Sergio Cofferati (born 30 January 1948) is an Italian trade unionist and politician. Secretary general of

CGIL The Italian General Confederation of Labour (; CGIL) is a national trade union based in Italy. It was formed by agreement between socialists, communists, and Christian democrats in the "Pact of Rome" of June 1944. In 1950, socialists and Christi ...

from 1994 to 2002, Mayor of

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

for the Democrats of the Left from 2004 to 2009 and

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 ...

(MEP) from 2009 to 2019, elected as a candidate 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 career

Cofferati was born at Sesto ed Uniti, in the

province of Cremona The Province of Cremona ( it, provincia di Cremona; Cremunés: ; Cremasco: ; Casalasco-Viadanese: ) is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital city is Cremona. The province occupies the central section of Padana Plain, so the ...

. Initially an employee of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational tyre manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, is the 6th-largest tyre manufacturer and is focused on the consumer production of tyre ...

and a member of

, Cofferati rose up in the major Italian trade union, becoming leader of Filcea (the chemical labour wing of CGIL) in 1988, and Secretary General of the CGIL itself in 1990, succeeding Bruno Trentin. He led the CGIL until 2002, after having obtained some relevant triumphs such as negotiating the reform of pensions in 1995, and opposing the change of article 18 of the "workers' statute", a 1970 bill, which protects employees in the event of illegitimate, unjust and discriminatory dismissal. In 2004, Cofferati was elected as Mayor of

, replacing

Giorgio Guazzaloca Giorgio Guazzaloca (6 February 1944 – 26 April 2017) was an Italian politician, Mayor of Bologna from 1999 to 2004. Biography Guazzaloca left school when he was 14 and started working in his father's butcher's shop, opening one of his own i ...

. In 2008, he decided not to run for his second term as mayor.

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–2019

In 2009 Cofferati 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 ...

as 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 ...

. He first served on the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (2009-2012) before moving to

Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) is a committee of the European Parliament. Work of the committee The committee is responsible for: * coordination at Community level of national legislation in the sphere of th ...

in 2012. In 2016, he also joined the Parliament's temporary Committee of Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion (PANA) that investigated the

Panama Papers The Panama Papers ( es, Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 ...

revelations and tax avoidance schemes more broadly. In addition to his committee assignments, Cofferati was one of the vice-chairs of the European Parliament Intergroup on Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas. He is also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the r ...

; the European Parliament Intergroup on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights; and the MEP Heart Group, a group of parliamentarians who have an interest in promoting measures that will help reduce the burden of

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...

s (CVD).Supporters
MEP Heart Group.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cofferati, Sergio 1948 births Living people Politicians from the Province of Cremona Mayors of Bologna Democratic Party (Italy) MEPs MEPs for Italy 2009–2014 21st-century Italian politicians Democrats of the Left politicians MEPs for Italy 2014–2019 Italian Left politicians Italian trade unionists