Raffaele Lombardo ; (born 29 October 1950) is an Italian politician. Born in

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

, he was Sicily's president and former member of the European Parliament for the Italian Islands with the Movement for the Autonomies, and has sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. In 2005, Lombardo split off from the

Union of Christian and Centre Democrats The Union of the Centre ( it, Unione di Centro, UdC), whose complete name is "Union of Christian and Centre Democrats" (''Unione dei Democratici Cristiani e Democratici di Centro'', UDC), is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Lore ...

(UDC) to form the autonomist Sicilian-based Movement for Autonomy (MpA), after he had accused the UDC leadership of being too centralist. In 2008, he was elected as

president of Sicily This is the list of all the presidents of Sicily since 1947. There has been 24 elected presidents by Regional Council (1947-2001), and 4 directly elected presidents since 2001. ;Elected by the Regional Council (1947–2001) ;Directly-elected p ...

, obtaining over 65% of the regional votes and defeating

Anna Finocchiaro Anna Finocchiaro Fidelbo (; born 31 March 1955) is an Italian politician. She was the Democratic Party's leader in the Senate from 2007 to 2013. She served as Minister for Equal Opportunities in the cabinet of Romano Prodi from 1996 to 1998. Bio ...

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 ...

(PD). On 31 July 2012, he resigned from the presidency because he was under investigation for external contribution with mafia and pork-barrelling, as it appears that he had relationships with some figure of Cosa Nostra. Nevertheless, in the following elections he managed to have his 23 years old son Toti elected in the Sicilian Regional Assembly. On 19 February 2014, he was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for mafia association. In 2022, he was acquitted in the second appeal trial; the acquittal was confirmed by Italy's

Supreme Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...

in 2023.

Education

* 1968:

Secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

-leaving certificate in classical subjects * Graduate in medicine and surgery * Specialisation in forensic psychiatry * Private practice * 1977: Provincial secretary of the Catania Youth DC * Regional secretary of the Christian Democratic Centre (CCD) for Sicily * Member of Catania Municipal Council for eight years * Several terms as Catania Municipal Councillor with responsibility for

budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...

, planning, health, cultural heritage, youth issues, and taxation

Career

* 1986−1994: Member of the Sicilian Regional Assembly with

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 ...

(DC) * 1991−1992: Assessor for Local Authorities of the Sicilian Regional Executive (resigned for enquiries) * 1999−2008: Member of the European Parliament with CCD * 2003−2008: President of the

Province of Catania The Province of Catania ( it, Provincia di Catania; scn, Pruvincia di Catania) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in southern Italy. Its capital was the city of Catania. It had an area of and a total population of about 1, ...

with UDC * 2008−2012: President of Sicily with MPA

References

External links

Raffaele Lombardo's official website

European Parliament biography of Raffaele Lombardo
* 1950 births Living people Presidents of Sicily Politicians from Catania MEPs for Italy 2004–2009 Movement for the Autonomies MEPs Movement for the Autonomies politicians MEPs for Italy 1999–2004 Christian Democratic Centre politicians Members of the Sicilian Regional Assembly Presidents of the Province of Catania Heads of government who were later imprisoned Italian politicians convicted of crimes Criminals from Sicily {{Italy-MEP-stub