Elisabetta Gardini (3 June 1956) is an Italian politician and TV presenter.

Biography

Born in

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

, Gardini was a popular TV presenter, stage and screen actress. Her best-known television appearances have included ''

Unomattina ''Unomattina'' (also spelled ''Uno Mattina'') is a long-running Italian morning television show, broadcast by Rai 1 since 22 December 1986. History The first-morning program of the Italian national public television, was created to counterprogr ...

'' (1985-1986), ''Europa, Europa'' (1988-1990), and the leading role of Laura Andrei in ''Una donna per amico'' (1998-2000).

Political career

Gardini was once close to

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) and after that party was dissolved into the Italian People's Party (PPI), she was an unsuccessful candidate for

Segni Pact The Segni Pact ( it, Patto Segni), officially called Pact of National Rebirth (''Patto di Rinascita Nazionale''), was a Christian-democratic, centrist and liberal political party in Italy. The party was founded and named after Mario Segni, a form ...

in the 1994 general election. In 2004 Gardini was appointed spokesperson of

Forza Italia Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...

(FI), with which she was elected to the

Regional Council of Veneto The Regional Council of Veneto (''Consiglio Regionale del Veneto'') is the regional parliament of Veneto. The Council, which has its seat at Palazzo Ferro Fini, located along the Grand Canal in Venice. was first elected in 1970, when ordinar ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

and 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 Res ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

. In 2008 she was the first of the non elected candidates in the 2008 general election (Gardini entered in the

in July 2010, but resigned because she was MEP at that time). On 30 May 2008, she entered the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

, replacing

Renato Brunetta Renato Brunetta (born 15 May 1950) is an Italian economist and politician. He was the Minister of Public Administration and Innovation from 8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011 in the Berlusconi government, and he is, once again, the minister for ...

, and after the 2009 election Gardini was elected for a full five-year term with

The People of Freedom The People of Freedom ( it, Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia a ...

(PDL). Gardini was once again re-elected in the 2014 election and was subsequently appointed leader of the new

(formery PDL) in the

, but in April 2019 Gardini left

Silvio 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 FI to join

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 ...

Brothers of Italy Brothers of Italy ( it, Fratelli d'Italia, FdI) is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Italy. It is led by Giorgia Meloni, the incumbent Prime Minister of Italy and the first woman to serve in the position. Accor ...

(FdI) because "

Antonio Tajani Antonio Tajani (; born 4 August 1953) is an Italian politician, journalist and former Italian Air Force officer, who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Foreign Affairs since 22 October 2022. He served as President of the ...

(the Vicepresident of Berlusconi's FI) transformed Forza Italia (FI) into the 'clone' of the Democratic Party (PD) and this is not acceptable for me". For this reason, Gardini left Tajani's

European People's Party group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group) is a centre-right political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent MEP ...

(the group of FI) to join with

Raffaele Fitto Raffaele Fitto (born 28 August 1969) is an Italian politician and a member of the European Parliament. He is serving as the minister of European affairs in the Meloni Cabinet since 2022. Career Born in Maglie, Fitto was elected in 1999 at Europ ...

Conservative group da, Den Konservative Gruppe no, Den konservative gruppen is, Flokkahópur hægrimanna , logo = Logo of the Conservative Group.png , colorcode = , headquarters = Christiansborg DK-1240 København K , chairman = ...

(ECR). Gardini ran in the 2019 election as a candidate in North-East Italy, associated with ECR, of

, led by Meloni where Fitto ran for the Southern Italy constituency. Gardini was not re-elected in the European Election in May 2019 and her former seat was passed to

Sergio Berlato Sergio Berlato (born 27 July 1959 in Vicenza) is an Italian politician from Veneto. Biography A long-time representative of the hunters' lobby, in the 1990 regional election Berlato was elected to the Regional Council of Veneto for the Huntin ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gardini, Elisabetta 1956 births Living people Politicians from Padua The People of Freedom politicians Brothers of Italy politicians Deputies of Legislature XV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVI of Italy MEPs for Italy 2009–2014 Italian actor-politicians Italian television presenters Forza Italia MEPs MEPs for Italy 2004–2009 MEPs for Italy 2014–2019 21st-century women MEPs for Italy Members of the Regional Council of Veneto Italian women television presenters Women members of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy)