Lamberto Dini

Lamberto Dini CGMG (born 1 March 1931)[1] is an Italian politician and economist. He was the 51st Prime Minister of Italy from 1995 to 1996 and Foreign Minister from 1996 to 2001.

Lamberto Dini

GCMG
Prime Minister of Italy
In office
17 January 1995  17 May 1996
PresidentOscar Luigi Scalfaro
Preceded bySilvio Berlusconi
Succeeded byRomano Prodi
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
17 May 1996  11 June 2001
Prime MinisterRomano Prodi
Massimo D'Alema
Giuliano Amato
Preceded bySusanna Agnelli
Succeeded byRenato Ruggiero
Minister of Justice
In office
19 October 1995  16 February 1996
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byFilippo Mancuso
Succeeded byVincenzo Caianiello
Minister of the Treasury
In office
10 May 1994  17 May 1996
Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi
Himself
Preceded byPiero Barucci
Succeeded byCarlo Azeglio Ciampi
Director General of the Bank of Italy
In office
8 October 1979  11 May 1994
DeputyMario Sarcinelli
Alfredo Persiani Acerbo
Cannelo Oteri
Antonio Fazio
Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa
Vincenzo Desario
Preceded byCarlo Azeglio Ciampi
Succeeded byVincenzo Desario
Member of the Senate
In office
30 May 2001  14 March 2013
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
9 March 1996  29 May 2001
Personal details
Born
Lamberto Dini

(1931-03-01) 1 March 1931
Florence, Tuscany, Kingdom of Italy
NationalityItalian
Political partyItalian Renewal
(1996–2002)
The Daisy
(2002–2007)
Liberal Democrats
(2007–2009)
The People of Freedom
(2009–2013)
Spouse(s)Donatella Pasquali Zingone
ResidenceRome, Lazio, Italy
Alma materUniversity of Florence
University of Minnesota
University of Michigan
ProfessionEconomist
Signature

Early life and career

After studying Economics in his native city of Florence, Dini took up a post at the International Monetary Fund in 1959, where he worked his way up until he served as Executive Director for Italy, Greece, Portugal and Malta between 1976 and 1979. Then, in October 1979, he moved to the Banca d'Italia, where he served as executive until May 1994. When the Governor of the Bank of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, with whom Dini had developed a rivalry, was called upon to serve as Prime Minister in April 1993, Dini was widely tipped to succeed him, but was passed over (allegedly on Ciampi's instigation) in favour of Antonio Fazio.

Dini scored a comeback, though, when Silvio Berlusconi formed the Berlusconi I Cabinet in May 1994, in which Dini served as Treasury Minister.[2] Due to a split between Berlusconi and his coalition partner Umberto Bossi, the Lega Nord leader, Berlusconi's 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.[3] Dini also took the portfolio for treasury in the cabinet and was a non-elected prime minister and minister.[2] Though he was not noted as a left-winger, he was given the confidence vote of the left-wing parties (apart from the Communist Refoundation Party) and by Lega Nord, whereas his erstwhile partners in the right-wing government chose to abstain whilst citing benevolence. His cabinet was a technocratic one.[4]

The Olive Tree

In April 1996 a general election was called, in which Berlusconi's 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, Italian Renewal. Dini was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies, and served for the entire term as Minister of Foreign Affairs in four successive centre-left governments, under Prodi, Massimo D'Alema in two separate, successive cabinets, and finally Giuliano Amato.

His party has merged into 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 (including, once again, Lega Nord), which led to Berlusconi forming his second government in June. 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 (February 2002 – July 2003).

The People of Freedom

In September 2007, a month before Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy merged with the Democrats of the Left to form the new big tent centre-left Democratic Party, Dini broke away from The Daisy to form the Liberal Democrats, a new incarnation of Italian Renewal. As protagonist of the defeat of the government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi in a January 2008 Senate vote, in view of the 2008 Italian general election Dini joined The People of Freedom, the newly created Italian liberal-conservative party led by Silvio Berlusconi.

Honours

In 2000 during a state visit in the United Kingdom he was awarded with an honorary knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George.[5] On 29 April 2009, the Japanese government announced that it awarded Dini the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun; the honour was presented to him by the Emperor and the Japanese Prime Minister in a formal ceremony in May 2009.[6]

Foreign Honours

 United Kingdom:

References

  1. Profile of Lamberto Dini
  2. Maria Green Cowles (2001). Transforming Europe: Europeanization and Domestic Change. Cornell University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-8014-8671-5. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  3. Bohlen, Celestine (14 January 1995). "Italy Names Banker With No Party Ties New Prime Minister". The New York Times. p. 1.
  4. Barry, Colleen (13 December 2012). "Europe shrugs at Berlusconi's political ambitions". Huffington Post. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  5. Japan Today Archived 2011-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
Government offices
Preceded by
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
Director General of the Bank of Italy
1979–1994
Succeeded by
Vincenzo Desario
Political offices
Preceded by
Piero Barucci
Minister of the Treasury
1994–1996
Succeeded by
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
Preceded by
Silvio Berlusconi
Prime Minister of Italy
1995–1996
Succeeded by
Romano Prodi
Preceded by
Filippo Mancuso
Minister of Justice
Acting

1995–1996
Succeeded by
Vincenzo Caianiello
Preceded by
Felipe González
President of the Council of European Union
1996
Succeeded by
Romano Prodi
Preceded by
Susanna Agnelli
Minister of Foreign Affairs
1996–2001
Succeeded by
Renato Ruggiero
Party political offices
New political party Leader of Italian Renewal
1996–2002
Position abolished
President of Liberal Democrats
2007–2008
Succeeded by
Daniela Melchiorre
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