Fabio Mussi

Infobox Prime Minister
honorific-prefix =Onorevole
name = Fabio Mussi

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order = Minister of University and Research
term_start = 17 May 2006
term_end =
primeminister = Romano Prodi
predecessor = Letizia Moratti
successor =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1948|1|22|mf=y
birth_place = Piombino, Italy
nationality = Italian
alma_mater =
profession =
children =
spouse =
residence =
party = Sinistra Democratica

Fabio Mussi (born January 22, 1948) is an Italian politician, minister of univeristy and research during the 2nd Prodi's Government. Former communist, He's one of the first leaders of Sinistra Democratica party.

Career

Born in Piombino, Tuscany, he became a member of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1966, being initially active at university level whilst studying at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. In 1973, he graduated in Philosophy at the University of Pisa, (he never graduated at Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa)and soon joined its administrative staff. He also became a member of the PCI Central Committee in 1979, charged with cultural and propaganda tasks and an editor's position at "Rinascita". He was regional secretary of the party in Calabria (1980-1984), and after that a member of the PCI National Directory. From 1986, he was co-editor of "L'Unità".

Favorable to the turn towards Democratic Socialism in the PCI, he joined the Democratic Party of the Left, direct successor of the PCI, then become Democrats of the Left in 1998, and led its most left-wing current (the so-called "correntone") and of the Italian Parliament, to which he was first elected in 1992. Confirmed as deputy for the fourth time at the 2006 elections, Mussi is currently senior vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies and Minister for the University and Research of the Italian government. During the 2007 Democrats of the Left convention, he headed the left-wing minority opposed to the creation of the Democratic Party. During the convention he announced his opposition to join the brand-new party once it would be founded, and instead created a political movement called Democratic Left, of which he is the national coordinator.