Pier Ferdinando Casini
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| Onorevole Pier Ferdinando Casini |
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| In office May 31, 2001 – April 29, 2006 |
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| Preceded by | Luciano Violante |
| Succeeded by | Fausto Bertinotti |
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| Assumed office April 21, 2006 |
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| Constituency | Lombardia I |
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| Born | December 3, 1955 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 | ||
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| Preceded by Luciano Violante |
President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies 2001-2006 |
Succeeded by Fausto Bertinotti |
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| Preceded by Title jointly held |
member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies 1983 - present |
Incumbent |
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