Fabio Valeriano Lanfranco De Masi (born 7 March 1980) is a German-Italian politician. He was a member of the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

from 2017 to 2021 and was a

member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

from 1 July 2014 to 23 October 2017. Until September 2022 he was a member of The Left Party, part of the

European United Left–Nordic Green Left The Left in the European Parliament (The Left) is a left-wing political group of the European Parliament established in 1995. Prior to January 2021 it was named the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (, GUE/NGL). The group is mainly compos ...

. He joined party " Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht", BSW on 8 January 2024.

Early years

De Masi was born to a German language teacher and an Italian-born trade unionist. His Italian grandfather fought as a Partisan in

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

to liberate Italy from

Fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

. De Masi's father was a football amateur with

SSC Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (), commonly known as SSC Napoli or simply Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples, Campania that currently competes in the Serie A, the highest league of Italian football. Napoli are am ...

Political career

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2017

In the 2014 European elections, De Masi became a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

. During his time in office, he served on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect (TAXE 2). In addition to his committee assignments, he was part of the Parliament's delegation for relations with

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Member of the German Parliament, 2017–2021

De Masi was a member of the German

since the 2017 elections, representing

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. In parliament, he was serving on the Finance Committee. In addition to his committee assignments, he was part of the German-British Parliamentary Friendship Group, the German-Italian Parliamentary Friendship Group, and the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the Southern African States. Since 2019, he was also a member of the German delegation to the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly. In March 2021 De Masi said that he will not run for the Bundestag in the

2021 German federal election The 2021 German federal election was held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag. State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were also held. Incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel, first elected in 2005, ...

. Di Masi has long been a companion of the political figure

Sahra Wagenknecht Sahra Wagenknecht (; 16 July 1969) is a German politician. She was a member of the Bundestag from 2009 to 2025, where she represented The Left until 2023. From 2015 to 2019, she served as that party's parliamentary co-chair. With a small team ...

. He founded the “Get Up” ("Aufstehen") movement together with Wagenknecht in 2018. On 13 September 2022, De Masi announced that he left The Left Party, stating that he would not want anymore to be taken into responsibility for the blatant failure of the relevant actors in this party.“

Engagement in ''BSW''

He joined the new populist party of his former boss Sahra Wagenknecht. De Masi appeared at the newly formed party's press conference on January 8, 2024, and indicated that he was seeking political office with the BSW at

2024 European Parliament election The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...

. Together with Thomas Geisel, he wants to become the party's top candidate. While other members abandoned the Left Party after Wagenknecht's call to end sanctions against Russia, de Masi followed her and continues to call for "freezing" the war and states that Russia's aggression was a reaction to a NATO expansion or that a peace treaty would have been possible in 2023. He has previously also characterized the downing of MH-17 in 2014 as a "crash", rather than a shooting down.

Other activities

* Berliner Steuergespräche, Member of the Adivsory BoardBerliner Steuergespräche: Beirat
Berliner Steuergespräche (a club founded by BDI and law firm Poellath). * Finance Watch, Member *

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St. Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St. Pauli (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg. The team plays in the Bundesliga from the 2024–25 Bundesli ...

, Member * German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Masi, Fabio 1980 births Living people People from Groß-Gerau German people of Italian descent Members of the Bundestag for Hamburg Aufstehen Die Linke MEPs MEPs for Germany 2014–2019 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag for Die Linke MEPs for Germany 2024–2029