David Maria Sassoli was an Italian politician and journalist who served as the president of the European Parliament from 3 July 2019 until his death on 11 January 2022.
21 Facts About David Sassoli
2.
David Sassoli was born in Florence in 1956 to Tuscan parents from Florence and Prato.
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David Sassoli studied at the department of political science at the Sapienza University of Rome.
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David Sassoli began his career as a journalist at the newspaper Il Tempo in Rome, before collaborating with various newspapers and the news agency ASCA.
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David Sassoli was enrolled in the register of professional journalists from 3 July 1986 on.
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In 2007, when Gianni Riotta was appointed the new director of TG1, David Sassoli became his deputy director.
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In 2009, David Sassoli left his journalism career to enter politics, becoming a member of the centre-left Democratic Party and running in the 2009 European Parliament election, for the Central Italy district.
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On 9 October 2012, David Sassoli announced his candidacy in the primaries to become the centre-left's candidate as for the office of Mayor of Rome in the 2013 municipal election.
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David Sassoli ended up in second place with 28 per cent of the vote, behind Senator Ignazio Marino, who received 55 per cent, and ahead of former minister of communications Paolo Gentiloni.
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On 1 July 2014 David Sassoli was elected Vice-President of the European Parliament with 393 votes, making him the second most voted for Socialist candidate.
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David Sassoli became the seventh Italian to hold the office.
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David Sassoli said European citizens showed that they still believed in the project and talked about being proud of European diversity.
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David Sassoli added that "Europe will be stronger only with a Parliament which plays a more important role".
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On 19 December 2019, David Sassoli asked for the liberation of Oriol Junqueras, former vice president of Catalonia and recently elected MEP, who was imprisoned after the 2017 Spanish constitutional crisis.
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David Sassoli urged the Spanish authorities to comply with the European Parliament ruling.
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David Sassoli was among the potential candidates of the Democratic Party to succeed Sergio Mattarella in the 2022 Italian presidential election.
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David Sassoli was married to Alessandra Vittorini with whom he had two children, Giulio and Livia.
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David Sassoli was a fan of classical music and of ACF Fiorentina, his hometown football team.
19.
In September 2021, David Sassoli was hospitalised in Strasbourg with a severe case of pneumonia caused by legionella.
20.
In December 2021, David Sassoli was taken into hospital again, this time in Italy because of a "serious complication due to a dysfunction of the immune system" complicated by his multiple myeloma.
21.
David Sassoli died in the Oncology Referral Centre of Aviano on 11 January 2022, at the age of 65.