Francesco Cossiga
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Senatore
Francesco Cossiga |
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| In office June 29, 1985 – April 28, 1992 |
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| Prime Minister | Bettino Craxi Amintore Fanfani Giovanni Goria Ciriaco De Mita Giulio Andreotti |
| Preceded by | Himself acting Alessandro Pertini |
| Succeeded by | Giovanni Spadolini acting Oscar Luigi Scalfaro |
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62nd
Prime Minister of Italy |
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| In office 4 August 1979 – 18 October 1980 |
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| President | Alessandro Pertini |
| Preceded by | Giulio Andreotti |
| Succeeded by | Arnaldo Forlani |
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| In office July 12, 1983 – July 3, 1985 |
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| Preceded by | Vittorino Colombo |
| Succeeded by | Amintore Fanfani |
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Italian Minister of the Interior
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| In office July 29, 1976 – May 11, 1978 |
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| Prime Minister | Giulio Andreotti |
| Preceded by | Aldo Moro |
| Succeeded by | Giulio Andreotti |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office April 28, 1992 |
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| Constituency | New Constituency |
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| Born | July 26, 1928 Sassari, Province of Sassari, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Political party | Christian Democracy |
| Spouse | Giuseppa Sigurani |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Francesco Cossiga (born July 26, 1928[1]) is an Italian politician and former President of the Italian Republic. He was also a professor of law at University of Sassari.
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Early career
Cossiga was born in Sassari in the north of Sardinia.[1] He started his political career during World War II in groups of Catholic reference. He is commonly called IPA: [kosˈsiːga], but actually the original pronunciation of his surname is [ˈkɔssiga], with the stress on the first syllable, which means "Corsica"[2]. He is the cousin of Enrico Berlinguer.
He has been several times a minister for Democrazia Cristiana (DC); notably during his stay at Viminale (Ministry for internal affairs) he re-structured Italian police, civil protection and secret services organisations. He was in charge during the kidnapping and murdering of Aldo Moro by Red Brigades and resigned when Moro was found dead in 1978.
Election as President of Italian Senate of Republic
During the ninth republican legislature, he was elected President of Italian Senate 12 July 1983 and he was until 24 June 1985, when he became President of Italian Republic.
Election as President of Italy
Resigning from his post, he earned the respect of the opposition (in particular of the Italian Communist Party) because he appeared as the only member of the government who took responsibility for the tragic conclusion of the events. This led to his election in 1985 as President of the Republic (Head of State), in which for the first time ever a candidate won at the first ballot (where a majority of over ⅔ is necessary, which would subsequently decrease in later ballots). The only other president of the Italian Republic elected at the first ballot was Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in 1999.
The Cossiga Presidency
Cossiga's presidency was unremarkable for its first five years, as most presidents until then refrained entering the open political debate in order to remain figures of reference for the whole nation.
However, in his last two years as a President, Cossiga began to express opinions, at times virulent, against the Italian political system. In his opinion, Italian parties, and especially DC and PCI, had to take into account the deep change that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War would have brought.
These declarations, soon dubbed "esternazioni", or "mattock blows" (picconate), were considered by many inappropriate for a President and, often, beyond his constitutional powers (like threatening to dissolve the Parliament to change government policies or threatening to stop sittings of the CSM - the self-governing council of Italian judiciary -, with police force if it was going to debate "sensitive" informations). Cossiga declared he was just "taking pleasure in removing some sand from my shoes". Cossiga was supported by the secretary of the Italian Socialist Party, Bettino Craxi.
A strong tension with the President of the Council of Ministers Giulio Andreotti emerged when Andreotti revealed the existence of Gladio, a Stay-behind organization with the official aim of countering a possible Soviet invasion through sabotage and guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. Cossiga declared his involvement in the setup of the organization. The Communist Party started a procedure for impeachment (Presidents of Italy can be impeached only for high treason against the State or Attempt to overthrow the Constitution). Though he threatened to stop his impeachment procedure with the dissolution of the Parliament, in the end the request of impeachment was dismissed and Cossiga was never impeached.
Cossiga resigned two months before the end of his term, on April 28 1992. He was voted again for president by the Italian Social Movement, which had supported him in his campaigns.
Life senator
After his resignation from Quirinale (the Roman hill in which is the office of the Head of State), he is a lifetime senator, like all the former Presidents of the Republic, since 1992. His current title is President Emeritus of the Italian Republic.
In February 1998 Cossiga created the UDR party (Unione Democratica per la Repubblica), declarately a centrist political formation. The UDR was a crucial component of the majority that supported the D'Alema government in October 1998, after the fall of the Prodi government which lost a confidence vote.
Cossiga declared that his support for D'Alema was meant to end the conventional exclusion of the former Communist Party (PCI) leaders from the premiership in Italy.
In 1999 UDR was dissolved. Cossiga returned to his senator for life activity, with a prominent interest in security matters, as his parliamentary record shows (see [1]).
He remains a vocal commentator of Italian politics.
On 27 November 2006, he resigned from his position as lifetime senator. His resignation was however rejected on 31 January 2007 by a vote of the Senate.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Page at Senate website (Italian).
- ↑ See http://www.dizionario.rai.it/poplemma.aspx?lid=75285&r=424.
- "Le confessioni di Cossiga: 'Io, Gelli e la massoneria'", La Repubblica (2003-10-11). (on links between Cossiga, Licio Gelli and Propaganda Due masonic lodge; Massera, part of Videla's junta in Argentina, is also named)
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Aldo Moro |
Italian Minister of the Interior 1976 – 1978 |
Succeeded by Giulio Andreotti |
| Preceded by Giulio Andreotti |
Prime Minister of Italy 1979 – 1980 |
Succeeded by Arnaldo Forlani |
| Preceded by Vittorino Colombo |
President of the Italian Senate 1983 – 1985 |
Succeeded by Amintore Fanfani |
| Preceded by Sandro Pertini |
President of the Italian Republic 1985 - 1992 |
Succeeded by Oscar Luigi Scalfaro |
| Order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Franco Bile President of the Italian Constitutional Court |
Italian order of precedence Former President of the Italian Republic |
Succeeded by Oscar Luigi Scalfaro Former President of the Italian Republic |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by Masayoshi Ohira |
Chair of the G8 1980 |
Succeeded by Pierre E. Trudeau |
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