Giulio Andreotti

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Giulio Andreotti
Signature of Giulio Andreotti

Giulio Andreotti [ ˈʤuːljo andreˈɔtti ] (born January 14, 1919 in Rome ; † May 6, 2013 ibid) was an Italian politician and one of the most important representatives of the Democrazia Cristiana (DC). He also worked as a writer and journalist .

Andreotti was at the center of Italian politics during the second half of the 20th century. He was involved in various ministerial positions in a total of 33 governments (from 54 between 1945 and 1999) and was Italian Prime Minister seven times . Andreotti was the youngest member of the Constituent Assembly and from 1948-1991 a member of the Italian Parliament . He was appointed Senator for life by the Italian President Francesco Cossiga on May 31, 1991 .

Andreotti was accused of involvement with the Mafia . In 2004 the legal proceedings came to an end with a final acquittal.

In relation to his long political career, he is often cited as the author of the phrase "Power only rubs those who don't have it," but quoted Talleyrand .

Life

Giulio was born in Rome as the third child of primary school teacher Filippo Alfonso Andreotti. He grew up in modest circumstances. The family lived in a house on Via dei Prefetti that belonged to his aunt Mariannina. He attended elementary school in Piazza della Maddalena and later also high school. His religious upbringing took place in the family and through the parish of Santa Maria in Aquiro. During this time he also became an altar boy in his parish. After attending school, he began studying law at La Sapienza University in Rome and was involved in the Catholic student movement. During this time he also met the President Aldo Moro . Giulio Andreotti passed the law exam in 1941. But actually he wanted to be a journalist. However, after being released from military service, he continued his studies with a specialization in canon law. In his dissertation he dealt with the topic “The aim of church punishment”.

Start of political career

During the time of Italian fascism, Giulio Andreotti was involved in the Association of Catholic Universities - the FUCI. In his position as FUCI President he published the weekly “Azione Fucina”. During his presidency he also met with representatives of the resistance. Especially with the anti-fascist Alcide De Gasperi (1881–1954), to whom he remained closely associated throughout his life. This persuaded him to work in the then illegally appearing magazine Il Popolo . During this time he also wrote articles for the Rivista del Lavoro , a publication of fascist propaganda . In August 1944 he resigned the FUCI presidency in order to be able to get more involved in politics.

In August 1944 he was elected to the National Council, the leadership of the Democrazia Cristiana . Here he was largely responsible for the party's youth work. On June 2, 1946, he became a member of the constituent assembly. He was the youngest member of this body. In 1947 he was first elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies for the constituency of Rome - Latina - Viterbo - Frosinone .

Also since 1944 he was a close associate of the future Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi . As a confidante of De Gasperi, Andreotti became director of the weekly magazine “La Punta”. There were great differences in character and method between the two, so that Indro Montanelli once put it: "When they went to church together, De Gasperi spoke to God, Andreotti to the priest". Andreotti tended more towards pragmatism and concrete political goals.

On April 16, 1945, Guilo Andreotti married Livia Danese. This marriage resulted in 4 children: Lamberto, Stefano, Marilena and Serena.

Participation in government in the 1950s and 1960s

Giulio Andreotti (1963)

From 1947 to 1954 Andreotti was second state secretary in the fourth government under De Gasperi. Numerous other government participations followed. He headed the finance department in this government until 1958. During this time he was involved in the conclusion of the Treaty of Rome establishing the EEC and in the founding of the European Atomic Energy Agency EURATOM. In this management position he led the fight against smuggling of oil products.

During this time he gathered around him a group of right-wing clergy who had already tried to enter the Senate in 1952 with the approval of the Vatican. They started a press campaign linking Piero Piccioni , son of Foreign Minister Attilio Piccioni , to the murder of Wilma Montesi . The ensuing affair led to Piccioni's resignation. In this way Andreotti and his people ousted De Gasperi's supporters from the party leadership.

In the government of Amintore Fanfani from July 1958, he also took over the office of finance minister. In August of the same year he became involved in the Cosa Nostra affair involving Tommaso Buscetta and Antonino Giuffrè , but acquitted of all allegations in December of the same year. On the other hand, a parliamentary commission of inquiry reprimanded him from 1961 to 1962 for irregularities in the construction of the Rome-Fiumicino airport .

