Francesca Donato (born 25 August 1969) is an Italian politician who was elected as 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 ...

in the

2019 European Parliament election in Italy The 2019 European Parliament election in Italy were held on 26 May 2019, electing members of the 9th Italian delegation to the European Parliament as part of the European elections held across the European Union. Background In 2014, the gov ...

, representing

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 ...

. On 25 May 2024, her husband, Angelo Onorato, was found dead in his car in Palermo. Donato has claimed that he was murdered, while the police investigation is still ongoing.

European Parliament

Donato was part of the

Identity and Democracy Identity and Democracy (ID; ) was a political group of the European Parliament during the Ninth European Parliament term, launched on 13 June 2019. It comprised Far right politics, far-right, Right-wing populism, right-wing populist, Euroscept ...

group in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, following her election in 2019. In September 2021, she was expelled from both Lega Nord and the Identity and Democracy group due to her stance against the

EU Digital COVID Certificate The EU Digital COVID Certificate (EUDCC), best known in Italy as the Green Pass and in France as the Sanitary Pass or Health Pass (''passe sanitaire''), was a digital certificate that a person has been vaccinated against COVID-19, tested for i ...

, subsequently becoming an

independent politician An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...

, and a

non-inscrit Non-attached members, also known by the French term (, NI), are members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who do not belong to one of the recognised political groups, which as May 2025 consisted of 8 groups ranging between far-left and far-r ...

member of the

. On 2 March 2022, Donato voted against condemning the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, joining 12 other MEPs in this position. Her Facebook page was closed in March 2022 after she shared news information identified as

fake news Fake news or information disorder is false or misleading information (misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, and hoaxes) claiming the aesthetics and legitimacy of news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person ...

. Donato voted against the European Parliament resolution of 23 November 2022, which recognised the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

References

External links

Home , Francesca DONATO , MEPs , European Parliament
Living people 1969 births Christian Democracy Sicily MEPs Italian anti-vaccination activists Lega Nord MEPs People from Ancona MEPs for Italy 2019–2024 21st-century women MEPs for Italy {{Italy-MEP-stub