Raffaele Lombardo

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Raffaele Lombardo (2009)

Raffaele Lombardo (born October 29, 1950 in Catania ) is an Italian politician . He was a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2008 , then President of the Autonomous Region of Sicily until 2012 . In addition, he was party chairman of the Movimento per le Autonomie (MpA) from 2005 to 2012 .

life and career

Lombardo began his political career with Democrazia Cristiana (DC) and was chairman of its youth organization in 1977. He was a local councilor and alderman in his hometown of Catania and was elected to the regional parliament of Sicily in 1986 . After the collapse of the DC he belonged to the Centro Cristiano Democratico (CCD) from 1994 , which was allied with Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia .

In the 1999 European elections , he was elected to the European Parliament as a representative of the constituency of the Italian Islands . There he belonged to the Christian Democratic EPP-ED group , was a member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and a delegate for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union . In addition, he was Deputy Mayor of Catania from 2000, then - after the CCD was absorbed into the UDC - from 2003 to 2008 President of the Province of Catania . In 2004 he was elected to the European Parliament for a further legislative period, to which he was a member until 2008, this time as a member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs .

Lombardo left the UDC in April 2005 to found the Movimento per l'Autonomia party. This party was mainly active in Sicily, and to a lesser extent in other southern Italian regions such as Calabria and Puglia , and advocated greater regional autonomy. Lombardo presided over it until his withdrawal in July 2012.

In the regional election in April 2008, he was elected president of the autonomous region of Sicily with over 65% of the vote as a candidate for the center-right alliance of MpA, Berlusconi's Popolo della Libertà (PdL) and UDC . He spoke out in favor of building the bridge over the Strait of Messina . In December 2009, Lombardo terminated the alliance with the PdL and Berlusconi's national center-right government, which he accused of neglecting the south, and participated in the establishment of a Terzo Polo (“Third Pole”) of Italian politics (between center- right and center left camp) together with the UDC, FLI and ApI .

After he was indicted in a trial against the Mafia in 2012 and the Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti had called for his resignation, Lombardo resigned as President of the Autonomous Region of Sicily in early August 2012. In February 2014, he was sentenced in the first instance to six years and eight months in prison, as well as being banned from public office for life for supporting Mafia activities and buying votes. In March 2017, he was acquitted of allegations of mafia support on the appellate court and only upheld the conviction of buying votes, for which he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Hoffmann: The Messina Bridge is threatened with collapse: Rome blocks funding for a major Sicilian project , contribution in the Europa heute series of Deutschlandfunk from September 5, 2012
  2. ^ The episode Monti , In: Der Spiegel from August 6, 2012
  3. ^ Mafia, condannato Lombardo 6 anni e otto mesi di reclusione , In: La Repubblica of February 19, 2014
  4. ↑ Lombardo, assolto concorso mafia. ANSA, March 31, 2017.
predecessor Office successor
Salvatore Cuffaro President of Sicily
2008–2012 		Rosario Crocetta
personal data
SURNAME Lombardo, Raffaele
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian politician (DC), MEP
DATE OF BIRTH October 29, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Catania