Pier Ferdinando Casini

Senator Pier Ferdinando Casini
President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies
In office May 31, 2001 – April 29, 2006
President	Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
Preceded by	Luciano Violante
Succeeded by	Fausto Bertinotti
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office July 12, 1983 – March 15, 2013
Member of the Senate
Incumbent
Assumed office March 15, 2013
President of the Centrist Democrat International
Incumbent
Assumed office 2006
Personal details
Born	December 3, 1955 Bologna, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Political party	UdC (since 2008) UDC (2002-2008) CCD (1994-2002) DC (before 1994)
Religion	Roman Catholic

Pier Ferdinando Casini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjɛr ferdiˈnando kaˈzini]; born 3 December 1955) is an Italian politician.^[1] He was President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 2001 to 2006.^[2] Casini is currently Honorary President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), President of the Christian Democratic International, and 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 Italian elections began, Casini officially detached himself from Berlusconi, refusing to enter his 'People of Freedom' (PdL, name of the new party built on the House of Freedoms coalition), preferring to run 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, founding the new Union of the Centre party 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 The People of Freedom, and sometimes with the Democratic Party.

Notes

After his divorce from Roberta Lubich (mother of his two daughters, Maria Carolina and Benedetta), he started dating and eventually moved in with Azzurra Caltagirone, daughter of the famous Roman entrepreneur and publisher Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone. Later they would have a daughter and married on 27 October 2007.

References

1. Mark Donovan,; Paolo Onofri (2009). Italian politics: frustrated aspirations for change. Berghahn Books. p. 100ff. ISBN 978-1-84545-638-2. Retrieved 24 November 2010..
2. Pope John Paul II (26 November 2003). "MESSAGE OF JOHN PAUL II TO HON. MR PIER FERDINANDO CASINI, PRESIDENT OF THE ITALIAN CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES". Vatican. Retrieved 24 November 2010.

External links

• Palazzo Montecitorio