Guido Crosetto
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Guido Crosetto (born 19 September 1963) is an Italian businessman and politician who has served as
Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...
since 22 October 2022 in the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
of Prime Minister
Giorgia Meloni Giorgia Meloni (; born 15 January 1977) is an Italian politician who has served as Prime Minister of Italy since 2022. She is the first woman to hold the office. A member of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy), Chamber of Deputies since 2006, s ...
. Formerly a Christian-democrat, he served as an
undersecretary Undersecretary (or under secretary) is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary (person in charge). It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is a ...
at the
Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...
(2008–2011), Crosetto was among the founders of the national-conservative
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) in 2012, of which he served as president from 21 December 2012 to 4 April 2013.


Early life

Guido Crosetto comes from a family of entrepreneurs from
Cuneo Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in the south-west of Piedmont, at the confluence of the ri ...
, 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 ...
. After his father's death Crosetto could not finish his studies in economics at the
University of Turin The University of Turin (Italian language, Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public university, public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the List ...
. While at the university, he became a member of the youth wing 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 ...
(DC) and in 1988, at age 25, he became the economic advisor to Prime Minister
Giovanni Goria Giovanni Giuseppe Goria (; 30 July 1943 – 21 May 1994) was an Italian politician. He served as the 46th prime minister of Italy from 1987 until 1988. Biography Background and early life Goria was born in Asti (Piedmont). Goria was an a ...
.


Political career

From 28 May 1990 to 14 June 2004, Crosetto served as mayor of
Marene Marene is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about south of Turin and about northeast of Cuneo Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo ...
, a small village near Cuneo where he lives, for three times. In 1999, Crosetto was candidated to the presidency of the
Province of Cuneo The province of Cuneo (; ) is a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west, it borders the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ( departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Hautes-Alpes), to the north the ...
, as an independent close to the
centre-right coalition The centre-right coalition () is a political alliance of political parties in Italy active under several forms and names since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed the party. It has mostly competed with the centre-left c ...
. He reached the ballot against the outgoing candidate of the centre-left, the former Christian-democrat Giovanni Quaglia, but he lost. He held the office of provincial councilor of Cuneo from 1999 to 2009, holding the position of group leader of
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), the
centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
political movement member of
European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...
(EPP) which was founded by the billionaire and media tycoon
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 ...
and which he joined in 2000. He chaired the conference of Mayors of the Savigliano-Saluzzo-Fossano ASL from 1993 to 1997. In the
2001 Italian general election The 2001 Italian general election was held in Italy on 13 May 2001 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. The election was won by the centre-right coalition House of Freedoms led by Silvio Berlusconi, defea ...
, he was elected to the
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...
with Forza Italia for the single-member district of
Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English-language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingd ...
, gaining 49% of votes. Crosetto was re-elected in the 2006 election and in 2008 he joined the Berlusconi's new
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) party, with which he was elected again to the Chamber. Crosetto served as Undersecretary of State at the Italian Ministry of Defense in Berlusconi's fourth government from 2008 to 2011.


