Agazio Loiero (born 14 January 1940) is an Italian politician. He is a former

president of Calabria This is a list of the presidents of Calabria since 1970. Until the entry into force of Constitutional Law 1/1999, the president of Calabria was elected, like the other members of the executive body of the region, by the Regional Council, among ...

and minister in the

second D'Alema government The second D'Alema government was the government of Italy from 22 December 1999 to 26 April 2000. Following the exit from the majority of the United Christian Democrats led by Rocco Buttiglione and of the Union for the Republic led by Francesco ...

and the

second Amato government The second Amato government was the 56th government of the Italian Republic, the fourth and last government of the XIII Legislature. It held office from 26 April 2000 to 11 June 2001, a total of 412 days, or 1 year, 1 month and 17 days. The gover ...

Early life and education

Loiero was born in

Santa Severina Santa Severina () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Crotone, in the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). Name The name derives from ancient Siberine (῾� ...

, in the

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

region. He graduated in Letters and Philosophy at the

University of Calabria The University of Calabria () is a state-run university in Italy. Located in Arcavacata, a hamlet of Rende and a suburb of Cosenza, the university was founded in 1972. Among its founders there were Beniamino Andreatta, Giorgio Gagliani, Pietr ...

. Loiero worked as a columnist for several newspapers, such as ''

Il Messaggero ''Il Messaggero'' (English: "The Messenger") is an Italian Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper based in Rome, Italy. It has been in circulation since 1878. It is one of the main national newspapers in Italy. History and profile ''Il Messaggero'' ...

'', ''

L'Unità (; English: "the Unity") is an Italian newspaper, founded as the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, Democrats of the Left, a ...

'', and the

Gazzetta del Sud ''Gazzetta del Sud'' is an Italian national daily newspaper for the south of Italy. The paper is published in Messina. Since 2017, it owns also the ''Giornale di Sicilia''. History and profile ''Gazzetta del Sud'' was founded in 1952 in Messina, ...

''.

Political career

Loiero joined

Christian Democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

(DC), with which he was elected city councilor in

Catanzaro Catanzaro (; or ; ), also known as the "City of the two Seas" (), is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its province and the second most populated comune of the region, behind Reggio Calabr ...

. From 1987 to 1994, Loiero was elected to the country's

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

with the DC; he tried to be re-elected in 1994 with the

Pact for Italy The Pact for Italy () was a centrist political and electoral alliance in Italy launched by Mario Segni and Mino Martinazzoli in 1994. History The alliance was composed of the Italian People's Party (PPI), the main successor party to Christian De ...

but failed the election. In 1996, Loiero joined the

Christian Democratic Centre The Christian Democratic Centre (, CCD) was a Christian-democratic political party in Italy from 1994 to 2002. Formed from a right-wing split from Christian Democracy, the party joined the centre-right coalition, and was a member of the European ...

led by

Pier Ferdinando Casini Pier Ferdinando Casini (; born 3 December 1955) is an Italian politician. He served as President of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy), President of the Chamber of Deputies from 2001 to 2006. Casini is the honorary president of the Centrist Democra ...

and was re-elected to the Senate of the Republic. In 1998, Loiero left the

Pole for Freedoms The Pole for Freedoms () was a centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, which was active from 1996 to 2000. It included Forza Italia (FI), the National Alliance (AN), Union of the Centre (UdC), Christian Democratic Centre (CCD), ...

, the

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

-led

centre-right coalition The centre-right coalition () is a political alliance of political parties in Italy active under several forms and names since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed the party. It has mostly competed with the centre-left c ...

, and joined the

Union of Democrats for Europe The Union of Democrats for Europe (, UDEUR), also known as UDEUR Populars (''Popolari UDEUR''), was a minor centrist, Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Led by Clemente Mastella, minister of Labour in Berlusconi I Cabinet (1994–19 ...

, being later appointed

Minister for Parliamentary Relations The minister for parliamentary relations (Italian: ''ministro per i rapporti con il Parlamento'') is one of the positions in the Italian government The government of Italy is that of a democratic republic, established by the Italian constit ...

and Minister for Regional Affairs in the respective second governments headed by

Massimo D'Alema Massimo D'Alema (; born 20 April 1949) is an Italian politician and journalist who was the 53rd prime minister of Italy from 1998 to 2000. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008. D'Alema ...

and

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. Upon Arnaldo Forlani's death in July 2023, Amato became the country's earliest-servin ...

, respectively. In 2001, Loiero returned to the Chamber of Deputies, leaving his seat in the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italy, Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingd ...

when in the 2005 Calabrian regional election is elected president of the region. Loiero fails to be re-elected governor in the 2010 regional election. In 2007, Loiero joined the National Leadership of the Democratic Party (PD), giving his support to

Rosy Bindi Maria Rosaria "Rosy" Bindi (; born 12 February 1951) is an Italian politician and former president of the Antimafia Commission. She began her political career in Christian Democracy (DC), becoming a member of the European Parliament in 1989. Aft ...

during the 2007 leadership election. Loiero left the party in 2011, after having been very critical to secretary

Pier Luigi Bersani Pier Luigi Bersani (; born 29 September 1951) is an Italian politician and was Secretary of the Democratic Party (PD), Italy's leading centre-left party, from 2009 to 2013. Bersani was Minister of Industry, Commerce and Craftmanship from 1996 ...

, and joined the

Movement for the Autonomies Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

(MpA). He left the MpA in 2013 when it made an electoral agreement with the centre-right coalition.

Judicial proceedings

Together with his predecessor Giuseppe Chiaravalloti, Loiero has been involved in the ''Why Not'' investigation, then led by judge Luigi de Magistris, created to shed light on alleged wrongdoing in the management of public funds for the development of Calabria. Loiero was charged for the crime of

abuse of office Abuse is the act of improper usage or treatment of a person or thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, ...

; in 2013, he was absolved definitively by Italy's

Supreme Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case; they only interpret the relevant law. In this, they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In ...

for not having committed the fact.

References

External links

* Files about his parliamentary activities (in Italian)
XXIXIV
legislature {{DEFAULTSORT:Loiero, Agazio 1940 births 20th-century Italian politicians Christian Democracy (Italy) politicians Christian Democratic Centre politicians Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy politicians Democratic Party (Italy) politicians Government ministers of Italy Italian People's Party (1994) politicians Living people People from the Province of Crotone