Gerardo Bianco (12 September 1931 – 1 December 2022) was an Italian politician.

Early life

Bianco was born in

Guardia Lombardi Guardia Lombardi (), known as ''La Uàrdia'' () in the Irpinian dialect, is a small town and '' comune'' in the Province of Avellino in Campania, Italy. At an elevation of , it is located in Irpinia in the Apennine Mountains of Southern Italy. I ...

, Campania in Italy. Winner of a scholarship at the Augustinianum College of

Catholic University of the Sacred Heart The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, he graduated in classical letters.

Career

Bianco has been Deputy from 1968 to 1994 and from 2001 to 2008, chairman of

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 ...

(''Democrazia Cristiana''; DC) in the Chamber from 1979 to 1983 and from 1992 to 1994, Vice-President of

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 Res ...

from 1987 to 1990 and MEP from 1994 to 1999. He also served as Minister of Education in the

Andreotti VI Cabinet The Andreotti VI Cabinet was a cabinet of the Italian Republic. It held office from 1989 to 1991. Andreotti was forced to resign after that the PRI left the majority. On 12 April 1991, he received once again the presidential mandate to form a n ...

. In 1995 he opposed the Secretary of the Italian People's Party (PPI),

Rocco Buttiglione Rocco Buttiglione (; born 6 June 1948) is an Italian Union of Christian and Centre Democrats politician and an academic. Buttiglione's nomination for a post as European Commissioner with a portfolio that was to include civil liberties, resulted ...

, for his approach to the centre-right during the regional elections that year. Bianco was subsequently elected Secretary of the PPI while Buttiglione founded a new party, the

United Christian Democrats The United Christian Democrats ( it, Cristiani Democratici Uniti, CDU) was a minor Christian democratic political party in Italy. The CDU was a member of the European People's Party from 1995 until 2002. History The party was started in 1995 by s ...

(CDU). He remained Secretary until 1997, the year he became president of PPI. He also was the director of the newspaper '' Il Popolo'' in 1995 and from 1999 to 2000. In 2002 Bianco opposed the dissolution of the PPI into

The Daisy ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

(DL), and so joined the new party as an independent. In 2004 he founded the movement Popular Italy(IP), with the purpose of restoring an autonomous organized presence for democratic Catholics in Italy. In 2008 he refused to join the Democratic Party (PD) and instead entered the mixed (''Misto'') group.

Personal life and death

Bianco died in Rome on 1 December 2022, at the age of 91.

References

External links