39 Facts About Romano Prodi

Romano Prodi is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004.

Romano Prodi served twice as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 18 May 1996 to 21 October 1998, and then from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008.

Romano Prodi is often nicknamed Il Professore due to his academic career.

Romano Prodi has been the first left-leaning candidate to ever come first at legislative elections since 1921 and to manage to form a government without the need of opponents' parliamentary support.

On 14 October 2007, Romano Prodi became the first president of the Democratic Party upon foundation of the party.

Romano Prodi was born in Scandiano, near Reggio Emilia, in 1939; he is the eighth of nine children.

Romano Prodi's father Mario Prodi was an engineer grown up in a peasant family, and his mother Enrichetta was an elementary school teacher.

Romano Prodi spends the summer holidays in the coastal town of Castiglione della Pescaia.

Romano Prodi then carried out postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics.

Romano Prodi has received almost 20 honorary degrees from institutions in Italy, and from the rest of Europe, North America, Asia and Africa.

On 25 November 1978 Romano Prodi was appointed Minister of Industry, Commerce and Crafts in the government of the Christian Democratic leader Giulio Andreotti.

Romano Prodi claimed he had been given this tip-off by the founders of the Christian Democracy party, contacted from beyond the grave via a seance and a Ouija board.

Romano Prodi spoke to the Italian parliament's commission about the case in 1981.

Later, other Italian members of the European Commission claimed Romano Prodi had invented this story to conceal the real source of the tip-off, which they believed to have originated somewhere among the far-left Italian political groups.

In November 1996, after Romano Prodi had been elected Prime Minister, Rome prosecutor Guiseppa Geremia concluded that there was enough evidence to press charges against Romano Prodi for conflict of interest in the Unilever deal.

On 25 May 1994, Romano Prodi went to Palazzo Chigi to announce his resignation as IRI President to the new Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi; the resignation had been formalised on 31 May and became effective on 22 July.

Romano Prodi's aim was to build a centre-left coalition composed by centrist and leftist parties, opposed to the centre-right alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi, who resigned from the office of Prime Minister few weeks before, when Lega Nord withdrew his support to the government.

On 17 May 1996, Romano Prodi received from President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro the task of forming a new government.

Romano Prodi succeeded in this in little more than six months.

In 1997 Romano Prodi declared that "the problem of the safety of the country seems to be no longer one of external safety, but an internal one: the safety of citizens in their everyday life".

Romano Prodi's government fell in 1998 when the Communist Refoundation Party withdrew its external support.

Romano Prodi's commission took office on 13 September 1999 following the scandal and subsequent resignation of the Santer Commission which had damaged the reputation of the institution.

Some in the media described president Romano Prodi as being the first "Prime Minister of the European Union".

Shortly before the end of his term as President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi returned to national Italian politics at the helm of the enlarged centre-left coalition, The Union.

On 11 April 2006, Romano Prodi declared victory; Berlusconi never conceded defeat explicitly but this is not required by the Italian law.

On 19 April 2006, Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation ruled that Romano Prodi had indeed won the election, winning control of the Chamber of Deputies by only 24,755 votes out of more than 38 million votes cast, and winning 158 seats in the Senate to 156 for Berlusconi's coalition.

Romano Prodi had a key role in the creation of a multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon following the Israel-Lebanon conflict.

Romano Prodi's government faced a crisis over policies in early 2007, after just nine months of government.

Romano Prodi himself led the merger of the two parties, which had been planned over a twelve-year period, and became the first President of the party.

Romano Prodi announced his resignation from that post on 16 April 2008, two days after the Democratic Party's defeat in the general election.

Romano Prodi therefore tendered his resignation as Prime Minister to President Giorgio Napolitano, who accepted it and appointed the President of the Senate, Franco Marini, with the task of evaluating possibilities for forming interim government to implement electoral reforms prior to holding elections.

Romano Prodi said that he would not seek to lead a new government and snap election were called.

On 12 September 2008, Romano Prodi was named by the UN as head of a joint AU-UN panel aimed at enhancing peacekeeping operations in Africa.

Since 2010 Romano Prodi is the chair for Sino-European dialogue at the China Europe International Business School, China's leading business school.

On 9 October 2012, Romano Prodi was appointed by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as his Special Envoy for the Sahel.

Romano Prodi served in that position until 31 January 2014.

Romano Prodi is a member of the Club de Madrid, an international organization of former democratic statesmen, which works to strengthen democratic governance and leadership.

Romano Prodi is a former member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group.

However, Romano Prodi announced he was pulling out of the race for President after more than 100 centre-left electors did not vote for him as he received only 395.