29 Facts About Clemente Mastella

Mario Clemente Mastella was born on 5 February 1947 and is an Italian politician who has been the mayor of Benevento since 20 June 2016.

Clemente Mastella served as leader of the Union of Democrats for Europe, a minor centrist and Christian-democratic Italian party.

Clemente Mastella was Minister of Labour and Social Policies in the first Berlusconi government from 10 May 1994 to 17 January 1995 and Minister of Justice in the second Prodi government from 17 May 2006 to 17 January 2008.

Clemente Mastella was born in Ceppaloni, in the province of Benevento.

Clemente Mastella graduated in philosophy at the University of Naples Federico II with a thesis on Antonio Gramsci, and later became a journalist.

The local editorial office where Clemente Mastella took office proclaimed a three-day strike against the entry into the role of a journalist hired without regular competition and for direct political appointment.

In 1976, Clemente Mastella was elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a member of the DC party.

In 1998, after the fall of the first Prodi government, Clemente Mastella decided to follow Francesco Cossiga, lifetime senator and former Italian president.

Clemente Mastella left his party to found the Christian Democrats for the Republic, then Democratic Union for the Republic.

In 1999, Clemente Mastella took over the leadership of UDEUR and was elected to the European Parliament.

In 2005, Clemente Mastella took part in the centre-left coalition's primary election for the leadership of The Union.

Clemente Mastella and the then Sicily president Salvatore Cuffaro were subjects of a scandal when it was revealed that they had been the best men of Francesco Campanella, a former member of the Sicilian Mafia who helped the boss Bernardo Provenzano when he was a fugitive from the law.

Clemente Mastella had been a witness at Campanella's wedding in July 2000.

In 2006, Clemente Mastella became minister of Justice in the second Prodi government.

Clemente Mastella proposed criminalising Holocaust denial but dropped the proposal after opposition by historians and concerns about such a law being unconstitutional.

Clemente Mastella had been the vice-president of the club's board of directors.

In September 2007, Clemente Mastella asked the High Council of the Judiciary to arrange the transfer of Catanzaro prosecuting attorney Luigi De Magistris, who was inquiring on a committee of illegal transactions composed by politicians and magistrates.

Clemente Mastella had been under house arrest for suspected bribery since 16 January 2008.

Meanwhile, Clemente Mastella resigned from his position as Justice Minister; in announcing his resignation, he said that "between the love of my family and power I choose the former" and expressed his desire to be "more free from a political and personal point of view".

On 17 January 2008, Clemente Mastella said again that he was resigning.

Clemente Mastella said that UDEUR wanted an early election and that it would vote against the government if there was a vote of confidence.

Clemente Mastella's decision occurred a few days after the Constitutional Court of Italy confirmed that there would be a referendum to modify the electoral system.

On 6 February 2008, Clemente Mastella announced that he would be part of Berlusconi's House of Freedoms party.

On 1 March 2008, Berlusconi refused to form a coalition with Clemente Mastella, citing too many differences in their political programmes.

From 1999 to 2004, Clemente Mastella was a member of the European Parliament for UDEUR as part of the European People's Party.

In June 2009, Clemente Mastella was elected for a second time a MEP on the EPP list of Berlusconi's PdL party.

On 20 June 2016, Clemente Mastella was elected mayor of Benevento as head of a centre-right coalition.

In July 2019, Clemente Mastella was considered as a Forza Italia candidate for the 2020 Campania regional election.

In 1975, Clemente Mastella married Sandra Lonardo, a native of Benevento whom he met during a visit to an uncle in Oyster Bay, New York, where she spent a good part of her youth.