On November 20, 1958, the National Assembly of COMI unanimously appointed Andreotti President of the Organizing Committee of the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

From 1959 he was active in the second government of Amintore Fanfani as defense minister. Under his leadership, the modernization of the Italian armed forces and the procurement of nuclear submarines began. During this time there were plans in 1964 for a coup d'état by the Carabinieri (piano solo) by Giovanni De Lorenzo and other members of the SIFAR secret service , who had filed incriminating files on a total of 157,000 citizens and politicians. Andreotti's ministry was entrusted with the removal of the files after a corresponding change in the law. However, these were photocopied, sent to the Masonic Lodge Propaganda Due under Licio Gelli and taken abroad, contrary to the order of the parliamentary committee of inquiry, according to which they should be disposed of in a waste incineration plant in Fiumicino .

First Prime Minister

Andreotti (left) in 1973 with Frank Sinatra and Richard Nixon

Andreotti was Prime Minister for the first time from 1972 to 1973. In his foreign policy, he mediated between the various currents within the DC and tried to build intensive relationships in the sense of a policy of détente. On the one hand he defended the idea of NATO and on the other hand he established relations with the countries of the Mediterranean and the Arab world. After signing the Helsinki Final Act , which promised further democratization of the countries of the Eastern Bloc, Andreotti used the opportunity to establish economic relations between Italy and the Soviet Union.

As Defense Minister he gave Massimo Caprara a famous interview in 1974 in which the institutional protection of the main accused Guido Giannettini in the trial of the 1969 bomb attack in Piazza Fontana was revealed. Andreotti was acquitted in 1982 of the charge of protecting Giannettini.

Historic compromise

In 1976 the government under Aldo Moro lost the support of the socialists in parliament, so that a new election had to be held early, from which the Communist Party of Italy ( Partito Comunista Italiano , PCI) under Enrico Berlinguer emerged stronger. The DC remained the strongest force, but with only a few votes behind. Due to the good election results, Berlinguer demanded participation in the government in line with the historical compromise , which Aldo Moro strongly supported on the part of the DC.

Aldo Moro captured by the Red Brigades

Andreotti was tasked with forming a government, which came into being in July 1976. The government fell apart in 1978. A few days before his abduction by the Red Brigades , Aldo Moro urged a new government under Andreotti, a minority government that should be tolerated by almost all parties (with the exception of MSI , PLI and SVP ). The possibility to do so was expressed in a positive vote of confidence. After Moro's kidnapping, the minority government, National Solidarity, came about, although Andreotti did not want to implement all of the PCI's demands, which sparked discontent in the party. He refused any negotiations with the terrorists and took a "line of hardship". The murder of Moro in May 1978 gave him enough backing to enforce drastic laws, such as health reform. The communists' request to become more involved in government was rejected by the DC. As a consequence, Andreotti resigned in January 1979.

When forming government coalitions, Andreotti advocated a “strategy of two ovens” (strategia dei due forni) , according to which he turned to either the communist PCI or the socialist PSI for a relative majority , depending on which of the two “the price of Makes bread the cheapest ”. For a long time, this led to resentment with Bettino Craxi (PSI): He was humiliated that Andreotti had set the date for early elections in Italy in 1979 at a week before the first European elections (disregarding a request by PSI that a coincidence of the dates would be more favorable held), and relations were completely shaken when the illegal funding of internal party currents directed against Craxi was attributed to the circle around Andreotti. Craxi then vetoed all government formations in the following legislative period - apart from the period from 1968 to 1972, this was the few years of the first republic in which Andreotti held no government post.

Foreign Minister and last Prime Ministerial

From 1979 to 1983 Andreotti was Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In 1983 he was appointed Foreign Minister in the first Craxi government, a post he would hold in subsequent governments until 1989. Building on his decades of experience as a politician, he mediated in the dialogue between the USA and the USSR. There were several clashes with Craxi within the government, but both agreed on pro-Arab foreign policy, and together they stood for a negotiated solution to the hijacking of the Achille Lauro ship .

Because of these developments, he then became the go-between between Craxi and the DC, whose relations were far from good. Clashes between the charismatic socialist leader and the Christian Democratic general secretary Ciriaco De Mita were the order of the day. Newspapers finally spoke of the triangle CAF (Craxi-Andreotti Forlani ). When De Mita withdrew the premier presidency in 1989, Andreotti was given this office for the last time, which he held until 1992. On August 3, 1990, Andreotti informed the public for the first time in the context of a parliamentary question about the existence of the Gladio organization , which would have become active if the enemy had invaded and occupied the country.

Senator for life

Giulio Andreotti (left) 2008

In May 1991 Giulio Andreotti was appointed Senator for life by the President Francesco Cossiga for his political services. The following year he was promoted as one of the candidates for the office of President . This candidacy did not materialize, however, due to the murder of the Italian "mafia hunter" Giovanni Falcone in Palermo, after Salvo Lima had been killed by the mafia two months earlier . Andreotti and his supporters, who were repeatedly suspected of being involved with the Mafia, were accused of ineptitude in fighting organized crime.

