16 Facts About Michele Emiliano

Michele Emiliano was born on 23 July 1959 and is an Italian politician and former judge.

Michele Emiliano is the incumbent president of Apulia Region since June 2015, and he previously served as mayor of Bari from 2004 to 2014.

Michele Emiliano's father was a professional football player and small business owner.

In 1983, Michele Emiliano graduated in Law at the University of Bari.

At the age of 26, Michele Emiliano quit the practice as a lawyer and passed the test to become a judge.

Michele Emiliano moved to Agrigento, where he worked in the public prosecutor's office and met Giovanni Falcone and Rosario Livatino.

Michele Emiliano retained this post until 2003, when he became a member of the social-democratic party Democrats of the Left and run for mayor of Bari for the centre-left coalition.

On 14 October 2007, Michele Emiliano was elected regional secretary of the Democratic Party in Apulia, the new centre-left party, born from the union between the DS and The Daisy.

Michele Emiliano hold the office until 2009, when he became regional president of the PD, post that he would held until January 2014.

In September 2016, Michele Emiliano signed with the Prime Minister Matteo Renzi the so-called "Pact for Apulia" in order to release 2.7 billion euros from the Fund for Development and Cohesion to be assigned to Apulia region for various investments in the territory.

Michele Emiliano often implemented regional policies in contrast with those of the government.

On 21 February 2017, Michele Emiliano announced his candidacy in 2017 PD leadership election, scheduled in April, where he would challenge Renzi.

Michele Emiliano described his candidacy as a revolution, and stated that he wanted a party closer to the people, especially the poorest, accusing Renzi of drastically changing the PD and of abandoning people on low incomes.

Michele Emiliano accused Andrea Orlando, the other candidate who was Justice Minister in Renzi's government, of supporting Renzi's liberal and centrist policies, and not to have ever opposed his reforms.

Michele Emiliano added that he would not run to become Prime Minister, as Renzi did from February 2014 to December 2016.

On 3 December 2018, following the Constitutional Court of Italy's judgement that magistrates are ineligible for party membership, Michele Emiliano announced that he would be resigning from the party.