Luigi Berlinguer (; born 25 July 1932) is an Italian politician who served in the government of Italy as minister of education from 1996 to 2000. He is a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

Early life and education

Berlinguer was born in

Sassari Sassari (, ; sdc, Sàssari ; sc, Tàtari, ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 127,525 inhabitants, and a Functional Urban Area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, ...

on 25 July 1932. His brother was Sergio, who was a diplomat and politician. They are cousin of communist leader Enrico Berlinguer, who died in 1984. He obtained a law degree from the University of Sassari in 1955.

Career

Berlinguer served as mayor of Sennori. He was the president of the University of Siena until April 1993 when he was appointed to the Ciampi Cabinet as minister of universities, science and technology. He was one of the three ex-communists in the cabinet. Then he served as the minister of education between 1996 and 2000 in the cabinets led first by Romano Prodi and then by Massimo D'Alema. He was also acting minister of universities, science and technology from 1996 to October 1998. He was succeeded by Oreste Zecchino as minister. In addition, he served in both 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 ...

and 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 ...

. He is a member of the

. He was elected as a member of the European Parliament in 2009, sitting as part of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. In the parliament he served as first vice-chair of the committee on legal affairs and as a member of the committee on culture and education beginning in 2009.

Awards

In 2011, Berlinguer received MEP award of the European Parliament in the field of culture and education.

Honour

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Knight Grand Cross; 27 December 1992)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berlinguer, Luigi 1932 births deputies of Legislature IV of Italy deputies of Legislature XII of Italy Deputies of Legislature XIII of Italy Italian people of Catalan descent Italian Communist Party politicians Democratic Party of the Left politicians Democrats of the Left politicians Education ministers of Italy Government ministers of Italy Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany senators of Legislature XIV of Italy Democratic Party (Italy) MEPs MEPs for Italy 2009–2014 Heads of universities in Italy Living people People from Sassari University of Sassari alumni Academic staff of the University of Siena Mayors of places in Italy Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic