Giorgio Clelio Stracquadanio (22 March 1959 – 31 January 2014) was an Italian politician and journalist.

Biography

Born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Stracquadanio began his political career in the 1980s as an activist for the Radical Party in

with the municipal councillor Tiziana Maiolo. In 1996 he ran unsuccessfully as an MP 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 Polo delle Libertà. In 2006 he was elected to the

Italian Senate The Senate of the Republic ( it, Senato della Repubblica), or simply the Senate ( it, Senato), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Chamber of Deputies). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral sy ...

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 ...

.Scheda
su Senato.it While still taking part in Forza Italia's activities, he joined the parliamentary group "Democrazia Cristiana per le Autonomie" to allow them to reach the minimum required quorum for group constitution. As a legislator he rejected a proposal for the diminishing of members of parliament's salaries and benefits. In 2006 he was elected to be a member of the General Council of the

Transnational Radical Party The Transnational Radical Party (TRP), whose official name is Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty (NRPTT), is a political association of citizens, members of parliament and members of government of various national and political ...

. In the 2008 general elections, he was not elected but received the seat of

Cristiana Muscardini Cristiana Muscardini (born 6 November 1948 in Cannobio) is an Italian politician and freelance writer and publicist. Graduated in philosophy, Cristiana Muscardini was executive of the ''National University Action Front'', the Italian Social Mo ...

who opted instead to serve 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 ...

. He then sat with 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 ...

in 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 ...

. Stracquadanio also worked as a journalist with the right-wing newspaper '' Libero'', for which he edited some political pamphlets. In 2009-2010, Stracquadanio was criticized for many controversial statements, including: * the delegitimisation of dissent in Berlusconi's party, the opposition to the explicit choice of MPs by electors, the support to ''ad personam'' laws favouring

* insults towards a left-wing journalist during a press conferenceStampa, giustizia e cassintegrati, la calda estate di Stracquadanio
La Repubblica, 12 settembre 2010Bracconi
su Repubblica.it * request to libel

Gianfranco Fini Gianfranco Fini (born 3 January 1952) is an Italian politician who served as the president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 2008 to 2013. He is the former leader of the far-right Italian Social Movement, the conservative National Allianc ...

to force his dismissal, as with

Dino Boffo Dino Boffo (born 19 August 1952)2009 L'Aquila earthquake The 2009 L'Aquila earthquake occurred in the region of Abruzzo, in central Italy. The main shock occurred at 03:32 CEST (01:32 UTC) on 6 April 2009, and was rated 5.8 or 5.9 on the Richter magnitude scale and 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale; ...

* legitimizing

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

to gain access to public posts, and stating that if a female MP were discovered to have been selected in return for sexual favours, there would be no reason for her to resign, or even to feel embarrassed; he stated his position after Angela Napoli (MP of the same party) had remarked that she could not exclude the possibility that some women MPs and senators had been selected in this manner. In July 2012 he left Berlusconi's party and in December of the same year joined the political project built by

Mario Monti Mario Monti, (born 19 March 1943) is an Italian economist and academic who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a technocratic government in the wake of the Italian debt crisis. Monti served as a European Commiss ...

. Stracquadanio died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

on January 31, 2014 at the age of 54.

References

External links

Italian Chamber of Deputies - Giorgio Stracquadanio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stracquadanio, Giorgio 1959 births Forza Italia politicians The People of Freedom politicians Italian journalists Italian male journalists Senators of Legislature XV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVI of Italy 2014 deaths Deaths from lung cancer in Lombardy