Giancarlo Giorgetti (born 16 December 1966 in

Cazzago Brabbia Cazzago Brabbia is a ''comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces ...

) is an

Italian politician The politics of Italy are conducted through a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system. Italy has been a democratic republic since 2 June 1946, when the monarchy was abolished by popular referendum and a constituent assembly was electe ...

and prominent member of the

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, of which he became deputy secretary in 2016. Since October 2022, Giorgetti is serving as Minister of Economy and Finance in the government of

Giorgia Meloni Giorgia Meloni (; born 15 January 1977) is an Italian politician who has been serving as the Prime Minister of Italy since 22 October 2022, the first woman to hold this position. A member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2006, she has led the ...

. Previously, he was Secretary of the Council of Ministers from June 2018 until September 2019, in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

Giuseppe Conte Giuseppe Conte (; born 8 August 1964) is an Italian jurist, academic, and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy, prime minister of Italy from June 2018 to February 2021. He has been the president of the Five Star Movement (M5S) sin ...

and later Minister of Economic Development from February 2021 until October 2022, in the

Mario Draghi Mario Draghi (; born 3 September 1947) is an Italian economist, academic, banker and civil servant who served as prime minister of Italy from February 2021 to October 2022. Prior to his appointment as prime minister, he served as President of ...

Early life and career

Giorgetti was born in 1966 in

, a small town in the

Province of Varese The province of Varese ( it, provincia di Varese) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. Its capital is the city of Varese (population of 80,857 inhabitants), but its largest city is Busto Arsizio. The head ...

. He later graduated in business economics at the

Bocconi University Bocconi University ( it, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, ) is a private university in Milan, Italy. Bocconi provides education in the fields of economics, finance, law, management, political science, public administration and computer sci ...

, becoming a

tax advisor A tax advisor or tax consultant is a person with advanced training and knowledge of tax law. The services of a tax advisor are usually retained in order to minimize taxation while remaining compliant with the law in complicated financial situations. ...

and

financial audit A financial audit is conducted to provide an opinion whether "financial statements" (the information is verified to the extent of reasonable assurance granted) are stated in accordance with specified criteria. Normally, the criteria are internat ...

or. During the university he was close to the

Youth Front ''Youth Front'' ( es, Frente de la Juventud, FJ) was a Spanish political youth organization and far-right militant group, sometimes considered a terrorist organization. History FJ emerged as a 1978 split of Fuerza Nueva, the main neofrancoist p ...

, the youth-wing of the nationalist

Italian Social Movement The Italian Social Movement ( it, Movimento Sociale Italiano, MSI) was a neo-fascist political party in Italy. A far-right party, it presented itself until the 1990s as the defender of Italian fascism's legacy, and later moved towards national ...

(MSI). However, in the early 1990s, he joined

Lega Lombarda Lega Lombarda ( en, Lombard League; abbr. LL), whose complete name is ( en, Lombard League for Salvini Premier), is a regionalist political party active in Lombardy. Established in 1984, it was one of the founding "national" sections of Lega ...

and

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official n ...

, the separatist movements founded by

Umberto Bossi Umberto Bossi (born 19 September 1941) is an Italian politician and former leader of Lega Nord (Northern League), a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padania. He is married to the Sicilian Manuela Marrone, and has fou ...

, and on 23 April 1995 he was elected mayor of his hometown, Cazzago Brabbia, a position that he held until 12 June 2004.

Political career

Elected 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 ...

for the first time in

1996 Italian general election The 1996 Italian general election was held on 21 April 1996 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left The Olive Tree, won the election, narrowly defeating Silvio Berlus ...

, he was re-elected in 2001, 2006, 2008, 2013 and 2018. From 2001 to 2006, he was the chairman of the Budget Committee in the Chamber. Within the party, he was national secretary of Lega Lombarda from 2002 to 2012 and has been deputy federal secretary of Lega Nord since 2016. Giorgetti was described by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as a powerful aide to

, founder and federal secretary of Lega Nord from 1991 to 2012; and by ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

'' as his "dauphin". In 2010, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described him as an "influential member of

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 f ...

's Lega Nord party", where Berlusconi stood erroneously for Bossi. Under

Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been List of Federal ...

, Bossi's opponent and new federal secretary of Lega Nord since 2013, Giorgetti continued to be one of the most influential members of the party.

Political views and controversies

Giorgetti is a

federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...

and regionalist politician who supports

decentralization Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...

. Speaking at the 2018 edition of the

Communion and Liberation Communion and Liberation (Italian: Comunione e Liberazione, often shortened to CL) is an International Catholic movement founded in 1954 by Fr. Luigi Giussani. The official name is the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation. Its aim is to pres ...

's Rimini Meeting on 20 August 2018, he addressed the rise of

populism Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...

, stating that "the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitiona ...

doesn't matter anymore because it's no longer understood by citizens, who see it as a place of political inconclusiveness". In 2006, Giorgetti found himself at the center of a controversy for having refused in 2004 a 50–100,000

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

bribe from Italian banker

Gianpiero Fiorani Gianpiero Fiorani (Codogno, September 12, 1959), is an Italian banker and manager who was implicated in the Italian banking scandal of 2005 known as "''Bancopoli''". Biography With a degree in political sciences, Fiorani was the manager of the ...

. Giorgetti is a vocal supporter of a

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

based

electoral system An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and Referendum, referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political ...

and pushes for a return to the

Italian electoral law of 1993 The Italian electoral law of 1993 (better known as Mattarellum) was a reform of the electoral laws of Italy, passed on 4 August 1993. The nickname, conceived by Giovanni Sartori, derived from its author Sergio Mattarella. The law was also nickname ...

(''Mattarellum''), although it was repealed in favor of the

Italian electoral law of 2005 The law n. 270 of 21 December 2005 was a proportional electoral law with a majority prize and blocked lists that regulated the election of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate in Italy in 2006, 2008 and 2013. It was nicknamed Porcellum by Giov ...

(''Porcellum'', subsequently declared unconstitutional) with Lega Nord's support. In 2020, Giorgetti argued that Italy needs an electoral system that "makes possible to govern. Of all the electoral systems I've known, the one that worked best is ''Mattarellum''", saying that "local mayors, entrepreneurs, professionals and people representing their own territory were brought into nationwide politics thanks to FPTP's

single-member district A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner vo ...

s mechanism".

Electoral history

First-past-the-post elections

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Giorgetti, Giancarlo 1966 births 20th-century Italian politicians 21st-century Italian politicians Bocconi University alumni Conte I Cabinet Draghi Cabinet Deputies of Legislature XVIII of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVII of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVI of Italy Deputies of Legislature XV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XIV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XIII of Italy Italian neo-fascists Lega Nord politicians Living people People from the Province of Varese Meloni Cabinet Finance ministers of Italy Government ministers of Italy