economic Community. One of the tools of this strategy was the Regional Quality Assurance Program which started in 1993 to help the PECO States implement the New Approach in their economy. The Acquis Communautaire contained 3,000 directives and some 100,000 pages in the Official Journal of the European Union to be transposed. It demanded a lot of work and immense economic change. The Treaty of Accession 2003 was signed on 16 April 2003, at the Stoa of Attalus in Athens, Greece, the text also amended the main EU treaties, including the Qualified Majority Voting of the Council of the European Union. The treaty was ratified on time and entered force on 1 May 2004 amid ceremonies around Europe. European leaders met in Dublin for fireworks and a ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin. At the same time, citizens across Ireland enjoyed a nationwide celebration styled as the Day of Welcomes,1 EU Association Agreement type, Europe Agreement for the states of the Fifth Enlargement. As of May 2011, there are no longer any restrictions on the free movement of citizens of these new member states. With their original accession to the EU, free movement of people between all 25 states would naturally have applied, however, due to concerns of mass migration from the new members to the old EU-15, some transitional restrictions were put in place. Mobility within the EU-15 and within the new states functioned as normal, No restrictions were placed on Cyprus or Malta
listen); born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician who served as the 10th President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 17 May 1996 to 21 October 1998 and then from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008,[1][2] he is considered the founder of the Italian centre-left and one of the most prominent and iconic figures of the so-called Second Republic. Prodi is often nicknamed Il Professore ("The Professor") due to his academic career.[3]
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Albania: Received a copy of the key of the city of Tirana on the occasion of his state visit to Albania.[74]
Italy : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic – 2 June 1993
Poland : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland – 1997
Spain : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic – 1998
Romania : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania – 2000
Latvia : Order of the Three Stars, 1st Class – 2007
Japan : Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon – 2012[75]
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