Claudio Scajola (; born 15 January 1948) is an Italian politician who is the mayor of Imperia since 2018 and the president of the

province of Imperia The province of Imperia (; ; ) is a mountainous and hilly Provinces of Italy, province in the Liguria region of Italy, situated between France to the north and the west, and the Ligurian Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Its capi ...

since 2021.

Career

Scajola was born in Imperia. A long-time member of

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 ...

, he was mayor of Imperia during a short period in the 1980s and from 1990 to 1995, as his father and his brother had been. When Christian Democracy disbanded, he joined

Forza Italia (FI; ) was a centre-right liberal-conservative political party in Italy, with Christian democratic,Chiara Moroni, , Carocci, Rome 2008 liberalOreste Massari, ''I partiti politici nelle democrazie contempoiranee'', Laterza, Rome-Bari 2004 (esp ...

in 1995. He was then elected deputy in 1996 and was national coordinator of the party from 1996 to 2001 and again in 2003. He also led a faction named after him, the '' Scajoliani''. He was the

Italian Minister of the Interior The minister of the interior (Italian: ''ministro dell'interno'') in Italy is one of the most important positions in the Council of Ministers (Italy), Italian Council of Ministers and leads the Ministry of the Interior (Italy), Ministry of the ...

from 2001 to 2002 and later the Italian Minister of Productive Activities in the third cabinet 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 ...

. In this capacity, Scajola was a strong advocate for the Italian re-entry into commercial use of nuclear power for the generation of electricity. Scajola has been nicknamed "SkyOla" because allegedly has been using

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. ...

airplanes for private use. An air route was created from

Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport () is an international airport in Fiumicino, Italy, serving Rome. It is the busiest airport in the country, the eighth-busiest airport in Europe and the world's 39th-busiest airport with over 49.2&nb ...

to Villanova d'Albenga International Airport, which he uses regularly for traveling from and to his parliamentary job; it is rarely used by other passengers. This scandal was exposed in 2008 by the

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

television program '' AnnoZero''. In April 2010, Italian newspapers wrote that Scajola, back in July 2004, had used €1,100,000 in slush funds to buy a flat in Rome near the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; , ultimately from Ancient Greek word "kolossos" meaning a large statue or giant) is an Ellipse, elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphi ...

. At least €900,000 of those funds where reportedly traced as coming from Diego Anemone, a real estate developer under accusation of public servants bribing."Scajola, le carte che accusano"
''La Repubblica'', 30 April 2010"Scajola, le nuove accuse"
''Corriere della Sera'', 30 April 2010 During a press conference, he defended himself saying that the house had been paid without his knowledge. These justifications were not deemed sufficient by public opinion and Scajola resigned from office in May 2010. At the

2018 Italian local elections Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number) * One of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short story ''God's Dice'' * ''Eighteen'' (film), a 20 ...

, Scajola was elected mayor of Imperia, 23 years after his last mayoral experience.

Arrest

On 8 May 2014, Scajola was arrested for aiding the escape of Amedeo Matacena, a former member of 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 ...

who was convicted of criminal involvement with the Calabrian

'Ndrangheta The 'Ndrangheta (, , ) is a mafia-type organized crime, criminal syndicate originating from the Calabria region of Italy. Gratteri & Nicaso, ''Fratelli di Sangue'', pp. 65–68 This body, also referred to as the Commission in reference to the ...

, and remained in police custody.

Notable statements

In June 2002, Scajola told journalists in Cyprus that " Marco Biagi was only a jerk, only thinking about the renewal of his contract". Biagi was killed by terrorists in March 2002 and Scajola was the Italian Minister of the Interior. Scajola had to resign because of this sentence on 4 July 2002. Despite this, Berlusconi continued to support him.

References

External links

Official website
(in Italian) *Files about his parliamentary activities (in Italian)
XIIIXIVXVXVI
legislatures * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scajola, Claudio 1948 births Living people People from Imperia Forza Italia politicians Ministers of the interior of Italy Mayors of places in Liguria Presidents of the Province of Imperia