Aldo Brancher (born 30 May 1943;

Trichiana Trichiana is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Belluno in the Italian region Veneto, located about north of Venice and about southwest of Belluno Belluno (; ; ) is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. ...

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

) is an Italian politician. He served as a

minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

in the Government of

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 ...

for 17 days in June/July 2010 but was forced to resign due to a pending court case.

Early career

Before his political career, Brancher was a Pauline priest. He was a key figure in the publication of the Paulines' magazine, ''

Famiglia Cristiana ''Famiglia Cristiana'' (meaning ''The Christian family'' in English) is an Italian weekly magazine published in Alba, Italy. The magazine is a Catholic news magazine and has been in circulation since 1931. History and profile ''Famiglia Cristia ...

''. After leaving the priesthood, he worked for Berlusconi's advertising house, Publitalia '80, before moving on to Berlusconi's holding company,

Fininvest Finanziaria d'investimento Fininvest S.p.A., also known as Fininvest, is an Italian holding company controlled by the Berlusconi family and managed by Silvio Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina Berlusconi. Structure The Fininvest group is com ...

. In 1993, while working for Fininvest, Brancher was caught up in the

Tangentopoli (; ) was a nationwide judicial investigation into political corruption in Italy held in the early 1990s, resulting in the demise of the First Italian Republic and the disappearance of many political parties. Some politicians and industry leade ...

political corruption scandal. He served three months in San Vittore prison for false accounting and for illegally funding the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Social democracy, social democratic and Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parti ...

, but was released on a technicality following a ruling by the

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 ...

Political career

Brancher was elected to the 14th legislature of the

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies () is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament, the upper house being the Senate of the Republic (Italy), Senate of the Republic. The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform ...

in May 2001 and was re-elected in April 2006 and April 2008. He was appointed as a Secretary of State with responsibility for reform on 12 May 2008. Brancher was named as a minister without portfolio, with specific responsibility for federalism, on 18 June 2010. A few days later, his responsibility was changed to decentralisation as the

Lega Nord Lega Nord (LN; ), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing politics, right-wing, federalism, federalist, populism, populist and conservatism, conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. In the run-up to the 201 ...

– partners in Berlusconi's coalition Government – was concerned that his role would conflict with that of its leader,

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

, who was Minister for Federal Reforms. At the time of his appointment, Brancher was facing trial for alleged embezzlement during the 2005 takeover of

Antonveneta Banca Antonveneta S.p.A. was an Italian bank based in Padua, Italy. The bank was absorbed into Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena in 2013. In 2008, it was the 9th largest banking group in Italy in terms of customer loans and the 8th largest in term ...

. When, just a few days later, Brancher invoked an immunity law that protects ministers from prosecution, the opposition accused Berlusconi of making the appointment solely to save his friend from the court hearing.

Giorgio Napolitano Giorgio Napolitano (; 29 June 1925 – 22 September 2023) was an Italian politician who served as President of Italy from 2006 to 2015, the first to be re-elected to the office. In office for 8 years and 244 days, he was the longest-serving pre ...

, the President of Italy, rejected Brancher's invocation of the right to immunity, suggesting that, as Brancher was a minister without portfolio, there was no actual Ministry work preventing him from standing trial. Following the President’s comments, the opposition, along with members of Brancher’s own party, threatened a

motion of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

unless he resigned. Brancher acquiesced and announced his resignation during the opening day of his trial on 5 July 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brancher, Aldo 1943 births Living people People from Trichiana Forza Italia politicians The People of Freedom politicians Government ministers of Italy Deputies of Legislature XIV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVI of Italy Politicians of Veneto