Elena Donazzan (born 22 June 1972) is an Italian politician. Born in

Bassano del Grappa Bassano del Grappa ( or ''Bassan'', ) is a city and ''comune'', in the Province of Vicenza, Vicenza province, in the region of Veneto, in northern Italy. It bounds the communes of Cassola, Marostica, Solagna, Pove del Grappa, Romano d'Ezzelino, Va ...

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 ...

, she has been successively a member of several right-wing and centre-right parties: the

Italian Social Movement The Italian Social Movement (, MSI) was a neo-fascist political party in Italy. A far-right party, it presented itself until the 1990s as the defender of Italian fascism's legacy, and later moved towards national conservatism. In 1972, the Itali ...

(MSI),

National Alliance National Alliance may refer to: Electoral alliances *National Alliance (Egypt) (2015) * National Alliance (Ireland) (2024 onwards) * National Alliance (Pakistan) (2002-2004) *Nation Alliance (Turkey) (2018-2023) Political parties and organizations ...

(AN),

The People of Freedom The People of Freedom (, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL launched by Silvio Berlusconi as an electoral list, including and National Alliance, on 27 February for the 2008 Italian general election. The list was later t ...

(PdL),

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 ...

(FI) and, currently, the

Brothers of Italy Brothers of Italy (, FdI) is a National conservatism, national-conservative and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Italy, that is currently the country's ruling party. After becoming the largest party in the 2022 Ita ...

(FdI).

She was first elected to the

Regional Council of Veneto The Regional Council of Veneto () is the parliament, legislative assembly of Veneto, Italy. The council, which has its seat at Palazzo Ferro Fini, located along the Grand Canal (Venice), Grand Canal in Venice. was first elected in 1970, when Re ...

for AN in the

2000 Venetian regional election The Venetian regional election of 2000 took place on 16 April 2000. Giancarlo Galan (Forza Italia, Pole for Freedoms) was re-elected for the third time President of the Region by a landslide over the centre-left candidate Massimo Cacciari ( The ...

. Re-elected in

2005 Venetian regional election The Venetian regional election of 2005 took place on 3–4 April 2005. Giancarlo Galan (Forza Italia, House of Freedoms) was re-elected for the third time in a row President of the Region, but the support for him was diminished by the presence o ...

, she served as regional minister of Education in

Giancarlo Galan Giancarlo Galan (born 10 September 1956) is an Italian politician. Career Born in Padua, Galan was an activist of the Italian Liberal Party in the 1970s and the 1980s. He was not fully active in politics until he joined Forza Italia since its ...

's third government (2005–2010). Re-elected in the

2010 Venetian regional election The Venetian regional election of 2010 took place on 28–29 March 2010, as part of Italy's 2010 Italian regional elections, big round of regional elections. Luca Zaia, rising star of the Lega Nord, Northern League, was elected President by a la ...

for the PdL, in the

2015 Venetian regional election The Venetian regional election of 2015 took place in Veneto on 31 May 2015, as part of a big round of regional elections in Italy. Venetian voters elected their President and their Regional Council, whose members had been reduced to 51, includin ...

for FI and, finally, in the

2020 Venetian regional election The 2020 Venetian regional election took place in Veneto on 20 and 21 September 2020. Originally scheduled to take place on 31 May 2020, it was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic in Italy and was part of a round of multiple regional electi ...

for FdI, she has served as minister of Education, Formation, Labour and Equal Opportunities in

Luca Zaia Luca Zaia (born 27 March 1968) is an Italian politician, who has been President of Veneto since 2010, and a historical member of Lega Nord, other than being the most Progressivism in the United States, progressive member of his own party. Suppor ...

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

(2010–2015),

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

(2015–2020) and third governments (2020–present). She is thus the current longest serving regional minister, as well as one of the longest serving ones in Venetian politics. Proud of her political upbringing and staunchly

Italian nationalist Italian nationalism () is a movement which believes that the Italians are a nation with a single homogeneous identity, and therefrom seeks to promote the cultural unity of Italy as a country. From an Italian nationalist perspective, Italianness i ...

, Donazzan sang an

Italian fascist Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...

anthem ("Faccetta nera") during the radio broadcast ''

La Zanzara La Zanzara is an Italian radio program created by the Italian journalist Giuseppe Cruciani, and broadcast on Radio 24. Journalist David Parenzo is the co-host. The show is known for giving space to controversial topics and for being politicall ...

'' on 8 January 2021. Often at the loggerheads with her Venetian nationalist coalition partner,

Liga Veneta Liga Veneta (; ; abbr. LV), whose complete name is (), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto. The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and support for fiscal federalism, was established in 1979 under the slogan "farthe ...

, that episode caused her a motion of no confidence that finally did not pass, thanks to Liga Veneta's abstention.

Critics

Controversial statements on Israel (2025)

On June 17, 2025, during a speech at the European Parliament, Italian MEP

Elena Donazzan Elena Donazzan (born 22 June 1972) is an Italian politician. Born in Bassano del Grappa, Veneto, she has been successively a member of several right-wing and centre-right parties: the Italian Social Movement (MSI), National Alliance (Italy), Nation ...

(Fratelli d'Italia) sparked controversy by defending Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip following the October 7, 2024 attacks. Donazzan stated that "Israel has the courage to do what Europe does not have the courage to do," portraying the bombings as a legitimate act of self-defense. Her remarks came amid a humanitarian crisis, as the death toll in Gaza had reportedly surpassed 56,000, including thousands of women and children. Despite this, Donazzan claimed that the children killed were "children of terrorists used as human shields." She also criticized European media, accusing them of failing to report on Israel’s right to defend itself, stating: "European newspapers don’t talk about it." Her statements drew strong reactions from fellow parliamentarians, particularly from the S&D and Green groups, who accused her of dehumanizing civilian victims and called for a reassessment of EU–Israel relations in light of alleged violations of international humanitarian law.

Criticism over remarks on mixed marriages (June 2024)

In early June 2024, Veneto Regional Councillor and Fratelli d'Italia candidate for the European Parliament,

, sparked widespread controversy by claiming that mixed marriages between Catholic women and Muslim men "can facilitate infiltration by Islamic terrorism" and warning that "Italy is becoming de-Christianised". She added that "cultures so different, when brought together, can be a problem in a period marked by strong terrorism" and insisted that while Italy may be multi-ethnic, it should not be multicultural. Her remarks, described as xenophobic and alarmist, prompted immediate backlash from regional political figures: Democratic MP Ouidad Bakkali urged Prime Minister Meloni to publicly distance herself, labeling Donazzan’s words "racist and medieval". Italy Viva's Raffaella Paita similarly condemned the comments as rooted in prejudice. Analysts noted that Donazzan’s stance conflated religious identity with extremism and reinforced damaging stereotypes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donazzan, Elena Living people 1972 births National Alliance (Italy) politicians Members of the Regional Council of Veneto MEPs for Italy 2024–2029