Quick Facts
Biography
Pier Ferdinando Casini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjɛr ferdiˈnando kaˈzini]; born 3 December 1955) is an Italian politician. He was President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 2001 to 2006. Casini is currently Honorific President of the Centrist Democrat International and Honorary President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and formerly was majority faction leader of the Union of the Centre (UdC).
Biography
Casini was born in Bologna and graduated with a degree in law. He was first elected in 1983 for the Christian Democracy party. In 1993, he was amongst the founders of the Christian Democratic Centre (CCD), which merged into Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC) in 2002. In 2001, after Silvio Berlusconi's victory in the general election, Casini was chosen by the newly formed parliament as President of the Chamber of Deputies (the Italian lower house of parliament). Up to 2006, with his UDC, he was widely regarded as one of the primary members of the House of Freedoms, and sometimes spoken of as a possible successor to Berlusconi himself as leader of the coalition. However, as the campaign for the 2008 general election began, Casini officially detached himself from Berlusconi's coalition, refusing to enter his new 'People of Freedom' (PdL) party, preferring to contest the election alone. In a speech to his UDC party, Casini said that "not everyone is for sale", in a not so veiled statement about Berlusconi's political tactics. Casini ran on a purely 'centrist' platform, expanding the UDC into the Union of the Centre (UdC) along with Savino Pezzotta's White Rose. After 2008, he remained in opposition. At the 2009 Administrative elections, alliances were decided on a local bases, sometimes with PdL, and sometimes with the Democratic Party.
Honour
Friends
Pier Ferdinando Casini rompe fortunatamente per tempo con Carlo Giovanardi: il 10 maggio 2017 la Commissione antimafia invita Carlo Giovanardi a ritirarsi dai lavori perché sottoposto ad indagine. "Provvedimento senza precedenti".
Foreign honour
Malaysia : Honorary Grand Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (2003)
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Luciano Violante | President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies 2001-2006 | Succeeded by Fausto Bertinotti |
| Italian Chamber of Deputies | ||
| Preceded by Title jointly held | Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Legislatures: IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI | Succeeded by Title jointly held |
| Italian Senate | ||
| Preceded by Title jointly held | Member of the Italian Senate Legislatures: XVII | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| New title | Secretary of the Christian Democratic Centre 1994–2001 | Succeeded by Marco Follini |
| Leader of the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats 2002–present | Incumbent | |
| Preceded by José María Aznar | Co-President of the Centrist Democrat International Serving alongside Vicente Fox | |
| Preceded by Luca Volontè | UDC Group Leader at the Chamber of Deputies | Succeeded by Gian Luca Galletti |