Italian politician (born 1951)
Pier Luigi Bersani
(
Italian pronunciation:
[?pj?r
lu?iːd?i
ber?saːni]
; born 29 September 1951) is an Italian politician and was
Secretary
of the
Democratic Party
(PD), Italy's leading
centre-left
party, from 2009 to 2013. Bersani was
Minister of Industry, Commerce and Craftmanship
from 1996 to 1999,
President of Emilia-Romagna
from 1993 to 1996,
Minister of Transport
from 1999 to 2001, and
Minister of Economic Development
from 2006 to 2008.
Early life
[
edit
]
Pier Luigi Bersani was born on 29 September 1951 in
Bettola
, a mountain municipality in
Nure
Valley, in the
province of Piacenza
,
Emilia-Romagna
region,
Italy
. His father was a mechanic and a gas station clerk. After earning his high-school degree in
Piacenza
, Bersani enrolled in the
University of Bologna
where he graduated in philosophy with a dissertation on
Pope Gregory I
. He married Daniela in 1980, and he has two daughters: Elisa and Margherita. After a short experience as a teacher he committed his life to politics and public administration.
[1]
Political career
[
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]
Early political career
[
edit
]
Bersani joined the
Italian Communist Party
and subsequently the
Democratic Party of the Left
. As member of the National Secretariat of the Democrats of the Left, he was responsible for the economic sector. As a young man, he became Vice-President of the Mountain Community of
Piacenza
, then elected in the
Regional Council
of
Emilia-Romagna
region
and Vice-President of Emilia-Romagna in 1990; he was President of Emilia-Romagna from 1993 to 1996.
Centre-left cabinets (1996?2001)
[
edit
]
After the
general election of 1996
he was
Minister of Industry, Commerce and Craftmanship
(1996?1999) and
Minister of Transports
(1999?2001) in the centre-left cabinets of
Prodi
,
D'Alema
,
Amato
.
European Parliament (2004?2006)
[
edit
]
In 2004, he was elected to the
European Parliament
representing the
North-West
region for the
Democrats of the Left
, part of the
Socialist Group
, and sat on the
European Parliament
's
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
. He was a substitute for the
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection
, a member of the Delegation to the
European Union
-
Kazakhstan
, EU-
Kyrgyzstan
and EU-
Uzbekistan
Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for relations with
Tajikistan
,
Turkmenistan
and
Mongolia
, and a substitute for the Delegation for relations with
Belarus
. He left the European Parliament on his re-election to the Chamber of Deputies in 2006, and he was appointed as Minister of Economic Development in the government of Prime Minister
Romano Prodi
on 17 May 2006.
Prodi II Cabinet (2006?2008)
[
edit
]
Bersani at the
Festa de l'Unita
, the official festival of the
Democratic Party
The
Prodi II Cabinet
assigned Bersani, as the Minister of Economic Development, the task of introducing reforms aimed at achieving increased market liberalization and competition. The minister responded with Decree Law 223 of 30 June 2006, later converted into Law 248/2006, popularly known as the "Bersani 1" decree on taxi drivers and pharmacies, although it also addressed other sectors. In 2021, Bersani said that
economic liberalization
does not mean entrusting everything to the market, which he describes as
liberismo
, right-wing, and distinct. In his view, liberalization means defending the common citizen from the market and ensuring that there are no dominant positions.
[2]
The government's policy of competition and liberalization would not to stop there. "Bersani 1" was followed by "Bersani 2" (decree 7 of 31 January 2007, converted into Law 40 of 2 April 2007), and then by a series of bills for the liberalization of the professions and television broadcasting, local public services, and energy, as well as the reduction and simplification of times and procedures for the start up of new businesses. Another bill proposed to rationalize the jurisdictions of the regulatory authorities, modifying and reinforcing their powers, particularly with regard to competition. Still another bill would introduce and regulate the judicial procedures for class action lawsuits.
[3]
Secretary of the Democratic Party of Italy (2009?2013)
[
edit
]
On 25 October 2009, Bersani defeated incumbents
Dario Franceschini
and
Ignazio Marino
in the Democratic Party
leadership election
, thus becoming Italy's main opposition leader, scoring 55.1% among party members.
[4]
Since 7 November 2009, as decided by the National Assembly, Pier Luigi Bersani officially took office as Secretary of the Democratic Party of Italy.
