Paolo De Castro (born 2 February 1958) is an Italian politician, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies in the D'Alema I, D'Alema II and Prodi II cabinets. In 2009 he was elected to 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 ...

, and served as chair of the parliament's

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities of the Committee AGRI is the European Parliament committee responsible for: #The operation and development of the Common Agricul ...

from 2009 to 2014. He has also served as professor of

Agricultural Economics Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that specif ...

at the Veterinary Medicine

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...

. He is married and has two sons.

Early life and career

Born in

San Pietro Vernotico San Pietro Vernotico ( Brindisino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brindisi, Apulia, on the south-east coast of Italy. Its main economic activities are tourism and the growing of olives and grapes. It was the site of a substantial M ...

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

, as a son of farmers; De Castro grew up on the family's 36-hectare farm. In 1980 he graduated at Bologna getting the maximum mark in

Agricultural Science Agricultural science (or agriscience for short) is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Profession ...

Career

Career in academia

From January 2001 to May 2004, De Castro chaired the Nomisma Economics Studies Institute. He also chaired the Qualivita Foundation and currently runs the International Agricultural Policy Magazine edited by the Informatore Agrario in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

. He is professor at the Agriculture Academy of Bologna, the Georgofili Agricultural Economics Academy of Florence, the Agriculture Academy of Pesaro and the National Academy of Treja. From 1996 to 1998 de Castro served as economic advisor to Prime Minister

Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prim ...

and economic advisor to the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Resources,

Michele Pinto Michele Pinto (born 2 January 1931, Teggiano) is an Italian politician. Biography He served as Minister of agriculture in the Prodi I Cabinet and was the promoter of the "Pinto law" on fair reparation for the damage, patrimonial or non-patrimonial ...

. Since 1 June to 31 December 2000 he was appointed special Advisor to the EU Commission's president. From 21 October 1998 to 25 April 2000 he served as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Policies in both governments chaired by

Massimo D'Alema Massimo D'Alema (; born 20 April 1949) is an Italian politician and journalist who was the 53rd prime minister of Italy from 1998 to 2000. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008. D'Alema also serv ...

. De Castro is also scientific coordinator of the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and scientific Director of the Genio Rurale Magazine: a magazine on goods evaluation and territory science of Edagricole. He is also member of the Italian Agricultural Economists' Society (SIDEA) and of the European Agricultural Economics Association (EAEA).

Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policy

A candidate in the Italian general election held from 9 to 10 April 2006 in

in the

Olive Tree The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...

list, De Castro was elected to the XV Legislature. In May 2006 he was appointed Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies in the government chaired by

Member of the European Parliament

De Castro became a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

following the 2009 European elections. In parliament, he is a member of the

Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist ...

group. Since 2009 he has since been serving on the

. Between 2009 and 2014, De Castro acted as the committee's chairman. In this capacity, he led the parliament's negotiations in 2013 with the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...

on the

Common Agricultural Policy The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Union. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce the ...

(CAP) budget for 2014–2020. Since 2014, he has been serving as his parliamentary group's coordinator on the committee. In 2019, he also joined the

Committee on Budgets The Committee on Budgets (BUDG) is a committee of the European Parliament. It has 41 members plus 39 substitute members. The committee's current chair is Jean Arthuis, who has held this position since 7 July 2014.United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(since 2011) and of the European Parliament Intergroup on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. From 2009 until 2011, he was also a member of the delegation for relations with the

Palestinian Legislative Council The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is the unicameral legislature of the Palestinian Authority, elected by the Palestinian residents of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It currently comprises 132 members, e ...

Other activities

* Reimagine Europa, Member of the Advisory BoardAdvisory Board
Reimagine Europa.

Recognition

In November 2000, President

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (; 9 December 1920 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian politician and banker who was the prime minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and the president of Italy from 1999 to 2006. Biography Education Ciampi was born i ...

awarded De Castro the merit honour.

References

External links

Personal website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:De Castro, Paolo 1958 births Democratic Party (Italy) MEPs Agriculture ministers of Italy Living people MEPs for Italy 2009–2014 21st-century Italian politicians People from the Province of Brindisi MEPs for Italy 2014–2019 MEPs for Italy 2019–2024 Democratic Party (Italy) politicians Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy politicians The Democrats (Italy) politicians