Due to a serious corruption affair in Milan, the so-called Tangentopoli , DC and PSI disbanded in 1994 in the course of the legal investigation Mani pulite (clean hands) . The party called itself back to Partito Popolare Italiano (PPI), from which it emerged in the 1940s.

After the parliamentary elections in Italy in 2006 , which were narrowly won by Romano Prodi's party alliance L'Unione , some members of the center-right parties spoke out in favor of Andreotti's senate presidency, as he could act as an intermediary in the growing division between left and right forces . In April 2006 Andreotti applied for the office of President of the Senate for the still ruling party alliance Casa delle Libertà of Prime Minister Berlusconi . In the first ballot he received 140 votes and thus not the required absolute majority; However, his opponent Franco Marini from the left also fell through with 157 votes, but the latter was ultimately elected. In 2013 Andreotti joined the Autonomous Group with five senators from the Trentino-South Tyrol region , the senator from Aosta and two non-attached socialists.

Alleged involvement with the mafia

Andreotti was able to fend off the lifting of his parliamentary immunity 28 times , only the 29th attempt led to its lifting. In 1993 there were the first trials for Andreotti's alleged mafia privileges . The Mafioso Calogero Ganci, who planned the murder of Dalla Chiesa , testified in 1993 that the Mafia had done Andreotti a service because of the affair of the murder of Aldo Moro, which Dalla Chiesa was pursuing. Immediately after Dalla Chiesa's murder, the investigation files into the Aldo Moro case were stolen. The first trial for the murder of the journalist Carmine ("Mino") Pecorelli on March 20, 1979 ended in September 1999 after three years with an acquittal. In the second instance, Andreotti was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment together with Mafia boss Gaetano Badalamenti on November 17, 2002. The court saw it as proven that Andreotti had given the order for the murder. That sentence was overturned on appeal on May 2, 2003 for lack of evidence. In the same year Andreotti was acquitted of the allegation of connection to the Mafia due to the statute of limitations that had come into effect. Andreotti is said to have tried - in vain - in 1976 to prevent the collapse of the construction company of his friends, the Caltagirone brothers, with checks from a finance company run by the mafia. Gaetano Caltagirone had paid high illegal campaign subsidies to the Andreotti group in previous years. This is said to have triggered the Italcasse scandal. He is also said to have met Michele Sindona when the police were looking for him.

It is alleged that Andreotti had contacts with the Sicilian Mafia during his time as a leading Italian politician. In 1980 he is said to have met with mafia boss Stefano Bontade to protest the murder of his party friend Piersanti Mattarella. In 1987 a meeting with Salvatore Riina , the most powerful Sicilian mafioso at the time , is said to have taken place, who at that time had been on the run for a decade and a half and is said to have been responsible for around 1,000 murders.

In the judgment of the Court of Appeal of October 15, 2004, it was later found that there was no evidence of Andreotti's meeting with Salvatore Riina. The corresponding statements of the key witness Baldassare "Balduccio" Di Maggio are "confused and contradicting".

Government offices

Office mandate government
Secretary of the Council of Ministers May 31, 1947 to May 23, 1948 De Gasperi IV
Secretary of the Council of Ministers May 23, 1948 to January 12, 1950 De Gasperi V
Secretary of the Council of Ministers January 27, 1950 to July 16, 1951 De Gasperi VI
Secretary of the Council of Ministers July 26, 1951 to June 29, 1953 De Gasperi VII
Secretary of the Council of Ministers July 16, 1953 to August 2, 1953 De Gasperi VIII
Secretary of the Council of Ministers August 17, 1953 to January 5, 1954 Pella
Interior minister January 18, 1954 to January 30, 1954 Fanfani I
Finance minister July 6, 1955 to May 6, 1957 Segni I
Finance minister May 19, 1957 to June 19, 1958 Zoli
Treasury minister July 1, 1958 to February 15, 1959 Fanfani II
Defense Minister February 15, 1959 to March 23, 1960 Segni II
Defense Minister March 25, 1960 to July 26, 1960 Tambroni
Defense Minister July 26, 1960 to February 21, 1962 Fanfani III
Defense Minister February 21, 1962 to June 21, 1963 Fanfani IV
Defense Minister June 21, 1963 to December 4, 1963 Leone I
Defense Minister December 4, 1963 to July 22, 1964 Moro I.
Defense Minister July 22, 1964 to February 23, 1966 Moro II
Minister for Industry, Trade and Crafts February 23, 1966 to June 24, 1968 Moro III
Minister for Industry, Trade and Crafts June 24, 1968 to December 12, 1968 Leone II
Prime Minister February 17, 1972 to June 26, 1972 Andreotti I
Prime Minister June 26, 1972 to July 7, 1973 Andreotti II
Defense Minister March 14, 1974 to November 23, 1974 Rumor V
Minister for Budget and Economic Planning November 23, 1974 to February 12, 1976 Moro IV
Minister for Budget and Economic Planning February 12, 1976 to July 29, 1976 Moro V
Prime Minister July 29, 1976 to March 11, 1978 Andreotti III
Prime Minister March 11, 1978 to March 20, 1979 Andreotti IV
Prime Minister March 20, 1979 to August 4, 1979 Andreotti V
Foreign minister August 4, 1983 to August 1, 1986 Craxi I
Foreign minister August 1, 1986 to April 17, 1987 Craxi II
Foreign Minister and Minister for European Policy April 17, 1987 to July 28, 1987 Fanfani VI
Foreign minister July 28, 1987 to April 13, 1988 Goria
Foreign minister April 13, 1988 to July 22, 1989 De Mita
Prime Minister July 22, 1989 to April 12, 1991 Andreotti VI
Prime Minister April 12, 1991 to June 28, 1992 Andreotti VII

