Sept 23, 2023. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
Napolitano
served as president for two terms and was an early backer of European
integration.
Giorgio
Napolitano, the first former Communist to rise to Italy's presidency, died on
Friday, the Quirinal presidential palace said.
Napolitano, who was also the first person to be elected twice to the mostly ceremonial presidency, was 98-years-old. A statement issued Friday night by the presidential palace confirmed Italian news reports of the death of Napolitano, who had been ailing in a Rome hospital for weeks.
The current
president, Sergio Mattarella, in a message hailed his predecessor as head of
state, saying that Napolitano's life "mirrored a large part of the
history" of Italy in the second half of the 20th century.
Giorgio Napolitano is seen in this 1991 file photo at the time when he was a member of the Italian Communist Party (PCI).
As a prominent member of what had long been the largest Communist party in
the West, Napolitano had advocated positions that often veered from party
orthodoxy. He sought dialogue with Italian and European socialists to end his
party's isolation, and he was an early backer of European integration.
A life in politics
Born in Naples on June 29, 1925, Napolitano served as the 11th president of
the Italian Republic from 2006 to 2015, and was the first head of state to be
elected for a second mandate in 2013, as well as being the country's first
post-Communist president.
His long political career also took him to Strasbourg as a member of the
European Parliament from 1989 to 1992, before his election as Speaker of
Italy's Lower House from 1992 until 1994.
His dominance of the political scene in Italy - and especially a key role
in birthing the emergency Mario Monti-led government amid a sovereign debt
crisis in 2011 - earned him the nickname King George.
This was not affectionate for many on the right who said he helped engineer
the end of Silvio Berlusconi's final government, allegedly colluding with
European authorities.
Italy's most popular politicians
But he regularly topped polls of Italy's most popular politicians.
In 2005 Napolitano was appointed life Senator by then President of the
Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, his predecessor as head of state and guarantor
of Italy's post-war anti-fascist constitution.
A life-long Anglophile, Napolitano spoke fluent English and lectured at
several American universities in the late 1970s.
During his long prominence in the PCI he often broke with party orthodoxy
and criticised the Soviet Union, in particular over its invasion of Afghanistan
in 1980.
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