1. Marco Minniti has been sometimes nicknamed "The Lord of the Spies", due to his long-time experience in coordinating the secret services in almost all the centre-left coalition's governments.
18 Facts About Marco Minniti
1. 2.
Marco Minniti was born in Reggio Calabria in Southern Italy in 1956.
3.
Marco Minniti's father was a general of the Italian Army.
4.
Marco Minniti stated that when he was young he wanted become an aviator of the Italian Air Force, but his mother forbade it, so at 17 years old he joined the Italian Communist Party, as a protest against his parents.
5.
Marco Minniti was candidated in the 1996 general election for The Olive Tree coalition of Romano Prodi, in Calabria, but he was not elected.
6.
In 2001 Italian general election, Marco Minniti was elected for the first time to the Chamber of Deputies.
7.
From 2007 to 2013, Marco Minniti was a member of the National Direction of the PD, under the leaderships of Walter Veltroni, Dario Franceschini and Pier Luigi Bersani.
8.
In 2013 Italian general election, Marco Minniti was elected in the Senate for the first time.
9.
Marco Minniti hold this office in the government of Matteo Renzi, becoming one of the most prominent councilors of the Prime Minister.
10.
On 12 December 2016, Marco Minniti was appointed new Minister of the Interior in the government of Paolo Gentiloni.
11.
Marco Minniti stated that a policeman had been hospitalized with a shoulder injury.
12.
On 9 January 2017, Marco Minniti traveled to Libya to begin the negotiations with President Fayez al-Sarraj to sign a new agreement on repatriation of irregular immigrants.
13.
In May 2017, Marco Minniti met the Interior Ministers of Niger, Chiad, and Libya, with whom he announced that Italy would build migration centers in North Africa to stop the migration through the Mediterranean Sea.
14.
However, Marco Minniti was often accused by his critics of being responsible for severe human rights violations of refugees trapped in Libyan detention centers.
15.
Marco Minniti remained in office until 1 June 2018, when Matteo Salvini was appointed new Interior Minister in the government of Giuseppe Conte.
16.
Marco Minniti warned those NGOs who did not sign the pact that they have set themselves "outside of the organised system for rescue at sea".
17.
On 18 November 2018, Marco Minniti announced his candidacy for the 2019 leadership election to become the new party's secretary.
18.
Marco Minniti was supported by former Minister of Economic Development Carlo Calenda, who was considered by many a strong potential candidate for the leadership election, and the former Minister of Economy and Finance Pier Carlo Padoan.