Raffaele Lombardo ; (born 29 October 1950) is an Italian politician. Born in

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

, he was

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. ...

's president and former

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 Islands with the

Movement for the Autonomies Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

, and has 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 Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs 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 ...

. In 2005, Lombardo split off from the

Union of Christian and Centre Democrats The Union of the Centre (, UdC), whose complete name is Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (''Unione dei Democratici Cristiani e Democratici di Centro'', UDC), is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Lorenzo Cesa is the part ...

(UDC) to form the autonomist Sicilian-based

Movement for Autonomy Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger ...

(MpA), after he had accused the UDC leadership of being too centralist. In 2008, he was elected as president of Sicily, obtaining over 65% of the regional votes and defeating

Anna Finocchiaro Anna Finocchiaro Fidelbo (; born 31 March 1955) is an Italian politician. She was the Democratic Party's leader in the Senate from 2007 to 2013. She served as Minister for Equal Opportunities in the cabinet of Romano Prodi from 1996 to 1998. Bio ...

of the Democratic Party (PD). On 31 July 2012, he resigned from the presidency because he was under investigation for external contribution with mafia and pork-barrelling, as it appears that he had relationships with some figure of

Cosa Nostra The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (, ; "our thing"), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. Emerging as a form of local protect ...

. Nevertheless, in the following elections he managed to have his 23 years old son Toti elected in the Sicilian Regional Assembly. On 19 February 2014, he was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for mafia association. In 2022, he was acquitted in the second appeal trial; the acquittal was confirmed by Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation in 2023.

Education

* 1968:

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 classical subjects * Graduate in

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

and surgery * Specialisation in

forensic Forensic science combines principles of law and science to investigate criminal activity. Through crime scene investigations and laboratory analysis, forensic scientists are able to link suspects to evidence. An example is determining the time and ...

psychiatry * Private practice * 1977: Provincial secretary of the Catania Youth DC * Regional secretary of the

Christian Democratic Centre The Christian Democratic Centre (, CCD) was a Christian-democratic political party in Italy from 1994 to 2002. Formed from a right-wing split from Christian Democracy, the party joined the centre-right coalition, and was a member of the European ...

(CCD) for Sicily * Member of Catania

Municipal Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

for eight years * Several terms as Catania

lor with responsibility for

budget A budget is a calculation plan, usually but not always financial plan, financial, for a defined accounting period, period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including tim ...

, planning, health, cultural heritage, youth issues, and taxation

Career

* 1986−1994: Member of the Sicilian Regional Assembly with

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) * 1991−1992: Assessor for Local Authorities of the Sicilian Regional Executive (resigned for enquiries) * 1999−2008:

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 ...

with CCD * 2003−2008: 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 ...

with UDC * 2008−2012: President of Sicily with MPA

References

External links

Raffaele Lombardo's official website

European Parliament biography of Raffaele Lombardo
* 1950 births Living people Presidents of Sicily Politicians from Catania MEPs for Italy 2004–2009 Movement for the Autonomies MEPs Movement for the Autonomies politicians MEPs for Italy 1999–2004 Christian Democratic Centre politicians Members of the Sicilian Regional Assembly Presidents of the Province of Catania Heads of government who were later imprisoned Italian politicians convicted of crimes Criminals from Sicily {{Italy-MEP-stub