Aldo Brancher (born 30 May 1943;

Trichiana Trichiana is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Belluno in the Italian region Veneto, located about north of Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto ...

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

) is an Italian politician. He served as a

minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

in the Government of

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

for 17 days in June/July 2010 but was forced to resign due to a pending court case.

Early career

Before his political career, Brancher was a Pauline priest. He was a key figure in the publication of the Paulines' magazine, ''

Famiglia Cristiana ''Famiglia Cristiana'' (meaning ''The Christian family'' in English) is an Italian weekly magazine published in Alba, Italy. The magazine is a Catholic news magazine and has been in circulation since 1931. History and profile ''Famiglia Cristia ...

''. After leaving the priesthood, he worked for Berlusconi's advertising house, Publitalia '80, before moving on to Berlusconi's holding company,

Fininvest Finanziaria d'investimento Fininvest S.p.A., known as Fininvest S.p.A., is an Italian holding company controlled by the Berlusconi family and managed by Silvio Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina Berlusconi. Structure The Fininvest group is co ...

. In 1993, while working for Fininvest, Brancher was caught up in the

Tangentopoli ''Mani pulite'' (; Italian for "clean hands") was a nationwide judicial investigation into political corruption in Italy held in the early 1990s, resulting in the demise of the so-called " First Republic" and the disappearance of many Italian ...

political corruption scandal. He served three months in San Vittore prison for false accounting and for illegally funding the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892, ...

, but was released on a technicality following a ruling by the

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...

Political career

Brancher was elected to the 14th legislature of the

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies ( it, Camera dei deputati) is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Senate of the Republic). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical funct ...

in May 2001 and was re-elected in April 2006 and April 2008. He was appointed as a Secretary of State with responsibility for reform on 12 May 2008. Brancher was named as a minister without portfolio, with specific responsibility for federalism, on 18 June 2010. A few days later, his responsibility was changed to decentralisation as the

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official n ...

– partners in Berlusconi's coalition Government – was concerned that his role would conflict with that of its leader,

Umberto Bossi Umberto Bossi (born 19 September 1941) is an Italian politician and former leader of Lega Nord (Northern League), a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padania. He is married to the Sicilian Manuela Marrone, and has f ...

, who was Minister for Federal Reforms. At the time of his appointment, Brancher was facing trial for alleged embezzlement during the 2005 takeover of

Antonveneta Banca Antonveneta S.p.A. was an Italian bank based in Padua, Italy. The bank was absorbed into Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena in 2013. In 2008, it was the 9th largest banking group in Italy in terms of customer loans and the 8th largest in te ...

. When, just a few days later, Brancher invoked an immunity law that protects ministers from prosecution, the opposition accused Berlusconi of making the appointment solely to save his friend from the court hearing.

Giorgio Napolitano Giorgio Napolitano (; born 29 June 1925) is an Italian politician who served as president of Italy from 2006 to 2015, the first Italian president to be re-elected to the presidency. Due to his dominant position in Italian politics, some critics ...

, the President of Italy, rejected Brancher's invocation of the right to immunity, suggesting that, as Brancher was a minister without portfolio, there was no actual Ministry work preventing him from standing trial. Following the President’s comments, the opposition, along with members of Brancher’s own party, threatened a

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

unless he resigned. Brancher acquiesced and announced his resignation during the opening day of his trial on 5 July 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brancher, Aldo 1943 births Living people People from the Province of Belluno Forza Italia politicians The People of Freedom politicians Government ministers of Italy Deputies of Legislature XIV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVI of Italy Politicians of Veneto