Lamberto Dini CGMG (born 1 March 1931) is an Italian politician and economist. He was the Director General of

Bank of Italy The Bank of Italy ( Italian: ''Banca d'Italia'', informally referred to as ''Bankitalia''), (), is the central bank of Italy and part of the European System of Central Banks. It is located in Palazzo Koch, via Nazionale, Rome. The bank's cur ...

from 1979 to 1994, Minister of Treasury from 1994 to 1996, the 51st

Prime Minister of Italy The Prime Minister of Italy, officially the President of the Council of Ministers ( it, link=no, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is ...

from 1995 to 1996, and

Foreign Minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

from 1996 to 2001.

Early life and career

After studying Economics in his native city of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, Dini took up a post at the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

in 1959, where he worked his way up until he served as Executive Director for Italy,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

and

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 ...

between 1976 and 1979. Then, in October 1979, he moved to the

Banca d'Italia The Bank of Italy ( Italian: ''Banca d'Italia'', informally referred to as ''Bankitalia''), (), is the central bank of Italy and part of the European System of Central Banks. It is located in Palazzo Koch, via Nazionale, Rome. The bank's cur ...

, where he served as an executive until May 1994. When the Governor of the Bank of Italy,

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (; 9 December 1920 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian politician and banker who was the prime minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and the president of Italy from 1999 to 2006. Biography Education Ciampi was born ...

, 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 Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

formed the

Berlusconi I Cabinet The first Berlusconi government was the 51st government of the Italian Republic. It was the first right-wing and non-Christian Democrats government since World War II. Berlusconi resigned on 22 December 1994. History In order to win the Mar ...

in May 1994, in which Dini served as Treasury Minister. Due to a split between Berlusconi and his coalition partner

Umberto Bossi Umberto Bossi (born 19 September 1941) is an Italian politician and former leader of Lega Nord (Northern League), a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padania. He is married to the Sicilian Manuela Marrone, and has f ...

, the

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its offici ...

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. Dini also took the portfolio for treasury in the cabinet and was a non-elected prime minister and minister. 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 The Communist Refoundation Party ( it, Partito della Rifondazione Comunista, PRC) is a communist political party in Italy that emerged from a split of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1991. The party's secretary is Maurizio Acerbo, who repla ...

) 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.

The Olive Tree

In April 1996, a 1996 Italian general election, general election was called, in which Berlusconi's

House of Freedoms The House of Freedoms ( it, Casa delle Libertà, CdL) was a major centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, led by Silvio Berlusconi. History The CdL was the successor of the Pole of Freedoms/Pole of Good Government and the Pole f ...

coalition, minus the Lega Nord, was pitted against that of

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 ...

, 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 Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the ...

party, Italian Renewal. Dini was elected to the

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies ( it, Camera dei deputati) is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Senate of the Republic). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical func ...

, 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 Giuliano Amato (; born 13 May 1938) is an Italian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 1992 to 1993 and again from 2000 to 2001. Later, he was Vice President of the Convention on the Future of Europe that drafted t ...

. 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 A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

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 The Senate of the Republic ( it, Senato della Repubblica), or simply the Senate ( it, Senato), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Chamber of Deputies). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral s ...

, 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

In September 2007, a month before Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy merged with the Democrats of the Left to form the new

big tent A big tent party, or catch-all party, is a term used in reference to a political party's policy of permitting or encouraging a broad spectrum of views among its members. This is in contrast to other kinds of parties, which defend a determined i ...

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

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

Honours

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 The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

. On 29 April 2009, the Japanese government announced that it awarded Dini the Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight f ...

; the honour was presented to him by the Emperor and the Japanese Prime Minister in a formal ceremony in May 2009.

Foreign honours

: *

Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the

(2000).

References

, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dini, Lamberto 1931 births Living people Politicians from Florence Independent politicians in Italy Italian Renewal politicians Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy politicians Liberal Democrats (Italy) politicians Prime Ministers of Italy Foreign ministers of Italy Italian Ministers of Justice Deputies of Legislature XIII of Italy Senators of Legislature XIV of Italy Senators of Legislature XV of Italy Senators of Legislature XVI of Italy Italian economists University of Michigan alumni Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George