Bon mots

Andreotti, on the one hand a deeply religious person who went to church every morning at six o'clock, was on the other hand also known for his bonmots and irony in Italy.

  • When I go to church, I don't speak to God, only to the priest, because God doesn't vote.
  • If you think badly of others, you commit a sin, but you usually hit well.
  • The only thing I 'm not held responsible for is the Punic Wars because I was too young at the time.

Works (selection)

literature

Cinematic representation

Web links

Commons : Giulio Andreotti  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Giulio Andreotti  - Quotes (Italian)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andreotti, Giulio - Biography in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 45/2008 from November 4, 2008
  2. ↑ “Quando andavano in chiesa insieme, De Gasperi parlava con Dio, Andreotti col prete”, in an interview with Il Corriere on November 14, 2007.
  3. ↑ SENATO DELLA REPUBBLICA-CAMERA DEI DEPUTATI, XII LEGISLATURA, Doc. XXXIV, n.1, RELAZIONE DEL COMITATO PARLAMENTARE PER I SERVIZI DI INFORMAZIONE E SICUREZZA E PER IL SEGRETO DI STATO, § 4.2: "Appare credibile quanto affermato a suo tempo dall'ingegnere Francesco Siniscalchi un Giovanni e dai dottori Ermenegildo circa possibile donazione di fascicoli che l'ex capo del SIFAR Giovanni Allavena avrebbe effettuato a Gelli al momento di aderire alla loggia P2 nel 1967. Negli anni successivi, inoltre, l'adesione alla loggia di pressoché tutti i principali dirigenti del SID rende più che plausibile un travaso informativo da questi ultimi a Gelli ".
  4. ^ Andreotti, Giulio - Biography in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 45/2008 from November 4, 2008
  5. ^ Zeller parliamentary group leader of the autonomy group in the Senate. (No longer available online.) Südtirol Online, March 18, 2013, archived from the original on March 21, 2013 ; Retrieved March 29, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Andreotti's acquittal. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 7, 2008.
  7. ^ Friederike Hausmann : Little History of Italy , Verlag Klaus Wagenbach , Berlin 2006 ISBN 978-3-8031-2550-7 .
  8. ↑ Alexander Stille : The Judges: The Death, the Mafia and the Italian Republic , CH Beck , Munich, 1997 ISBN 3-406-42303-5 .
  9. ^ Diego Carmena: Processo Andreotti, la Sentenza. ( Memento of December 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: diritto.net , accessed on January 23, 2007 (Italian).
  10. ↑ Italian politicians in the Mafia swamp in Il Divo. moviepilot.de, accessed on September 8, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Murder, Moneten, Garbage Disposal How the Mafia rules Italy: The country's largest economic power holds the reins firmly in hand. kurier.at, accessed on September 8, 2014 : “If you think badly of others, you commit a sin, but you usually hit it well. This sentence comes from Giulio Andreotti ... "
  12. ^ Political careers in Italy Giulio Andreotti. Süddeutsche Zeitung, accessed on September 8, 2014 : "... he commented casually:" The only thing for which I am not held responsible ... "
personal data
SURNAME Andreotti, Giulio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian politician, member of the camera, member of the Senato della Repubblica
DATE OF BIRTH January 14, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH May 6, 2013
Place of death Rome