Ignazio La Russa

Ignazio La Russa (2018)

Ignazio La Russa (born July 18, 1947 in Paternò , Province of Catania ) is an Italian politician of the Fratelli d'Italia party , whose chairman he was 2013-14. From May 2008 to November 2011, he was Defense Minister in Silvio Berlusconi 's fourth cabinet . He has been Vice President of the Italian Senate since 2018 .

Political career

Like his father, Senator Antonino La Russa , Ignazio La Russa was initially active in the neo-fascist Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI-DN). His family is of Sicilian origin but lives in Milan . Before graduating in law from the University of Pavia , La Russa studied at a Swiss academy in St. Gallen . He then pursued a successful career as a lawyer and represented a. a. the joint plaintiffs in the proceedings against the murder of three people in Milan in 1974/75 by the Red Brigades .

In 1985 he was elected to the Regional Council of Lombardy for the MSI-DN . In 1992 he became a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies ; his mandate was confirmed in the six subsequent parliamentary elections (1994, 1996, 2001, 2006 , 2008 and 2013 ). From 1994 to 1996 he was Vice-President of the Chamber. As part of the transformation and reorientation of the MSI-DN, he was one of the most important founding members of the Alleanza Nazionale (AN) in 1995 .

La Russa (left) with US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta (2011)

After the election victory of Berlusconi's collection list Popolo della Libertà (PdL) in April 2008, Ignazio La Russa was appointed Minister of Defense of Italy on May 8, 2008. On May 11, 2008, he also took over the office of chairman of the AN as the successor to Gianfranco Fini until its dissolution in March 2009. On March 29, 2009, La Russa was appointed to the party executive committee of the PdL's founding congress.

In December 2012, La Russa left the PdL with Giorgia Meloni and other former members as well as Guido Crosetto and founded the right-wing conservative party Fratelli d'Italia . Initially, La Russa, Meloni and Crosetto headed the party as national coordinators; from March 2013 La Russa was party chairman. A year later he gave the chairmanship to Giorgia Meloni and took over the more ceremonial office of president of the national party assembly. In the general election in March 2018 , La Russa was elected to the Italian Senate. Since then he has been Vice-President of this Chamber of Parliament.

La Russa is married and has three sons.

Trivia

In Marco Bellocchio's film, the monster hits the front page! (1973; Italian: Sbatti il ​​mostro in prima pagina ) La Russa appears as a young speaker in original recordings from an MSI rally in Milan.

For the Italian version of an episode of the animated series The Simpsons , La Russa acted as a voice actor : He played the role of the sugar manufacturer Garth Motherloving (Italian Garth AmoreDiMamma ) in the episode The Sweet and Sour Marge (season 13).

La Russa is a fan and shareholder of Inter Milan .

Web links

• Personal website (Italian)
• Profile at the Italian Senate (Italian)
• Profile at the Italian Chamber of Deputies (Italian)
• Profile at openpolis.it (Italian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Chi sono i piccoli azionisti dell'Inter? In: Calciatori Brutti , October 26, 2018.