Carlo Amedeo Giovanardi (born 15 January 1950, in
Modena
Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...
) is an Italian politician, former member of the
Senate, and leader of the
socially conservative
Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...
wing of the
New Centre-Right
New Centre-Right ( it, Nuovo Centrodestra, NCD) was a centre-right political party in Italy.
The party was launched on 15 November 2013 by a group of dissidents of The People of Freedom (PdL) who opposed the party's transformation into Forza Ita ...
party.
Political career
Giovanardi graduated in
jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
and did his
military service
Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job ( volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription).
Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require ...
in the
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign polic ...
. His political experience began in 1969, when he joined the
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
party (DC).
His first elected position was as a Municipal Councilor in
Modena
Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...
, followed by that of
Christian Democrat
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
in the Regional Council of the
Emilia Romagna
Emilia-Romagna (, , both also ; ; egl, Emégglia-Rumâgna or ''Emîlia-Rumâgna''; rgn, Emélia-Rumâgna) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy, situated in the north of the country, comprising the historical regions ...
. In 1992, he was elected as a member of the
Chamber of Deputies and in the successive legislature on the Christian Democrat list. Subsequently, he became an exponent and founding member of the
Christian Democratic Centre
The Christian Democratic Centre ( it, Centro Cristiano Democratico, CCD) was a Christian-democratic political party in Italy from 1994 to 2002. Formed from a right-wing split from Christian Democracy, the party joined the centre-right coalition, a ...
(CCD).
Giovanardi has been President of the parliamentary group of the Christian Democratic Centre and Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies.
In the 2001 Italian Elections, Giovanardi was elected Deputy representing
Lecco
Lecco (, , ; lmo, label= Lecchese, Lècch ) is a city of 48,131 inhabitants in Lombardy, northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). ...
for
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 ...
's centre-right coalition
House of Freedoms
The House of Freedoms ( it, Casa delle Libertà , CdL) was a major centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, led by Silvio Berlusconi.
History
The CdL was the successor of the Pole of Freedoms/Pole of Good Government and the Pole fo ...
, as part of the
Union of Christian and Centre Democrats
The Union of the Centre ( it, Unione di Centro, UdC), whose complete name is "Union of Christian and Centre Democrats" (''Unione dei Democratici Cristiani e Democratici di Centro'', UDC), is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Lore ...
(UDC).
From 11 June 2001, until May 2006, he was Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, in Berlusconi's second and third governments.
In the 2006 Italian general election, Giovanardi became Deputy representing the
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 ...
-2 constituency. He is President of the Committee for the Authorizations and President of the Parliamentary Committee for accusation procedures. He is also member of the Institutional Transactions Commission of the Chamber of Deputies.
Giovanardi and
Emerenzio Barbieri were the leaders of one of the four factions in the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats, who want closer ties with
Forza Italia
Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...
and the other parties of the
House of Freedoms
The House of Freedoms ( it, Casa delle Libertà , CdL) was a major centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, led by Silvio Berlusconi.
History
The CdL was the successor of the Pole of Freedoms/Pole of Good Government and the Pole fo ...
coalition, including the
Lega Nord. In the III National Congress, 13.8% of the delegates supported Giovanardi's candidacy for the leadership.
In 2008, Giovanardi left the UDC to start the short-lived
Liberal Populars
The Liberal Populars (''Popolari Liberali'') were a short-lived Christian-democratic political party in Italy (2008–2009), which currently functions as an internal faction of Identity and Action (IdeA).
History
Originally a faction within the U ...
party, which merged into the broad centre-right party,
The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà , PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia a ...
(PdL). He served as Undersecretary with delegation to family policies, the fight against drugs and the civil service in the
Berlusconi IV Cabinet from 2008 to 2011.
After the split of PdL in 2013, Giovanardi joined the
New Centre-Right
New Centre-Right ( it, Nuovo Centrodestra, NCD) was a centre-right political party in Italy.
The party was launched on 15 November 2013 by a group of dissidents of The People of Freedom (PdL) who opposed the party's transformation into Forza Ita ...
party.
Controversies
Cremonini case
On Sunday, 13 November 2005, a TV program report by
Milena Gabanelli on
Rai Tre
Rai 3 (formerly Rete 3) is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It was launched on 15 December 1979 and its programming is centred towards cultural and ...
said that the Italian company
Cremonini had produced tinned meat that resulted in the death of a 12-year-old boy in Moscow because of food poisoning, and that the Cuban government had rejected Cremonini tinned meat made in Italy because it was in a bad condition. Carlo Giovanardi commented on the programme saying:
"I was amazed at the way that the Report program tried to destroy the image of a great Italian company like Inalca of Modena
Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...
… from the resurrection of the fear that consumers have for the mad cow, to the supplies from abroad, from the collapse of other companies, to the malicious connection of single episodes, everything has been lumped together to criminalize the companies in the group. The economic and moral damage for the company, and for our country, risk being incalculable: we’ll have to see who benefits from these programs, who suggested them, and who thinks they will profit financially on the national and international market by weakening a dangerous competitor that could support world competition."
Inalca contributed to Giovanardi's electoral campaign in 2006.
Radio24 interview
In late December 2005, during an interview on
Radio 24, he said, "I am not employee of nobody if not of my constituents," and "in democracy everyone answers to his ideas and the constituents who have voted it." This was criticized by commentator
Beppe Grillo
Giuseppe Piero "Beppe" Grillo (; born 21 July 1948) is an Italian comedian, actor, blogger, and politician.