Founder of Brothers of Italy

After Berlusconi's resignation in November 2011, Crosetto criticized the formation of the new cabinet led by pro-austerity economist
Mario Monti Mario Monti (; born 19 March 1943) is an Italian politician, economist and academic who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a Technocratic government (Italy), technocratic government in the wake of the European sov ...
. In December 2012, he founded
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), a
national conservative National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity, communitarianism and the public role of religion. It shares aspects of traditionalist conservatism and social conserva ...
party in opposition to the PdL and to the Monti government, with
Giorgia Meloni Giorgia Meloni (; born 15 January 1977) is an Italian politician who has served as Prime Minister of Italy since 2022. She is the first woman to hold the office. A member of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy), Chamber of Deputies since 2006, s ...
and
Ignazio La Russa Ignazio Benito Maria La Russa (born 18 July 1947) is an Italian politician who is serving as President of the Senate of the Republic (Italy), president of the Senate of the Republic since 2022 President of the Italian Senate election, 13 Octob ...
, From 20 December 2012 until 4 April 2013, Crosetto served as president of the party. As a candidate for the Senate of the Republic, Crosetto failed to be elected in the 2013 general election, because FdI votes did not exceed the threshold set at 3% by the electoral law known as '' Porcellum.'' In the following year, Crosetto ran in the
2014 European Parliament election in Italy The 2014 European Parliament election in Italy took place on 25 May 2014. Italy elected 73 Member of the European Parliament, MEPs out of 751 European Parliament seats. The governing Democratic Party (Italy), Democratic Party (PD) won the elect ...
, but he was not elected because once again FdI votes did not exceed the threshold set at 4% for European elections in Italy. On the same day, Crosetto ran in the 2014 Piedmontese regional election as gubernatiorial candidate for FdI and ran alone outside the
centre-right coalition The centre-right coalition () is a political alliance of political parties in Italy active under several forms and names since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed the party. It has mostly competed with the centre-left c ...
led by Berlusconi's FI. In this election,
Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been List of F ...
's
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 ...
(LN) was allied with FI against FdI, supporting Gilberto Pichetto Fratin's candidacy. In the election, Crosetto arrived at the fourth place, gaining only 5.2% of votes. Following the 2014 election defeats, Crosetto retired from politics in September 2014 and Salvini became closer to Giorgia Meloni's FdI because, without Crosetto, the party moved further to the right-wing. Crosetto returned to politics when the deputy Daniela Santanchè, a right-wing businesswoman and former member of PdL and FI in Lombardy, joined Meloni's FdI in December 2017. Crosetto and Santanchè in FdI represented the
small and medium-sized enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organiza ...
of Northern Italy in the
2018 Italian general election The 2018 Italian general election was held on 4 March 2018 after the Italian Parliament was Dissolution of parliament in Italy, dissolved by President Sergio Mattarella on 28 December 2017. Voters were electing the 630 members of the Chamber of ...
and they became respectively members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic because the party's electoral support increased, surpassing 4.3% of votes at the national level, for the first time. However, Crosetto resigned on 13 March 2019 to continue his business career, and after two days his former seat was assigned to the first candidate on the list of non-elected at the 2018 general election, the businesswoman and FdI member Lucrezia Mantovani. In April and May 2019, as non-candidate spokesman of the party, Crosetto helped Meloni in the campaign for 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 ...
and FdI, which became a member of
European Conservatives and Reformists European Conservatives and Reformists may refer to: *European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party), a soft Eurosceptic European political party *European Conservatives and Reformists Group The European Conservatives and Reformists ...
(ECR), increased its electoral support, surpassing 6.4% of national level votes, for the first time.


Business career in the defense sector

In September 2014 Guido Crosetto left his political commitment and was appointed President of the Federation of Italian Companies for Aerospace, Defence and Security (AIAD) of
Confindustria The General Confederation of Italian Industry (), commonly known as Confindustria, is the Italy, Italian small, medium, and big enterprises federation, acting as a private and autonomous chamber of commerce, founded in 1910. The association netwo ...
and in the same year he became ''Senior Advisor'' to
Leonardo S.p.A. Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the 12th largest ...
In April 2020 he was appointed Chairman of Orizzonte Sistemi Navali, a company created as a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
between
Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...
and
Leonardo S.p.A. Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the 12th largest ...
, which operates in the naval engineering and systems sector, designing and building military naval units, in particular
corvettes A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...
,
frigates A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...
and
aircraft carriers An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the capital ship of a fl ...
.


