Flavio Delbono (born 17 September 1959) is an Italian politician and

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

. He served as the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

from 25 June 2009 until 28 January 2010, when he was forced to resign as he was being investigated for crimes such as

embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compen ...

and aggravated abuse of office following allegations made by his former lover.

Biography

Delbono was born in Sabbioneta, a small town in the

Province of Mantua The Province of Mantua ( it, provincia di Mantova; Mantovano, Lower Mantovano: ; Upper Mantovano: ) is a province in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy. Its capital is the city of Mantua. It is bordered to the north-east by the Province of ...

Lombardy (man), (woman) lmo, lumbard, links=no (man), (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , ...

. His father was a municipal policeman and his mother was a

seamstress A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician. Not ...

. After graduating from the Liceo scientifico, Delbono studied economics at the

University of Parma The University of Parma ( it, Università degli Studi di Parma, UNIPR) is a public university in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It is organised in nine departments. As of 2016 the University of Parma has about 26,000 students. History During the ...

, graduating in 1982. He received a dottorato di ricerca in economics from the

University of Siena The University of Siena ( it, Università degli Studi di Siena, abbreviation: UNISI) in Siena, Tuscany, is one of the oldest and first publicly funded universities in Italy. Originally called ''Studium Senese'', the institution was founded in 12 ...

in 1986, and a

D.Phil. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from Linacre College, Oxford in 1988. (subscription required) While at Oxford, Delbono studied under the future

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make o ...

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, economi ...

. Delbono joined the faculty of the

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

SAIS Bologna Center The Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe in Bologna, Italy, is the European campus of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a division of Johns Hopkins University located in Washington, D.C. SAIS Europe offers an int ...

as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

of international economics in 1987. In 1992, at the age of 33, Delbono was appointed as professor of Political Economy at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in contin ...

. His predecessors in this position include

Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Pr ...

and Stefano Zamagni.

Political and administrative career

From 1995 to 1999, Delbono served as an

assessor An assessor may be: * ''Assessor'' (fish), a genus of fishes * Assessor (law), the assistant to a judge or magistrate * Assessor (Oxford), a senior officer of the University of Oxford * Assessor (property) Tax assessment, or assessment, is t ...

for the city of

with specific responsibility for the budget. In 2000, the newly elected President of the

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

region,

Vasco Errani Vasco Errani (born 17 May 1955) is an Italian politician. He was a founding member of the Democratic Party (PD), which he has left on 22 February 2017, to join the Democratic and Progressive Movement, a party founded by the former PD left-wing ...

, named Delbono as the regional assessor for finance and organisation. In 2003 he was also named as vice-president of Emilia-Romagna. Following Errani's re-election in May 2005, Delbono was reconfirmed as vice-president and given additional responsibility for the region's relationship with Europe. On 19 June 2008, Delbono was unanimously elected in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

as the President of the Lisbon Regions Network—a 15-member pan-European group concerned with implementing the Lisbon Strategy.

Primary campaign

On 13 October 2008, Delbono announced his intention to stand in the Democratic Party

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

for mayor of Bologna. Delbono's candidacy was backed by several prominent figures in Bolognese politics, including: Sergio Cofferati, Romano Prodi, Pier Luigi Bersani, Renato Zangheri and

Salvatore Caronna Salvatore Caronna (born 5 March 1964, in Bad Säckingen) is an Italian politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Biography Caronna's interest in politics began when he was young and joined the student movement. After that experien ...

. The primary elections took place on 13 and 14 December 2008. Delbono received 49.73% of the 24,920 votes cast in the primary; Maurizio Cevenini received 23.29%, Virginio Merola received 21.44% and Andrea Forlani received 5.1%.

Campaign for mayor of Bologna

On 9 January 2009, Delbono announced that he would be resigning as vice-president of Emilia-Romagna and regional assessor in order to focus on his election campaign. Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli was announced as his successor as vice-president on 3 February. The mayoral election was held on 21 and 22 June; Delbono's opponents included

Alfredo Cazzola Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Filh ...

, the candidate of

The People of Freedom The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia a ...

and Lega Nord, and the UDC's Giorgio Guazzaloca, a former mayor of Bologna. Delbono received 49.4% of the vote in the first round, forcing a second round against Cazzola, who had received 29.1%. Delbono received 60.67% of the votes in the second round. Delbono was officially proclaimed as mayor of the city of Bologna on 25 June 2009.

Scandal and resignation

Delbono was forced to announce his resignation as mayor on 25 January 2010 following the revelation that he was being investigated for crimes such as

and aggravated abuse of office. The investigation followed Delbono's former assistant's claim that he had spent public money on her— the pair had been having an affair. Investigators subsequently questioned Delbono about the purchase of a property near St. Julian's,

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. Delbono denied all the allegations made against him and said that resigning as mayor was the right thing to do. He has announced that he will return to lecturing and is working to clear his name. His resignation was confirmed on 28 January following the approval of an emergency budget, the election to appoint Delbono's successor must take place by 28 March 2010. However,

did not receive a mayor until 2011, and was ruled by a commissioner, Anna Maria Cancellieri

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delbono, Flavio 1959 births Living people Politicians from the Province of Mantua Democratic Party (Italy) politicians 21st-century Italian politicians Italian economists Mayors of Bologna University of Parma alumni University of Siena alumni Alumni of Linacre College, Oxford Johns Hopkins University faculty Academic staff of the University of Bologna Democrats of the Left politicians People from Sabbioneta