Gianfranco Fini

Infobox Officeholder
honorific-prefix = Onorevole

name = Gianfranco Fini

---

order = President of the Chamber of Deputies
term_start = April 30, 2008
term_end =
predecessor = Fausto Bertinotti
successor =
order2 = Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister
term_start2 = November 18, 2004
term_end2 = May 17, 2006
primeminister2 = Silvio Berlusconi
predecessor2 = Franco Frattini
successor2 = Massimo D'Alema
order3 = Member of the Chamber of Deputies
constituency3 = XI - Emilia Romagna
term_start3 = July 12, 1983
term_end3 =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1952|1|3|mf=y
birth_place = Bologna Italy
nationality = Italian
spouse = Daniela Di Sotto 1988 - 2007
party = People of Freedom
children = Giuliana Fini
Carolina Fini
residence = Rome
alma_mater = La Sapienza
profession = Journalist
Politician
Dog = Roman Catholic

Gianfranco Fini (born January 3, 1952) is an Italian politician, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and current leader of National Alliance, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Silvio Berlusconi, from 2001 to 2006.

Early years

Fini was born in Bologna, and attended Istituto Laura Bassi in the same city as a child. Fini recounts first gaining an interest in politics at sixteen when he saw the John Wayne film "The Green Berets". Fini went on to study at La Sapienza, where he received a degree in psychology.

Political life

Fini was first elected as a representative to the Chamber of Deputies on June 26, 1983 as a member of the rightist Italian Social Movement. He would later serve as the party's national secretary from December 1987 to January 1990 and again from July 1991 to January 1995. During his time as national secretary, he famously established the MSI as distinctly pro-fascist, with a number of such famous polemical statements, including: "Dear comrades, MSI claims its right to refer to fascism" (1988), "We are fascists, the heirs of fascism, the fascism of the year 2000" (1991), "After almost half a century, fascism is ideally alive" (1992), "There are phases where freedom is not among the key values" (1994), " Mussolini was the greatest Italian statesman of the twentieth century" , "Fascism has a tradition of honesty, correctness and good government" (1994). [ Cited by Corrado De Cesare, "Il fascista del Duemila. Le radici del camerata Gianfranco Fini", Kaos Edizioni, 1995, ISBN 8879530461)] .

Towards the end of the 1990s he gradually began to move the MSI away from its neo-fascist ideology to a conservative political agenda. Some members left, but most remained, and in 1994, Fini merged the MSI-DN with conservative elements of the disbanded Christian Democrats to form National Alliance.

In January 1995, at a National Alliance conference in Fiuggi he was officially elected president of the newly-formed party, a position he has held since. The conference became known as "la svolta di Fiuggi" (the turning point at Fiuggi) in Italian political parlance.

Fini and his party have been part of Berlusconi's right-wing House of Freedoms coalition which won the 1994 and 2001 parliamentary election. Fini became deputy prime minister in 2001 and foreign minister in November 2004.

From February 2002 to 2006, he represented the Italian Government at the European Convention.

Following the April 2008 general election, Fini was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies on April 30, 2008 on the fourth ballot, receiving 355 votes.

Controversies

* In 1999 Fini asked for forced hospitalization of drug consumers, without distinctions between different illegal drugs [ [http://www.radioradicale.it/scheda/191851/notiziario-antiproibizionista-del-25-ottobre-1999 "Ricovero coatto per i drogati" - Le dichiarazioni di Granfranco Fini] ] .
* On January 29, 2006, after the approval by the Senate of the Fini-sponsored drug bill (equiparation of marijuana to class 1 drugs such as heroin or cocaine for dealers and fines for consumption) Fini, guest on the popular TV-Show "Che tempo che fa", hosted by Fabio Fazio, admitted to having smoked marijuana while on vacation in Jamaica [ [http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2006/gennaio/30/Fini_confessa_diretta_quando_ero_co_9_060130013.shtml Fini si confessa in diretta: quando ero in Giamaica mi sono fatto uno spinello ] ] .
* On May 4, 2008, Fini talked about an unprovoked assault carried out by some naziskin in Verona that killed the young Nicola Tommasoli, and about Israeli flags burnt by protesters during the manifestation of May 1, 2008 in Torino. Fini, after saying that these are "not comparable phenomena," argued that "the episode of Torino is much more serious because it is not the first time that fringes of the radical left give life to actions against Israel who seek to justify a policy with anti -sionism", stirring up controversy and criticism reactions among politicians and national media [ [http://www.rainews24.rai.it/notizia.asp?newsID=81366 RaiNews24 - Verona, morto Nicola. Fini: "Piu' gravi i fatti di Torino", insorge la sinistra ] ] .

References

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1751457.stm BBC profile]

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