Walter_Veltroni

Walter Veltroni

Walter Veltroni

Italian politician (born 1955)

Walter Veltroni OMRI (Italian pronunciation: [ˈvalter velˈtroːni]; born 3 July 1955) is an Italian writer, film director, journalist, and politician. He served as the first leader of the Democratic Party within the Italian centre-left opposition until his resignation on 17 February 2009.[1] He also served as mayor of Rome from June 2001 to February 2008.

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Early life and family

Veltroni was born in Rome. His father, Vittorio Veltroni, an eminent RAI manager in the 1950s, died one year after his birth.[2] His mother, Ivanka Kotnik, was the daughter of Ciril Kotnik, a Slovenian diplomat at the Holy See who helped numerous Jews and anti-fascists to escape Nazi persecution after 1943.[3]

Political career

Veltroni joined the Italian Communist Youth Federation (FGCI) at the age of 15, and was elected Rome city councillor in 1976 as member of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), serving until 1981. He was then elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1987. As a member of the PCI's national secretariat in 1988, he played a leading role in the transformation into a social democratic party.[citation needed]

Veltroni, a professional journalist, was editor-in-chief of L'Unità, the newspaper of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) from 1992 to 1996. He then ran as one of the leading members of The Olive Tree coalition in the 1996 Italian general election. After The Olive Tree's victory, he served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister for Cultural Assets and Activities from 1996 to 1998, joining 25 other PDS members in cabinet, which was the first former PCI members to take part in government since 1947. Also in 1996, he joined the Bilderberg Meeting. In 1998, he resigned, subsequent to his election as National Secretary of the Democrats of the Left (DS). Despite his background as a journalist, he has been involved in controversial episodes related to freedom of expression. For example, in 2001, after the late night show Satyricon aired an interview that discussed indictments on links between the right-wing leader and the mafia, Marco Travaglio reported that Veltroni dispatched a messenger menacing the closure of the show.[4]

Mayor of Rome

In 2001, Veltroni resigned as leader of the party after being elected mayor of Rome. In May 2006, Veltroni was confirmed mayor of Rome, easily defeating Gianni Alemanno, a former Minister of Agriculture and then a member of National Alliance, obtaining an unprecedented 61.4% of the valid votes against the 37.1% achieved by Alemanno. The percentage of votes that supported Veltroni's 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 second term as mayor.[citation needed] In 2005, as mayor of Rome, he met in Washington during a visit to the United States the then United States senator Barack Obama,[5] being one of his earliest supporters overseas.[6] He wrote the preface to the Italian edition of The Audacity of Hope in 2007,[7] and has been referred to as "Obama's European counterpart".[8]

By 2007, Veltroni was widely considered one of the most popular centre-left politicians in Italy, and often singled out for the leadership of the Democratic Party (PD), despite his statements that he would not accept such position after his tenure as mayor would end. In June 2007, DS leader Piero Fassino publicly asked Veltroni to run for the party leadership, offering support from all of his party. Several other PD leading members publicly stated their support for a possible candidacy of Veltroni. Furthermore, the strongest of his possible contenders, Pier Luigi Bersani, which polls showed as having a 50% support in regions of Central and Northern Italy,[9] withdrew to avoid a "confusing candidacy".[10] Veltroni officially presented his candidacy for the leadership of the PD 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.[11]

Leader of the Democratic Party

Veltroni during the electoral campaign in April 2008

Veltroni was elected as the first leader of the newly founded PD on 14 October 2007, winning an open primary with around 2.6 million votes, or 75.8%.[12] In 2007, Veltroni had some remarks against the Romanian immigrants, claiming that Italy has become "unlivable" since Romania joined the European Union,[13] while before its entry Rome was "the safest city in the world", bringing accusations of xenophobia from the Romanian press.[14]

Following the 2008 Italian political crisis that lead to the defeat of Romano Prodi's government in a January vote in the Senate of the Republic,[15] Veltroni led the PD into the 2008 Italian general election on 13–14 April 2008. Veltroni resigned as mayor of Rome on 13 February 2008 to concentrate on the campaign.[16] He was criticized for his overfrequentation of Rome socialites, and was advised to focus on more practical problems.[17]

On 17 February 2009, following clashes within the party and only a day after a heavy defeat of the PD in the 2009 Sardinian regional election,[18] Veltroni announced his immediate resignation from his leadership post.[1] The Constituent Assembly of the party subsequently convened on 21 February 2009 and elected Veltroni's former deputy Dario Franceschini as the new secretary.[19]

Public image

On 28 September 2014, in Venice, Italy,[20][21][22] Veltroni was responsible of marrying George Clooney to Amal Alamuddin.[22][23] The wedding was widely reported in the media.[24]

Awards

In 2003, Veltroni received an honoris causa degree in Public Services by the John Cabot University of Rome. In 2006, hereceived the title of Cavaliere di Gran Croce (Knight of the Grand Cross) from the then Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. He won the America Award of the Italy-USA Foundation in 2009.[25]

Works

Veltroni has written a number of books on various topics, such as music, social issues, fiction, biographies, and politics.