[5]
He defeated the mayor of Florence
Matteo Renzi
in the 2012 primary election.
[6]
2013 elections
[
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]
Before the
2013 Italian general election
, the Democratic Party was ahead but at "the beginning of the year, Bersani’s party was above 40%, and former
centre-right
Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi
was hovering around 25%. By the time [reported] polling stopped [a week before the vote], the right was up to 30% and the left down to 35%. Outgoing appointed-technocrat Prime Minister
Mario Monti
's
centrist
party-coalition was at less than 15% of the vote and the protest Five-Star Movement led by comedian
Beppe Grillo
was getting more than 15%".
[7]
In the general elections on 24?25 February 2013, as a consequence of the electoral system the PD-led centre-left coalition,
Italy Common Good
, took a small absolute majority in the lower house. In most of the rest of Europe, this would have been enough to make Bersani Prime Minister. However, the coalition failed to gain a majority in the Senate. Unlike in most parliamentary systems, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate have equal power, and Italian governments must maintain the confidence of both chambers in order to stay in office. Bersani said he would try to form a government with the informal support of
Five Star Movement
.
Anna Finocchiaro
, PD's leader in the Senate, confirmed the likelihood PD would not form a new coalition with Berlusconi's
centre-right coalition
.
[8]
On 22 March President
Giorgio Napolitano
asked Bersani to form a new government.
[9]
On 27 March Bersani failed to strike a deal for forming a new Italian government with the grassroots Five-Star Movement (M5S) which held the balance of power after February's inconclusive elections.
[
citation needed
]
On 19 April Bersani announced he would be stepping down from his post as Democratic Party leader after
Romano Prodi
failed to secure a parliamentary majority in
the presidential election
.
[10]
Other activities
[
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]
In 2001, Bersani co-founded with
Vincenzo Visco
the
NENS
("New Economy, New Society") think tank.
[11]
He is also chairman of the
Nuova Romea
Society that was established in 2002 with the objective of the development of
Emilia-Romagna
and
Veneto
territories.
Electoral history
[
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]
First-past-the-post elections
[
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]
Honours
[
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
(in Italian)
Pier Luigi Bersani biografia
Archived
21 February 2013 at the
Wayback Machine
, Partito Democratico webpage. Content confirmed via
Google Translate
20 February 2013.
- ^
Minotti, Gabriele (9 November 2021).
"Bersani, Calenda e il liberismo"
.
L'Opinione delle Liberta
(in Italian).
Archived
from the original on 9 November 2021
. Retrieved
30 January
2023
.
- ^
Bruno Costi (2007).
"Survey of Economic and Financial Policy Measures"
(PDF)
.
UniCredit
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2 March 2012
. Retrieved
8 January
2010
.
- ^
(in Italian)
I dati definitivi dei congressi di circolo ? Partito Democratico
Archived
16 July 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Pd, Bersani proclamato segretario "Adesso prepariamo l'alternativa"
"
.
La Repubblica
(in Italian). 11 July 2009
. Retrieved
11 July
2009
.
- ^
Coppola, Alessio (1 June 2022).
"Pier Luigi Bersani, la biografia del politico italiano"
.
True News.
(in Italian)
. Retrieved
3 June
2022
.
- ^
Lynn, Matthew
,
"Watch out, Berlusconi could crash the markets"
,
MarketWatch
, 20 February 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
- ^
Delamaide, Darrell,
"Bersani's weak win in Italy may be his strength"
,
MarketWatch
, 26 February 2013. Retrieved February 2013.
- ^
"Italy's Bersani tapped to form new government"
. Deutsche Welle. 22 March 2013
. Retrieved
22 March
2013
.
- ^
Italy center-left leader Bersani quits after vote debacle
Reuters.
19 April 2013. Accessed 20 April 2013
- ^
"NENS Official Website"
. Nens.it. Archived from
the original
on 28 January 2013
. Retrieved
7 January
2013
.
- ^
"Legion D'onore Al Ministro Bersani"
.
Staffetta Quotidiana
(From the print archives of the daily). 2010 [1999-10-29].
ISSN
2499-5924
. Retrieved
22 July
2022
.
- ^
"Bersani promuove il governo su Fincantieri, ma lo boccia su Tim"
.
Huffington Post
(in Italian). 3 August 2017. Archived from
the original
on 8 August 2017.
External links
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