Francesco Boccia (born 18 March 1968) is an Italian academic and politician of the Democratic Party (PD) who served as Minister of Regional Affairs and Autonomies in the government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

Education and academic career

Boccia graduated from University of Bari with a degree in

Political Sciences Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

. In 1994, he obtained a Master of Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan. From 1994 to 1998 Boccia was a researcher at the European Institute, the Economic and Social Cohesion Laboratory of the London School of Economics. In 2002 he was Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, at the College of Public Administration. From 1998 to 2005 he was director of the Research Center for Land Development at the Carlo Cattaneo University of Castellanza. Since 2016 he has been president of the interdisciplinary Research Center on Governance and Public Policies at the University of Molise.

Political career

Bocci worke as economic advisor to then Minister of Industry Enrico Letta from 1998 to 2001, and shortly thereafter joined The Daisy. Boccia served as Councilor for the economy in the city of

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

from July 2004 to October 2006, and is considered to be very close to former mayor of

and president of

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

Michele Emiliano. During the Prodi II Cabinet, from 2006 to 2008, Boccia served as Head of the Department for the Development of Territorial Economies of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, and was as well the liquidator commissioner and chairman of the extraordinary organ of liquidation of the financial instability of the city of Taranto. In view of the 2005 regional elections, Boccia ran in the primary elections of

The Union The Union may refer to: Politics * The Union (Germany) or CDU/CSU, the partnership of the German political parties the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union * The Union (Italy), a former coalition of political parties in Ital ...

held on 16 January 2005 to decide who will be the candidate for president of

: he was defeated by

Nichi Vendola Nicola "Nichi" Vendola (; born 26 August 1958) is an Italian left-wing politician and LGBT activist who was a Member of the Chamber of Deputies from Apulia from 1992 to 2005 and President of Apulia from 2005 to 2015. He is one of the first o ...

, who was then elected president of

. He tried once again to run for the primaries in view of the 2010 regional elections, but was again defeated by Vendola. Boccia was elected for the first time 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 ...

in 2008, and was re-elected in 2013 and in 2018. In parliament, he chaired the Budget Committee. In 2016, Boccia and Marco Meloni, an Italian lawyer and former deputy at the EU Parliament, presented their Summer Political School at the University of Bari, Italy. It was entitled to Enrico Letta. A year later, Meloni was appointed as its director.

Personal life

Boccia had a long relationship with Benedetta Rizzo and the couple had a boy and a girl: Edoardo and Ludovica. In 2011 he married The People of Freedom politician Nunzia De Girolamo: the two had a daughter named Gea. He considers himself Roman Catholic.

References

External links

*Files about his parliamentary activities (in Italian)
XVIXVIIXVIII
legislature. {{DEFAULTSORT:Boccia, Francesco 1968 births Living people Conte II Cabinet Democratic Party (Italy) politicians Deputies of Legislature XVI of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVII of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVIII of Italy Politicians of Apulia 21st-century Italian politicians Italian Roman Catholics