Lamberto Dini (born 1 March 1931)[1] is an Italian politician and economist. He was the Director General of Bank of Italy from 1979 to 1994, Minister of Treasury from 1994 to 1996, the 51st prime minister of Italy from 1995 to 1996, and Foreign Minister from 1996 to 2001.

Lamberto Dini
Dini in 1999
Prime Minister of Italy
In office
17 January 1995 – 18 May 1996
PresidentOscar Luigi Scalfaro
Preceded bySilvio Berlusconi
Succeeded byRomano Prodi
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
18 May 1996 – 11 June 2001
Prime MinisterRomano Prodi
Massimo D'Alema
Giuliano Amato
Preceded bySusanna Agnelli
Succeeded byRenato Ruggiero
Minister of Justice
Acting
19 October 1995 – 16 February 1996
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byFilippo Mancuso
Succeeded byVincenzo Caianiello
Minister of Treasury
In office
11 May 1994 – 18 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 of the Republic
In office
30 May 2001 – 14 March 2013
ConstituencyTuscany (2001–2008)
Lazio (2008–2013)
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
9 May 1996 – 29 May 2001
ConstituencyFlorence
Personal details
Born (1931-03-01) 1 March 1931 (age 93)
Florence, Kingdom of Italy
Political partyRI (1996–2002)
DL (2002–2007)
LD (2007–2009)
PdL (2009–2013)
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
SpouseDonatella Pasquali Zingone
Residence(s)Rome, Italy
Alma materUniversity of Florence
University of Minnesota
University of Michigan
ProfessionEconomist
Signature

Early life and career

edit

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 an 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 made a comeback 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

edit

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

edit

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 the 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

edit

In 2000 during a state visit to the United Kingdom he was awarded an honorary Knighthood Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished 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

edit

  United Kingdom:

Electoral history

edit
Election House Constituency Party Votes Result Notes
1996 Chamber of Deputies Florence 2 RI 59,346  Y Elected [2]
2001 Senate of the Republic TuscanyFlorence-Scandicci RI 85,357  Y Elected [3]
2006 Senate of the Republic Tuscany DL [a]  Y Elected [4]
2008 Senate of the Republic Lazio PdL [a]  Y Elected [5]
  1. ^ a b Elected in a closed list proportional representation system.

References

edit
  1. ^ Moliterno, Gino (11 September 2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Italian Culture. Routledge. ISBN 9781134758760. Retrieved 7 June 2022 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ a b 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. ^ [1] [permanent dead link]
  5. ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-04-22. Retrieved 2021-01-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ "Japan Today". Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
Government offices
Preceded by Director General of the Bank of Italy
1979–1994
Succeeded by
Vincenzo Desario
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Treasury
1994–1996
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of Italy
1995–1996
Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Foreign Affairs
1996–2001
Succeeded by
Party political offices
New political party Leader of Italian Renewal
1996–2002
Position abolished
President of Liberal Democrats
2007–2008
Succeeded by