Roberto Maroni

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Onorevole
 Roberto Maroni

Incumbent
Assumed office 
8 May 2008
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
Preceded by Giuliano Amato
In office
May 5, 1994 – January 17, 1995
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
Preceded by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi interim
Nicola Mancino
Succeeded by Antonio Brancaccio

Italian Minister of Labour and Welfare
In office
June 11, 2001 – May 17, 2006
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
Preceded by Cesare Salvi
Succeeded by Cesare Damiano

Born March 15, 1955 (1955-03-15) (age 53)
Varese, Italy
Nationality Italian
Political party Lega Nord
Residence Rome

Roberto Maroni (born March 15, 1955) is an Italian politician from Varese. He is a member of the Northern League (Italian: Lega Nord) party.

In 1979, he received a law degree, with a dissertation in Civil Law, from the University of Milan. He became a lawyer after spending two years working as a Legal Affairs Manager for various companies. [1]

In 1990, he was elected Province Secretary of the Northern League in Varese. He also became a town councilor in Varese that year. Two years later, he was elected Chairman of the Northern League Parliamentary Group. He also entered the party's Federal Council and campaigned heavily for the Northern League prior to Berlusconi's first Cabinet.

He was Minister of the Interior during the first Silvio Berlusconi administration, from 1994 to 1995 and Minister of Labour and Welfare during Berlusconi's second and third governments, from 2001 until May 2006. [2]

In April 2006, after Berlusconi narrowly lost his re-election bid to Romano Prodi, Maroni alleged problems with the election comparable to those in Florida during the 2000 Presidential election. "The level pegging is very similar to what happened in Florida. With one vote more or one vote less, you lose or you win," he said. [3]

In September 2006, Maroni told Vanity Fair that he downloads music illegally and thinks music should be "free and accessible to all". [4] He added that authors should still be able to stop their work from being widely distributed on the Internet. Maroni said his confession was intended to spark a discussion in Parliament about changing Italy's copyright laws, which are among the strictest in Europe. [5]

Maroni was convicted of resistance against a public official during a police raid of his party's building in via Bellerio in Milan, and sentenced to 4 months and 20 days.

Political offices
Preceded by
Nicola Mancino
Italian Minister of the Interior
1994 – 1995
Succeeded by
Antonio Brancaccio
Preceded by
Cesare Salvi
Italian Minister of Labour and Welfare
2001 – 2006
Succeeded by
Cesare Damiano
Preceded by
Giuliano Amato
Italian Minister of the Interior
2008 – present
Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by
Roberto Ronchi
Northern League Federal Secretariat Coordinator
1994 – 2001
Succeeded by
Francesco Speroni
Preceded by
Francesco Speroni
Northern League Federal Secretariat Coordinator
2005 – present
Incumbent
Preceded by
Andrea Gibelli
Northern League leader in the Chamber of Deputies
2006 – 2008
Succeeded by
Roberto Cota