Giorgio Ruffolo (14 August 1926 – 16 February 2023) was an Italian economist, journalist and politician who held several government posts and was the minister of environment for five years between 1987 and 1992 in four successive cabinets. He was a member of the now defunct

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, ...

and a significant socialist intellectual. He is known to be the founder of

economic planning Economic planning is a resource allocation mechanism based on a computational procedure for solving a constrained maximization problem with an iterative process for obtaining its solution. Planning is a mechanism for the allocation of resources b ...

in Italy.

Biography

Ruffolo was born on 14 August 1926 in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. He was part of the Italian Socialist Youth Federation. He headed the research and public relations department of

Eni Eni S.p.A. () is an Italian multinational energy company headquartered in Rome. Considered one of the seven "supermajor" oil companies in the world, it has operations in 69 countries with a market capitalization of US$54.08 billion, as of 11 Ap ...

between 1956 and 1962. He joined the Italian Socialist Party and was elected to the Italian Parliament in 1983. Ruffolo was the president and cofounder of the Europa Research Center (Centro Europa Ricerche), a Rome-based research institute in applied economic analysis with a special reference to the central issues for Italian and European economic policy. The other founders of the institute included Antonio Pedone and

Luigi Spaventa Luigi Spaventa (5 March 1934–6 January 2013) was an Italian academic. He served as a cabinet minister at different Italian governments. He was a member of the Italian Parliament from 1976 to 1983. Early life and education Spaventa was born in ...

. Ruffolo was also the president of a public

investment company An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under the ...

, Finanziaria Meridionale, which had been established to improve the

economic development In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and o ...

Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...

. From 1987 to 1992, Ruffolo was the minister of environment. Although he was an economist by profession, he published various publications on environment, which made him one of the most qualified environment ministers of Italy. During his term, the ministry published the first report about the environmental conditions in the country. Another significant event was the closure of the Farmoplant in

Massa Massa may refer to: Places *Massa, Tuscany, the administrative seat of the Italian province of Massa-Carrara. *Massa (river), river in Switzerland * Massa (Tanzanian ward), administrative ward in the Mpwapwa district of the Dodoma Region of Ta ...

in July 1988 following a massive explosion which had caused environmental pollution in the Massa coastline. Ruffolo also served in 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 ...

for three terms: 17 July 1979–30 September 1983; 19 July 1994–19 July 1999 and 20 July 1999–19 July 2004. Ruffolo was a contributor to the Italian edition of ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' and Italian newspaper ''

La Repubblica ''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnoldo ...

''. Ruffolo died in Rome on 16 February 2023, at the age of 96.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruffolo, Giorgio 1926 births 2023 deaths 20th-century Italian journalists 21st-century Italian journalists Environment ministers of Italy HuffPost bloggers Italian Socialist Party politicians Democratic Party of the Left politicians Democrats of the Left politicians Democratic Party (Italy) politicians Italian Socialist Party MEPs Journalists from Rome MEPs for Italy 1979–1984 MEPs for Italy 1994–1999 MEPs for Italy 1999–2004 Deputies of Legislature IX of Italy Deputies of Legislature X of Italy Deputies of Legislature XI of Italy Politicians from Rome La Repubblica people 20th-century Italian economists Italian ecologists Sapienza University of Rome alumni