Il Professore became prime minister and European Commission president
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| Romani Prodi was twice Italy's prime minister |
Romano Prodi, who has twice served as prime minister of
Italy, was born on this day in 1939 in Scandiano in Emilia-Romagna.
A former academic, who was nicknamed Il Professore by the Italians, Prodi was also president of the
European Commission from 1999 to 2004.
Prodi graduated from the Catholic University in Milan in
1961 and studied as a postgraduate at the London School of Economics.
After moving up to become professor of economics at Bologna
University, Prodi served the Italian government as minister for industry in
1978.
In 1996 after two productive stints as chairman of the
Institute for Industrial Reconstruction, Prodi set his sights on becoming
Italy’s prime minister and built a centre-left base of support known as the
Olive Tree coalition.
While Silvio Berlusconi used television to campaign, Prodi
went on a five-month bus tour round Italy, calling for more accountability in
government. His approach appealed to the voters and his coalition won by a
narrow margin.
Prodi was appointed prime minister of Italy for the first
time on May 17, 1996.
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| Silvio Berlusconi twice lost out to Prodi in Italian elections |
He remained prime minister for two years and four months,
during which time he privatised telecommunications and reformed the
government’s employment and pension policies. He significantly reduced the
budget deficit to facilitate the country’s acceptance into the European
Monetary Union, a task that had seemed impossible before he took office.
When he lost support from left-wing members of his coalition
following disputes over the country’s proposed budget, he had to resign in
October 1998.
The following year Prodi was appointed president of the
European Commission after the entire 20-member commission was forced to resign
following charges of widespread fraud and corruption.
During his five-year term, the EU expanded beyond its
western European roots to include Malta, Cyprus and eight other countries.
After his term as president of the European Commission ended
in 2004, Prodi returned to Italian politics and campaigned to become prime
minister again in 2006, pledging to improve the country’s ailing economy and
withdraw troops from Iraq.
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| Prodi with his wife, Flavia Franzoni |
Prodi’s centre-left coalition won a narrow victory over
Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right group. Berlusconi initially contested the
results but resigned in May 2006.
Prodi’s second term in office lasted one year and eight
months until he resigned in January 2008 after losing a confidence vote.
Later that year, Prodi was selected to become president of
the African Union-UN peace keeping panel. He is currently serving as the UN
Special Envoy for the Sahel.
Prodi has received 20 honorary degrees from institutions in
Italy and throughout the rest of the world.
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| Prodi shares his home town of Scandiano with the biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani, whose statue in the main square |
Travel tip:
Scandiano, where Romano Prodi was born, is in the province
of Reggio Emilia in Emilia-Romagna. The town was founded in 1262 when a
defensive castle was built and houses later developed round it. Scandiano was
ruled by the princes of Este between 1645 and 1796. The current holder of the
title of Marquis of Scandiano is Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of
Austria-Este, who is also the Duke of Modena. Since the 1960s the town has been
an important centre for the production of tiles.
Travel tip:
Romano Prodi and his wife, Flavia, had two sons, Giorgio and
Antonio. The family still lives in Bologna, where Prodi used to teach at the
University. Bologna has the oldest university in the world, which was
established in 1088 and attracted popes and kings as well as students of the
calibre of Dante, Copernicus and Boccaccio. The oldest university building, the
Archiginnasio, is open to the public from Monday to Saturday between 9 am and 1
pm, and is admission free.
