Alessandra Moretti (born 24 June 1973 in

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

) is an Italian politician who has been serving as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

since 2019.

Early life and education

Moretti graduated in law at the

University of Urbino The University of Urbino "Carlo Bo" ( it, Università degli Studi di Urbino "Carlo Bo", ''UniUrb'') is an Italian university located in Urbino, a walled hill-town in the region of Marche, located in the north-eastern part of central Italy. The ...

and has worked as a divorce lawyer since 2001.

Political career

Since her young age, Moretti was interested in politics, following her father, who had been active in the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...

. She first entered politics with the

Democrats of the Left The Democrats of the Left ( it, Democratici di Sinistra, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger of th ...

. After some failed electoral campaigns (notably including that of the 2007 provincial election of

, on a list in support of

Giorgio Carollo Giorgio Carollo (born 30 March 1944 in Vicenza) is an Italian politician. He is a Member of the European Parliament for North-East, elected with the Forza Italia, part of the European People's Party and sits on the European Parliament's Co ...

of Veneto for the EPP), in 2008 Moretti, who joined the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

(PD), was elected to the municipal council of Vicenza and was appointed Deputy Mayor with delegation for education and youth. In 2012 Moretti gained national prominence when she was appointed by

Pier Luigi Bersani Pier Luigi Bersani (; born 29 September 1951) is an Italian politician and was Secretary of the Democratic Party (PD), Italy's leading centre-left party, from 2009 to 2013. Bersani was Minister of Industry, Commerce and Craftmanship from 1996 t ...

spokeswoman of his campaign for the centre-left primary election. In the event, Bersani won the nomination for

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

, but lost the 2013 general election. Moretti was however elected to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

for the PD. In the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

Moretti was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

but resigned in February 2015 to contest local elections and was replaced by

Damiano Zoffoli Damiano Zoffoli (17 July 1960) is an Italian politician. He was from 1997 to 2005 mayor of Cesenatico for the Christian-leftist Italian People's Party and The Daisy. In February 2015 he replaced Alessandra Moretti as a Member of the European Pa ...

. In the

2015 Venetian regional election The Venetian regional election of 2015 took place in Veneto on 31 May 2015, as part of a big round of regional elections in Italy. Venetian voters elected their President and their Regional Council, whose members had been reduced to 51, includin ...

Moretti ran for

President of Veneto The president of Veneto is the supreme authority of Veneto, a region of Italy. Election Originally appointed by the Regional Council of Veneto, since 1995 ''de facto'' and 2000 ''de jure'', the president is elected by popular vote every five year ...

, but gained a mere 22.7% of the vote and was thus defeated by incumbent President

Luca Zaia Luca Zaia (born 27 March 1968) is a Venetian and Venetist politician, who has been President of Veneto since 2010. Prior to that, Zaia was President of the Province of Treviso from 1998 to 2005, Vice President of Veneto from 2005 to 2008 and M ...

of Northern League, who secured 50.1% of the vote. In the 2019 European elections, Moretti re-entered the European Parliament. She has since been serving on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. She later also joined the Special Committee on Beating Cancer (2020) and the Special Committee on the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

(2022). In addition to her committee assignments, she is part of the Parliament's delegation for relations with

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. She is also a member of the

Spinelli Group The Spinelli Group is an initiative founded with a view to reinvigorate the endeavour for federalisation of the European Union (EU), by creating a network of citizens, think tanks, NGOs, academics, writers and politicians who support the idea o ...

and the European Parliament Intergroup on Children’s Rights.Intergroup on Children’s Rights

European Parliamemt The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopt ...

References

External links

*
European Parliament - Alessandra Moretti
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moretti, Alessandra 1973 births Living people People from Vicenza Democrats of the Left politicians Deputies of Legislature XVII of Italy Democratic Party (Italy) MEPs Democratic Party (Italy) politicians MEPs for Italy 2014–2019 MEPs for Italy 2019–2024 21st-century women MEPs for Italy Politicians of Veneto University of Urbino alumni Women members of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy)