Sebastiano "Nello" Musumeci (born 21 January 1955) is a right-wing Italian politician. Musumeci is serving as

Minister for Civil Protection and Maritime Policies The minister for civil protection and maritime policies (Italian: ''ministro per la protezione civile e politiche del mare'') is one of the positions in the Cabinet of Italy, Italian government. The minister coordinates the relations between the g ...

since 22 October 2022 in the government of

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 ...

. He previously served as president of Sicily from 18 November 2017 until 13 October 2022. Musumeci 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 ...

for the Italian seat

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, where he was a member of the

Union for a Europe of Nations Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN) was a national-conservative, Eurosceptic political group that operated in the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009. At its height in February 2008, it had 44 MEPs. UEN was affiliated with the Alliance ...

parliamentary group. He sat on 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 ...

Committee on Fisheries The Committee on Fisheries (PECH) is a committee of the European Parliament. Chris Davies was the chairman (2019 – 2020) - until the United Kingdom left the European Union. Committee mandate PECH is the European Parliament committee responsi ...

and its

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

Biography

Musumeci was born in Militello in Val di Catania,

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

. At the age of fifteen, Musumeci became a member of Giovane Italia, the youth organization of "

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 ...

", a neo-fascist and post-fascist political party in Italy. After completing his studies in communication sciences, Musumeci began working as a banker at the

UniCredit UniCredit S.p.A. (formerly UniCredito Italiano S.p.A.) is an Italian multinational banking group headquartered in Milan. It is a systemically important bank (according to the list provided by the Financial Stability Board in 2022) and the world' ...

group a global banking and financial services company. Following his stint as a banker, he began his career as a journalist. In the 1980s, Musumeci also taught at the Istituto Supreriore di Giornalismo in Catania. Later, Musumeci became one of the founders of the Istituto Siciliano di Studi Politici ed Economici (ISSPE). At the age of twenty, he served as a municipal councilor in his hometown of Militello in Val di Catania. Soon, he became Deputy Mayor of Gravina di Catania and Castel de Judica. In 1990, he was elected Provincial Councilor of Catania and in 1994, as a member of the MSI and not yet forty, he became President of the province of Catania. In 1995, Musumeci joined the National Alliance Party and represented the region as a Member of the European Parliament in Brussels. Committed to fighting crime, Musumeci became president of the regional anti-mafia commission. Between the years 1995-2001, and again between 2005 and 2006, Musumeci received several threats from the mafia and was forced to live under guard. He is the founder and current leader of DiventeràBellissima, a regionalist party of Sicily, after having left National Alliance in 2005 and founded the Sicilian Alliance. He ran unsuccessfully for the presidency of the Sicilian Region in 2006 obtaining 5.3% of the votes, and again in 2012 when he came second with 25.7%. He was a substitute for the

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, as well as for the delegation to the EU-

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joint parliamentary committee.

President of Sicily

In November 2017, Musumeci won the Sicilian Regional Election with 39.9% of the vote. The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) candidate Giacarlo Canceller received 36.6% and the center-left candidate Fabrizio Micari representing the Democratic Party received 18.6%. Musumeci also secured a majority in the regional assembly when his center-right coalition received 36 of 70 seats. Musumeci won the election with the support of Silvio Berlusconi, founder of the centre-right party

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), who campaigned heavily for him in the runup to the election. Former PM Berlusconi promised the citizens of Sicily everything from a bridge over the

Strait of Messina The Strait of Messina (; ) is a narrow strait between the eastern tip of Sicily (Punta del Faro) and the western tip of Calabria (Punta Pezzo) in Southern Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north with the Ionian Sea to the south, with ...

to a casino in

Taormina Taormina ( , , also , ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina, on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy. Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on the Ionian Sea, incl ...

. Following Musumeci's victory, he claimed to "fight for Italy and show what we can do". Besides battling crime, Musumeci is grappling with pressing regional issues, including the

effects of climate change Effects of climate change are well documented and growing for Earth's natural environment and human societies. Changes to the climate system include an Instrumental temperature record, overall warming trend, Effects of climate change on the ...

, as Sicily has been experiencing major weather events that have impacted the coast in Palermo recently. Musumeci will need to decide what to do with the inadequate infrastructure and those left homeless. Also, the Zafferana area in the vicinity of Mount Etna experienced a moderate earthquake on 26 December 2018 that left a number of people injured. The new president is also addressing the promised bridge across the Messina Strait.

Minister

Musumeci became a member of the

Italian Senate The Senate of the Republic (), or simply the Senate ( ), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament, the lower house being the Chamber of Deputies. The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform iden ...

in September 2022, and he serves as Minister for Civil Protection and Sea Policies since 22 October 2022 in the

Meloni Cabinet The Meloni government is the 68th and current government of the Italy, Italian Republic, the first headed by Giorgia Meloni, leader of Brothers of Italy, who is also the first woman to hold the office of Prime Minister of Italy. The government w ...

Education

* 1973:

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

-leaving certificate in

technical Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical area, an area which a manager, other coaching personnel, and substitutes are allowed to occupy during a football match * Technical advisor, a person who ...

subjects * Studies in law * Bank teller and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

publicist * 1983: teacher at the Higher Institute of Journalism of Acireale

Career

* 1994–2003: President of the

Province of Catania The province of Catania (; ) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily, Italy. Its capital was the city of Catania. It had an area of and a total population of about 1,116,917 as of 31 December 2014. Historically known also as ...

* 1994–2009:

* 2002–2004: Regional Coordinator of National Alliance for Sicily * Substitute vice-chairman of Aiccre, "Italian Association of European Municipalities and Regions"See also: 2004 European Parliament election in Italy) * 2011:

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 ...

of Ministry of Labour and Social Policies * 2012–2017: Member of the Sicilian Regional Assembly * 2017–2022: President of Sicily * Since 2022: Member of the Senate

References

External links

* * * * http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sce/data/fast_access/doc//PLAN_STRAS_NOV%20%2008.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Musumeci, Nello 1955 births Living people People from Militello in Val di Catania Italian neo-fascist politicians Italian Social Movement politicians National Alliance (Italy) politicians The Right (Italy) politicians Brothers of Italy politicians National Alliance (Italy) MEPs MEPs for Italy 2004–2009 Presidents of the Province of Catania Meloni Cabinet Government ministers of Italy University of Catania alumni