Pier Ferdinando Casini

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Onorevole
 Pier Ferdinando Casini
Pier Ferdinando Casini

In office
May 31, 2001 – April 29, 2006
Preceded by Luciano Violante
Succeeded by Fausto Bertinotti

Incumbent
Assumed office 
April 21, 2006
Constituency Lombardia I

Born December 3, 1955 (1955-12-03) (age 52)
Bologna, Italy
Nationality Italian
Political party UDC

Pier Ferdinando (or Pierferdinando) Casini (born 3 December 1955) is an Italian politician.

President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 2001 to 2006, Casini is currently President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Co-President of the Christian Democratic International (with Vicente Fox), and majority faction leader of the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC).

[edit] Career

Casini was born in Bologna.

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 UDC in 2002. In 2001, after 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).

Today he is 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 Italian elections (to be held on April 13, 2008) began, Casini officially detached himself from Berlusconi's 'People of Freedom' (new name of what was 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 is running on a purely 'centrist' platform and is negotiating with other centre parties such as the UDEUR of Clemente Mastella and the Rosa Bianca of Savino Pezzotta.

[edit] Familiar 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.

[edit] References



Political offices
Preceded by
Luciano Violante
President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies
2001-2006
Succeeded by
Fausto Bertinotti
Assembly seats
Preceded by
Title jointly held
member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies
1983 - present
Incumbent