  • 1977 – Il PCI e la questione giovanile ("The PCI and the Youth Issue")
  • 1978 – A dieci anni dal '68. Intervista con Achille Occhetto ("Ten Years Since 1968: Interview with Achille Occhetto")
  • 1981 – Il sogno degli anni sessanta ("The Dream of the Sixties")
  • 1982 – Il calcio è una scienza da amare ("Football Is a Science to Be Loved")
  • 1990 – Io e Berlusconi (e la Rai) ("Me and Berlusconi (and RAI)")
  • 1992 – I programmi che hanno cambiato l'Italia ("Programs that Changed Italy")
  • 1992 – Il sogno spezzato. Le idee di Robert Kennedy ("The Broken Dream: The ideas of Robert Kennedy")
  • 1992 – La sfida interrotta. Le idee di Enrico Berlinguer ("The Interrupted Challenge: The ideas of Enrico Berlinguer")
  • 1994 – Certi piccoli amori ("Certain Small Loves")
  • 1995 – La bella politica (interview book) ("Politics, the Beautiful")
  • 1997 – Certi piccoli amori 2 ("Certain Small Loves 2")
  • 1997 – Governare da sinistra ("To Govern from the Left")
  • 2000 – I care. Con videocassetta ("I Care: With Videotape")
  • 2000 – Forse Dio è malato. Diario di un viaggio africano ("Perhaps God Is Sick: Diary of an African journey")
  • 2003 – Il disco del mondo. Vita breve di Luca Flores, musicista ("The Disc of the World: Short Life of Luca Flores, the Musician")
  • 2004 – Senza Patricio ("Without Patricio")
  • 2006 – La scoperta dell'alba ("Discovery of the Dawn")
  • 2007 – Preface to Barack Obama, L'audacia della speranza (The Audacity of Hope)
  • 2009 – Noi ("We")
  • 2019 – Assassinio a Villa Borghese ("Murder at Villa Borghese" )
  • 2024 – La Condanna ("The Sentence")

Filmography

Film director

  • 2014 – Quando c'era Berlinguer ("When Berlinguer Was There")
  • 2015 – I bambini sanno ("Children Know")
  • 2016 – Gli occhi cambiano ("Eyes Change")
  • 2017 – Indizi di felicità ("Clues to Happiness")
  • 2018 – Tutto davanti a questi occhi ("All Before These Eyes")
  • 2019 – C'è tempo ("There Is Time")

Electoral history

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  1. Elected in a closed list proportional representation system

First-past-the-post elections

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References

  1. [1]
    "Italian opposition leader resigns". BBC News. 17 February 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  2. [2]
    Maggiore, Laura (27 June 2007). "Chi è Walter Veltroni. Non solo politico". AteneOnline (in Italian). Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
  3. [3]
    Testimony of the rabbi S. Sorani in the book: Robert G. Weisbord & Wallace P. Sillanpoa, The Chief Rabbi, the Pope, and the Holocaust: An Era in Vatican-Jewish Relations 1992, p. 64
  4. [4]
    Travaglio, Marco; Daniele Luttazzi (8 November 2001). "Intervista a Daniele Luttazzi su La Repubblica" (in Italian). La Repubblica di Torino. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 22 June 2007. Dopo quella puntata famosa di Satyricon, Veltroni mandò un emissario alla mia regista per dire che, se non-la smettevamo di fare casino, ci chiudevano loro
  5. [5]
    Scherer, Steve (12 September 2007). "Rome Mayor's Leadership Bid May Lead to Early Italian Elections". Archived from the original on 29 May 2010.
  6. [6]
    Giuseppe, Pullara (30 April 2005). "Il politico prevale sull' amministratoreIl politico prevale sull' amministratore". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Archived from the original on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  7. [7]
    Libreria Rizzoli Galleria[permanent dead link], libreriarizzoli.it; accessed 29 June 2015.(in Italian)
  8. [8]
    Obama's European counterparts, Los Angeles Times; accessed 29 June 2015.
  9. [9]
    "Pd: Letta-Bersani volano nel Nord in sondaggi riservati". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  10. [10]
    "RaiNews24 – Bersani rinuncia alla segreteria del Pd. "La mia candidatura avrebbe disorientato"". Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  11. [11]
    "Italy's Left Looks Beyond Prodi". The Guardian. London. 27 June 2007. Archived from the original on 30 January 2008. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  12. [12]
    "Rome Mayor Set to Win Left's Leadership". Associated Press. 14 October 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2007.[dead link]
  13. [13]
    "Romanian actress battles racism in Italy", The Independent, 10 October 2008
  14. [14]
    (in Romanian) "Romanii din afara granitelor – Cine le apara interesele?" Archived 19 October 2007 at archive.today, 22, vol. 15, no. 928; 18 December 2007
  15. [15]
    Elisabeth Rosenthal, "With Flawed System Unchanged, Italy Sets Elections for April", The New York Times, 7 February 2008.
  16. [16]
    Steve Scherer, "Veltroni Resigns as Rome Mayor to Take on Berlusconi (Update1)", Bloomberg.com, 13 February 2008.
  17. [17]
    "La dolce vita revisited: Rome's new emperor". The Independent. London. 9 July 2007. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 9 July 2007.
  18. [18]
    Berlusconi's candidate wins elections in Sardinia
  19. [19]
    "Italy's Left gets new leader". France 24. 21 February 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
  20. [20]
    Kington, Tom (27 September 2014). "George Clooney Marries in Venice Ceremony". Sky News. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  21. [21]
    Oldenburg, Ann; Puente, Maria (27 September 2014). "George Clooney, Amal Alamuddin marry in Venice". USA Today. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  22. [22]
    Fornasier, Claudia (15 September 2014). "George, sì davanti a Veltroni". Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  23. [23]
    Squires, Nick (15 September 2014). "George Clooney 'to be married by ex-Rome mayor'". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  24. [24]
    Squires, Nick (29 September 2014). "George Clooney's wedding to Amal Alamuddin finally ends". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  25. [25]
    "2009 America Prize Ceremony at the Deputies Chamber". Italy-USA Foundation (in Italian).
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