Mercedes Bresso (born 12 July 1944) is an Italian politician (

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

) who served as

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

from 2014 until 2019.

Early life and career

Bresso was born in

Sanremo Sanremo (; lij, Sanrémmo(ro) or , ) or San Remo is a city and comune on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination on the Italian Rivie ...

Province of Imperia The Province of Imperia ( it, Provincia di Imperia, french: Province d'Imperia, Ligurian: ''Provinsa d’Imperia'') is a mountainous and hilly province, in the Liguria region of Italy, situated between France to the north and the west, and the L ...

Liguria it, Ligure , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. In 1969, she received her degree in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

; since 1973, she is a

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

of economic institutions at the

Politecnico di Torino The Polytechnic University of Turin ( it, Politecnico di Torino) is the oldest Italian public technical university. The university offers several courses in the fields of Engineering, Architecture, Urban Planning and Industrial Design, and is co ...

(Faculty of Engineering).

Political career

From 1989 onwards, Bresso was a member of the provincial, regional and national party executives of the

Democrats of the Left The Democrats of the Left ( it, Democratici di Sinistra, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger of th ...

. 1995–2004, she was the President of the Turin Province, and, a Member of Regional Council (1985–1995) and of the Regional Executive (1994–1995) with responsibility for regional planning in Piedmont. She was a member of the

Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

and its Bureau 1998–2004. Between 2005 and 2010, she was President of the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region. Since 2002, she is the Italian Vice-Chairperson of AICCRE; 2000–2004, she was Chairperson of the World Federation of United Cities, and, 2004–2005, founding Chairperson of the Organisation ''Cités et Gouvernements locaux Unis''. Between March 2005 and October 2008, she was President of the

Union of European Federalists The Union of European Federalists (UEF) is a European non-governmental organisation, campaigning for a Federal Europe. It consists of 20 constituent organisations and it has been active at the European, national and local levels since 1946. H ...

(UEF).

President of the Committee of Region, 2010–2012

In February 2010, Bresso was elected the first female president of the

European Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

. She stood down at the end of April 2010, after being defeated on her home turf of Piedmont in her country's regional elections. Shortly after, Claudio Burlando, the president of Liguria and a fellow member of Italy's centre-left Democratic Party, gave up his seat on the Committee of Regions so that Bresso could have it.

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2019

Bresso became a

following the

2014 European elections Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrel ...

. A member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group, she served on the

Committee on Regional Development The Committee on Regional Development (REGI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Younous Omarjee Younous Omarjee (born 30 September 1969 in Saint-Denis, Réunion) is a French politician who ...

and on the

Committee on Constitutional Affairs The Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) is a committee of the European Parliament dealing with institutional matters such as the Treaties of the European Union and the Parliament's rules of procedure. It is currently chaired by Antonio Tajan ...

, where she was her parliamentary group's coordinator. In November 2014, Bresso and

Elmar Brok Elmar Peter Brok (born 14 May 1946) is a German politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1980 until 2019, who is best known for his role as chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs. He is a mem ...

were appointed by the committee to explore the possibilities of the

eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro ( €) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU polici ...

governance reform without any treaty change. In addition to her committee assignments, Bresso was a member of the parliament's delegation for relations with Switzerland and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

and to the EU-Iceland Joint Parliamentary Committee and the

European Economic Area The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade As ...

(EEA) Joint Parliamentary Committee. She chaired the European Parliament Intergroup on Rural, Mountainous and Remote Areas (RUMRA). She was also a member of the Intergroup on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime).

Other activities

European Movement International The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it. History The origins of the ...

, Member of the Honorary CouncilHonorary Council

References

External links

Official website of Mercedes Bresso
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bresso, Mercedes 1944 births Living people Presidents of Piedmont Presidents of the Province of Turin Radical Party (Italy) politicians Democratic Party of the Left politicians Democrats of the Left politicians Democratic Party (Italy) MEPs MEPs for Italy 2004–2009 MEPs for Italy 2014–2019 21st-century women MEPs for Italy Democrats of the Left MEPs Grand Officers of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic People from Sanremo 20th-century Italian women politicians Presidents of the European Committee of the Regions