He has been involved in politics since 2009 as the co-founder (together with Gianroberto Casaleggio) of the Italian Five Star Movement ...
because Article 67 of the Italian constitution, says that "every member of the parliament represents the nation and exercises its functions without mandate tie."
Drug legislation
In January 2006, the "Legge Fini-Giovanardi" (Fini-Giovanardi law) was approved. The law, developed with colleague
Gianfranco Fini, restricted the use of recreational drugs, especially
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
, and greatly increased punishments for consumers of them.
In May 2008, in an interview at the website of the
Club of Freedom The National Association Club of Freedom (''Associazione Nazionale Circolo della Libertà ''), more frequently referred to as Clubs of Freedom (''Circoli della Libertà ''), was a grassroots organisation within The People of Freedom, a political party ...
, Giovanardi said, "We say enough to the drug culture, and in order to do that, we want to introduce a rule preventing propaganda, even indirect, to all drugs, including so-called 'light drugs'
€¦In addition, to insist on prevention and education and to have asked prefects and Quaestors to monitor and act with determination against these irresponsible initiatives, we are committed to find the most appropriate regulatory tools aimed to avoid that propaganda events, such as three days in Bologna on hemp can be held freely."
LGBT rights
Carlo Giovanardi has become famous for his positions against
LGBT people
The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and social ...
; he has been accused of being a
homophobe
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, ma ...
.
On 20 September 2010, Giovanardi stated that countries that have legalized adoptions of children by gay couples have "exploded the sale of boys and girls".
On 23 April 2011, Giovanardi argued against gay-friendly advertising by the Swedish company
IKEA
IKEA (; ) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells , kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been t ...
, declaring: "The term 'family' is used by multinational detrimental to the Italian Constitution, because it is meant only one formed by the marriage between man and woman." Ikea replies: "That founded on marriage is one of the families. We appeal to all types."
In February 2012, during an interview with Radio 24, he likened a kiss between women in the audience to a person who "pees on the street". This elicited immediate reactions by some politicians, such as
Rosy Bindi, who said "Giovanardi never ceases to amaze for his lack of modesty and balance and for its smallness" and
Paola Concia
Anna Paola Concia (born 4 July 1963, in Avezzano) is an Italian politician and gay rights activist.
Biography
Concia was born in Avezzano, and she graduated in sports science from L'Aquila's Istituto Superiore di Educazione Fisica; following her ...
, who launched a mail bomb, suggesting: "Write to him that homophobia is a disease."
Giovanardi say in a 25 January 2013 interview that during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
there were a few discriminations against gay people, not a real
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
".
On 21 January 2014, he introduced an amendment to protect any sexual orientation, not only homosexual and
bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...
but also heterosexual, and also included
pedophilia
Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...
. The
Five Star Movement announced its intention to report the matter to the
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
. He later said that he mistakenly entered the term "pedophilia" in the text, and meant to use "pedofobia."
In an episode of
Porta a Porta
''Porta a Porta'' (literally ''Door-to-door'') is an Italian late night television talk show hosted by the Italian journalist Bruno Vespa
Bruno Paolo Vespa (born 27 May 1944) is an Italian television and newspaper journalist.
A former directo ...
on 25 January 2014, in response to a request made to him by
Bruno Vespa, he tells how his daughter went to South Africa and became engaged to a black man, a rasta, perhaps gay, and in addition, married to another man. Giovanardi says he was shocked by this news from his daughter.
Giovanardi in judgement
On 10 April 2017, Giovanardi was investigated "for revelation and use of official secrets and threat or violence to a political, administrative or judicial body of the State. With the aggravation of having strengthened the mafia association, facilitating it".
Dutch euthanasia laws
In a radio program aired on
Rai Radio 1
Rai Radio 1 (''Radio Uno'') is an Italian radio channel operated by the state-owned public-broadcasting organisation RAI and specialising in news, sports, talk programmes, and popular music.
History
The channel is the direct descendant of the ...
on 17 March 2006, he said: "
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
legislation and
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's ideas are re-emerging in Europe via Dutch
euthanasia laws and the debate on how to kill ill children". He added that it is
eugenics
Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior o ...
to debate killing children "who are ill or have Down Syndrome", and that "we could just as easily apply this to senior citizens". The Dutch prime minister called Giovanardi's comments "scandalous and unacceptable".
[Observer – Europe, 23 March 2006, www.ft.com.]
References
External links
*
Scheda alla CameraGiunta per le autorizzazioniCommissione affari costituzionali alla CameraSito dell'UDCRegistrazione intervista Radio24 (in formato mp3)*
ttps://www.processoaemilia.com/il-caso-giovanardi White List: il caso Giovanardi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giovanardi, Carlo
1950 births
Living people
Politicians from Modena
Christian Democracy (Italy) politicians
Christian Democratic Centre politicians
Union of the Centre (2002) politicians
The People of Freedom politicians
New Centre-Right politicians
Identity and Action politicians
Government ministers of Italy
Deputies of Legislature XI of Italy
Deputies of Legislature XII of Italy
Deputies of Legislature XIII of Italy
Deputies of Legislature XIV of Italy
Deputies of Legislature XV of Italy
Senators of Legislature XVI of Italy
Senators of Legislature XVII of Italy
Carabinieri