Minister of Defence

In 2022, a
snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...
was called after the 2022 Italian government crisis which brought to the fall of the national unity government of
Mario Draghi Mario Draghi (; born 3 September 1947) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, banker, statesman, and civil servant, who served as the prime minister of Italy from 13 February 2021 to 22 October 2022. Prior to his appointment as prime mi ...
opposed by FdI, in a record-low
voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...
election, Brothers of Italy became the largest party in the country, gaining more than 26% of votes and the centre-right coalition won a clear majority in both houses. Crosetto did not run in the election, however, he campaigned for FdI and its leader, Meloni. On 22 October 2022, Crosetto was appointed
Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...
in the government led by Meloni herself, who became the first woman to serve as Prime Minister of Italy. As a minister, Crosetto became one of the most vocal supporters of
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
against the Russian invasion. In February 2023, he stated that the Ukrainian resistance was "a battle for freedom, a battle for international law, a battle for Europe". Moreover he added that the
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
's military support to
Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...
's government prevented the break out of
World War III World War III, also known as the Third World War, is a hypothetical future global conflict subsequent to World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). It is widely predicted that such a war would involve all of the great powers, ...
, which would have been inevitable if "Russian tanks reached Kyiv". Due to his statements, Crosetto has often been the target of attacks from members of the Russian government and elite. Former president
Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...
labeled him as "foolish", while
Yevgeny Prigozhin Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin (1 June 1961 – 23 August 2023) was a Russian mercenary leader and oligarch. He led the Wagner Group, a private military company, and was a close confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin until launching a ...
, founder of the
Wagner Group The Wagner Group (), officially known as PMC Wagner (, ), is a Russian state-funded private military company (PMC) controlled 2023 Wagner Group plane crash, until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Pu ...
, heavily insulted him. On 15 March, the Italian newspaper ''
Il Foglio ("The Paper"), or more formally ("The daily Paper"), is an Italian daily newspaper with nationwide circulation. It was founded in 1996 by Giuliano Ferrara, an Italian journalist, television host, and politician. Since 2015, it has been edited ...
'' reported that the Wagner Group put a 15 million
euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
bounty on Crosetto. During his ministry, Crosetto often criticized the migration policies promoted by Germany and its
chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...
Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born 14 June 1958) is a German politician who served as the Chancellor of Germany from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Ge ...
. In May 2024, he criticized Israel's actions during the
Rafah offensive On 6 May 2024, Israel began a military offensive in and around the city of Rafah as part of Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip (2023–present), its invasion of the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war. In early May, as ceasefire negotiations stal ...
in the
Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
. After a few days, he expressed opposition to the use of Western-supplied weapons for attacks inside Russia and stressed the need to "leave open the possibility of negotiating an immediate truce and initiating peace talks in the coming months." On 10 October 2024, Israeli troops opened fire at three
UNIFIL The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (; ), or UNIFIL (; ) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission established on 19 March 1978 by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426, and several further resolutions in 2006 to con ...
positions in
South Lebanon Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa districts, the southernmost distr ...
, including UNIFIL's main base at
Naqoura An-Naqoura (, ''Enn Nâqoura, Naqoura, An Nāqūrah'') is a municipality in southern Lebanon. Since March 23, 1978, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been headquartered in An-Naqoura. Etymology According to E. H. Palmer ( ...
, in the area of responsibility of the Italian contingent. The attack damaged communication systems between the base and the UNIFIL command in Naqoura. Crosetto described the attack as a "possible
war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...
" and urgently summoned the Israeli ambassador to Italy over the events that occurred at the UNIFIL bases, where Italian personnel operate. He also contacted
Israeli Defense Minister The Ministry of Defense (, acronym: ) of the government of Israel, is the governmental department responsible for defending the State of Israel from internal and external military threats. Its political head is the defense minister of Israel, ...
Yoav Gallant Yoav Gallant (; born 8 November 1958) is an Israeli politician and former military officer who served as Ministry of Defense (Israel), minister of defense between 2022 and 2024. Gallant was an officer in the Southern Command (Israel), Southern ...
for a discussion and a formal protest asking for guarantees on the safety of Italian personnel and UNIFIL bases.


Electoral history


Notes


References


External links

*
Orizzonte Sistemi Navali S.p.A
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crosetto, Guido 1963 births Brothers of Italy politicians Candidates for President of Italy Forza Italia politicians Ministers of defence of Italy Living people Meloni Cabinet People from Cuneo The People of Freedom politicians Right-wing populists