Paolo Gentiloni Silveri is an Italian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019.
47 Facts About Paolo Gentiloni
2.
Paolo Gentiloni previously served as prime minister of Italy from December 2016 to June 2018.
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Paolo Gentiloni served in the Cabinet under Romano Prodi as Minister of Communications from 2006 to 2008.
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Paolo Gentiloni later served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2016 in the Cabinet of Matteo Renzi.
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Paolo Gentiloni introduced stricter rules on immigration and social security, in an attempt to counteract the European migration crisis.
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In foreign policy, Paolo Gentiloni built on his time as Foreign Minister by projecting a strong Europeanist stance, whilst at the same time building close relations with the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, and notably overseeing a normalisation of Italian relations with India after years of tensions.
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Paolo Gentiloni was born in Rome in 1954, during his childhood he attended a Montessori institute, where he became a friend of Agnese Moro, the daughter of Aldo Moro, a Christian democratic leader and Prime Minister.
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In 1981 Paolo Gentiloni followed the MLS into the Proletarian Unity Party, remaining a member until its dissolution three years later.
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Paolo Gentiloni slowly abandoned far-left ideals, sharing more moderate views and becoming particularly involved in green politics and ecologism.
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In 1993 he became Rutelli's spokesman during his campaign to become Mayor of Rome; after the election, which saw a strong victory by Rutelli against Gianfranco Fini, leader of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement, Paolo Gentiloni was appointed Great Jubilee and Tourism Councillor in the Rome City Council.
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Paolo Gentiloni held his office until January 2001, when Rutelli resigned to become the centre-left candidate to the premiership in the 2001 general election.
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Paolo Gentiloni was reelected in the 2006 election as a member of The Olive Tree, the political coalition led by the Bolognese economist Romano Prodi.
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Paolo Gentiloni was one of the 45 members of the national founding committee of the Democratic Party in 2007, formed by the union of the social democrats Democrats of the Left and the Christian leftist The Daisy.
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Paolo Gentiloni was re-elected in the 2008 general election, which saw the victory of the conservative coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi.
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However, Paolo Gentiloni was elected again to the Chamber of Deputies in the 2013 general election, as part of the centre-left coalition Italy.
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In 2013, after Bersani's resignation as Secretary, Paolo Gentiloni supported the Mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi, in the Democratic Party leadership election.
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On 31 October 2014 Paolo Gentiloni was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi; Paolo Gentiloni succeeded Federica Mogherini, who became High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
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Paolo Gentiloni took office two months before Italy's rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union ended in December 2014.
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At the time of his appointment, Paolo Gentiloni had not been mentioned in political circles as a candidate.
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Paolo Gentiloni showed a strong closeness to his US counterpart John Kerry and kept open a channel of dialogue with the Russian Sergei Lavrov.
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In March 2015 Paolo Gentiloni visited Mexico and Cuba and met Cuban President Raul Castro, ensuring the Italian support for the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States.
22.
In December 2015, Paolo Gentiloni hosted a peace conference in Rome with the representatives from both governments of Libya involved in the civil war, but from the United Nations, the United States and Russia.
23.
Paolo Gentiloni's recovered body showed signs of extreme torture like contusions and abrasions, extensive bruising from kicks, punches, and assault with a stick, more than two dozen bone fractures, a brain hemorrhage and a broken cervical vertebra, which ultimately caused death.
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Paolo Gentiloni led a coalition government supported by the Democratic Party and the Christian democratic Popular Area, composed of the New Centre-Right and the Centrists for Italy.
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On 19 July 2017, Paolo Gentiloni became Minister of Regional Affairs ad interim after the resignation of Enrico Costa, member of Popular Alternative, who often criticized Paolo Gentiloni's views and ideas, especially regarding immigration and the jus soli.
26.
On 24 March 2018, following the elections of the presidents of the two houses of the Italian Parliament, Roberto Fico and Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, Paolo Gentiloni resigned his post to President Mattarella; however, he remained in office until 1 June, when Giuseppe Conte was sworn in as the new Prime Minister at the head of a populist coalition composed by the M5S and the League.
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Paolo Gentiloni stated that he decided to abolish them, because he did not want to split the country in another referendum, after the December 2016 constitutional one.
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On 2 February 2017, Paolo Gentiloni reached a deal in Rome with Libyan Chairman of the Presidential Council Fayez al-Sarraj on halting migration.
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Minniti and Paolo Gentiloni warned those NGOs who did not sign the pact that they have set themselves "outside of the organised system for rescue at sea".
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In December 2017, the Paolo Gentiloni announced the peacekeeping mission which consists in the sending of 450 soldiers in Niger, to help the local forces in the fight against migrants' traffickers and Islamic terrorism.
31.
Paolo Gentiloni visited the Arab peninsula three times thought his premiership.
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Paolo Gentiloni, later visited Qatar, where he met with the Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and visited the National Library of Qatar with Emir's consort, Moza bint Nasser.
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Paolo Gentiloni visited the United Arab Emirates twice; the first one in November 2017 and the second one in March 2018, when he met in Abu Dhabi the crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
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Paolo Gentiloni focused his speech on the problem of climatic change, the facing of migrant crisis and the fight against Islamic terrorism.
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Paolo Gentiloni was the first Italian leader to visit India since Romano Prodi in 2007; Paolo Gentiloni and Modi described the visit as a "new beginning" and a great opportunity for both countries.
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Paolo Gentiloni had a meeting with the Italian community in Tunis.
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Paolo Gentiloni remained in office during this period as a caretaker Prime Minister.
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Paolo Gentiloni refused to endorse the view of his colleagues, and Renzi remained within the party leadership.
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Paolo Gentiloni chose not to contest the leadership of the Democratic Party, instead remaining on the backbench within the Chamber of Deputies, where he frequently attacked the policies of Matteo Salvini as Interior Minister, particularly on immigration, Romani people and gun laws.
40.
On 28 June 2018, during an interview with Lilli Gruber's Otto e mezzo, Paolo Gentiloni announced his intention to play a role in the formation of a broad centre-left coalition, which was seen by many as an intention to become the candidate for Prime Minister of the centre-left at the next election.
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Nothing came of these plans; in October 2018, Paolo Gentiloni endorsed Nicola Zingaretti in the election for the new PD Secretary.
42.
Conte initially offered his resignation, but in a surprise move, Paolo Gentiloni led the national executive of the Democratic Party in announcing it would be open to the possibility of forming a new coalition with the M5S, based on pro-Europeanism, green economy, sustainable development, the fight against economic inequality and a new immigration policy, and while keeping Conte as Prime Minister.
43.
In early March 2020, Paolo Gentiloni was appointed by President von der Leyen to serve on the Commission's special task force to coordinate their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which severely affected the European Union.
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Paolo Gentiloni is widely considered a liberal Christian and progressive politician.
45.
Paolo Gentiloni is in favour of the recognition of civil unions for same-sex couples and stepchild adoptions, a situation which occurs when at least one parent has children, from a previous relationship, that are not genetically related to the other parent.
46.
Paolo Gentiloni is considered by many journalists, politicians and commentators a skilled political mediator and well-wisher of a collective leadership, based on consociationalism and power-sharing, very different from the overflowing political style of his predecessor and party mate, Matteo Renzi.
47.
On 10 January 2017, after an official trip in Paris to meet President Francois Hollande, Paolo Gentiloni suffered an obstructed coronary artery and received an emergency angioplasty.