Gianfranco Fini
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| Onorevole Gianfranco Fini |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office April 30, 2008 |
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| Preceded by | Fausto Bertinotti |
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| In office 18 November 2004 – 17 May 2006 |
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| Prime Minister | Silvio Berlusconi |
| Preceded by | Franco Frattini |
| Succeeded by | Massimo D'Alema |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office July 12, 1983 |
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| Constituency | XI - Emilia Romagna |
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| Born | January 3, 1952 Bologna Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Political party | People of Freedom |
| Spouse | Daniela Di Sotto 1988 - 2007 |
| Children | Giuliana Fini Carolina Fini |
| Residence | Rome |
| Alma mater | La Sapienza |
| Profession | Journalist Politician |
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (May 2008) |
Gianfranco Fini (born January 3, 1952) is an Italian politician, current leader of the National Alliance, and former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Silvio Berlusconi.
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[edit] Early years
Fini was born in Bologna, and attended Istituto Laura Bassi in the same city as a child. Fini recounts first gaining an interest in politics at sixteen when he saw the John Wayne film The Green Berets. Fini went on to study at La Sapienza, where he received a degree in psychology.
[edit] Political life
Fini was first elected as a representative to the Chamber of Deputies on June 26, 1983 as a member of the rightist Italian Social Movement. He would later serve as the party's national secretary from December 1987 to January 1990 and again from July 1991 to January 1995. During his time as as national secretary, he famously established the MSI as disctntly pro-fascist, with a number of such famous polemical statements, including: "Dear comrades, MSI claims its right to refer to fascism" (1988), "We are fascists, the heirs of fascism, the fascism of year 2000" (1991), "After almost half a century, fascism is ideally alive" (1992), "There are phases where freedom is not among the key values" (1994), " Mussolini has been the greatest italian statesman of the twentieth century” , “Fascism has a tradition of honesty, correctness and good government” (1994).[1] .
Towards the end of the 1990s he gradually began to move the ISM away from its neo-fascist ideology to a conservative political agenda. Some members left, but most remained, and in 1994, Fini merged the MSI-DN with conservative elements of the disbanded Christian Democrats to form National Alliance.
In January 1995, at a National Alliance conference in Fiuggi he was officially elected president of the newly-formed party, a position he has held since. The conference became known as "la svolta di Fiuggi" (the turning point at Fiuggi) in Italian political parlance.
Fini and his party have been part of Berlusconi's right-wing House of Freedoms coalition which won the 1994 and 2001 parliamentary election. Fini became deputy prime minister in 2001 and foreign minister in November 2004.
From February of 2002 to 2006, he represented the Italian Government at the European Convention.
Following the April 2008 general election, Fini was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies on April 30, 2008 on the fourth ballot, receiving 355 votes.
[edit] Controversies
- On January 29, 2006, after the approval by the Senate of the Fini-sponsored drug bill (equiparation of marijuana to class 1 drugs such as heroin or cocaine for dealers and fines for consumption) Fini, guest on the popular TV-Show Che tempo che fa, hosted by Fabio Fazio, admitted to having smoked marijuana while on vacation in Jamaica[2].
- On May 4, 2008, Fini talked about an unprovoked assault carried out by some naziskin in Verona that killed the young Nicola Tommasoli, and about Israeli flags burnt by protesters during the manifestation of May 1, 2008 in Torino. Fini, after saying that these are "not comparable phenomena," argued that "the episode of Torino is much more serious because it is not the first time that fringes of the radical left give life to actions against Israel who seek to justify a policy with anti -sionism", stirring up controversy and criticism reactions among politicians and national media[3].
[edit] References
- ^ Cited by Corrado De Cesare, Il fascista del Duemila. Le radici del camerata Gianfranco Fini, Kaos Edizioni, 1995, ISBN 8879530461)
- ^ Fini si confessa in diretta: quando ero in Giamaica mi sono fatto uno spinello
- ^ RaiNews24 - Verona, morto Nicola. Fini: "Piu' gravi i fatti di Torino", insorge la sinistra
[edit] External links
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Franco Frattini |
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister 2004–2006 |
Succeeded by Massimo D'Alema |
| Preceded by Fausto Bertinotti |
President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies 2008-present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Assembly seats | ||
| Preceded by Title jointly held |
Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Legislatures IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI 1983 - present |
Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Giorgio Almirante |
Secretary of the Italian Social Movement 1987 - 1990 |
Succeeded by Pino Rauti |
| Preceded by Pino Rauti |
Secretary of the Italian Social Movement 1991 - 1995 |
Succeeded by Party Dissolved |
| Preceded by New Party |
President of National Alliance 1995 - present |
Incumbent |
| Order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Renato Schifani President of the italian Senate |
Italian order of precedence President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies |
Succeeded by Silvio Berlusconi Prime Minister of Italy |
