Marco Minniti (; born 6 June 1956) is an Italian politician. 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 ...

, he served in the government of Italy as

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from 12 December 2016 to 1 June 2018. Previously, he was one of the most prominent councilors of former Prime Ministers

Matteo Renzi Matteo Renzi (; born 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician who served as prime minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016. He has been a senator for Florence since 2018. Renzi has served as the leader of Italia Viva (IV) since 2019, having bee ...

and

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 ...

. Due to his policies on

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

and

security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...

, Minniti has been often criticized by

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

intellectuals and writers, like

Roberto Saviano Roberto Saviano (; born 22 September 1979) is an Italian writer, essayist, journalist, and screenwriter. In his writings, including articles and his book '' Gomorrah'', he uses literature and investigative reporting to tell of the economic reali ...

, and labeled as a

strongman In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. Thes ...

. He has been sometimes nicknamed "The Lord of the Spies", due to his long-time experience in coordinating the secret services in almost all the

centre-left coalition The centre-left coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-sinistra) is an alliance of political parties in Italy active, under several forms and names, since 1995 when The Olive Tree was formed under the leadership of Romano Prodi. The centre-left ...

's governments. While he was in office, some political commentators described him as the most powerful and prominent man in Italy.

Early life

Minniti was born in Reggio Calabria in Southern Italy in 1956. His father was a

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

of the

Italian Army "The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law" , colors = , colors_labels = , march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...

. Minniti stated that when he was young he wanted become an aviator of the

Italian Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = (Ordinance March of the Air Force) by Alberto Di Miniello , mascot = , anniversaries = 28 March ...

, but his mother forbade it, so at 17 years old he joined the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...

, as a protest against his parents. During 1970s, he graduated in philosophy at the

University of Messina The University of Messina ( it, Università degli Studi di Messina; Latin: ''Studiorum Universitas Messanae''), known colloquially as UniME, is a state university located in Messina, Sicily, Italy. Founded in 1548 by Pope Paul III, it was the wor ...

. In these years he met his future wife, Mariangela Sera, with whom he has two daughters.

Early political career

Minniti mature in Calabria most of his political education; during 1970s he became a member of the

led by

Enrico Berlinguer Enrico Berlinguer (; 25 May 1922 – 11 June 1984) was an Italian politician, considered the most popular leader of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), which he led as the national secretary from 1972 until his death during a tense period in Ital ...

. In 1986 he served on the Commission for Labour's issues of the Communist Party. In 1986 he became secretary of the PCI provincial federation of Reggio Calabria. In 1992, he became regional secretary of the Calabrian

Democratic Party of the Left The Democratic Party of the Left ( it, Partito Democratico della Sinistra, PDS) was a democratic socialist and social-democratic political party in Italy. Founded in February 1991 as the post-communist evolution of the Italian Communist Party, t ...

, a position he left in 1994 when he was appointed in the national leadership of the party. With the foundation of the

Democrats of the Left The Democrats of the Left ( it, Democratici di Sinistra, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger of th ...

, in February 1998, he was appointed secretary to the party's organization. Minniti was candidated in the 1996 general election for The Olive Tree coalition of

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 Pr ...

, in Calabria, but he was not elected. However during this period he became a close collaborator of

, leader of the PDS. From 1998 to 2001, he hold the offices of Undersecretary in the centre-left cabinets of D'Alema and Giuliano Amato. In

2001 Italian general election The 2001 Italian general election was held in Italy on 13 May 2001 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. The election was won by the centre-right coalition House of Freedoms led by Silvio Berlusconi, defeati ...

, Minniti was elected for the first time to the Chamber of Deputies.

Deputy Minister and Secretary

In the

2006 Italian general election The 2006 Italian general election was held on 9 and 10 April 2006. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left coalition The Union, narrowly defeated the incumbent Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the centre-right coalition House of Freedo ...

he was re-elected in Calabria in the Chamber of Deputies and after The Union victory, Minniti was appointed Deputy Minister of the Interior in the

Prodi II Cabinet The second Prodi government was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008, a total of 722 days, or 1 year, 11 months and 21 days. The 59th cabinet of the Italian Republic, it was the only cabinet of the XV Legislature ...

. After the

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...

of 14 October 2007, he was elected regional secretary of the

in Calabria, an office who held until 2009. In the general election of 2008 he was elected for a third term in his constituency. From 2007 to 2013, Minniti was a member of the National Direction of the PD, under the leaderships of

Walter Veltroni Walter Veltroni (; born 3 July 1955) is an Italian writer, film director, journalist, and politician, who served as the first leader of the Democratic Party within the centre-left opposition, until his resignation on 17 February 2009. He serv ...

Dario Franceschini Dario Franceschini (; born 19 October 1958) is an Italian lawyer, writer, and politician, member of the Democratic Party (PD), of which he briefly became leader in 2009. Franceschini served as Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and T ...

and Pier Luigi Bersani. In 2013 Italian general election, Minniti was elected in the Senate for the first time. On 17 May 2013, he was appointed Secretary to the Prime Minister's Office in

Letta Cabinet The Letta government was the 62nd government of the Italian Republic. In office from 28 April 2013 to 22 January 2014, it comprised ministers of the Democratic Party (PD), The People of Freedom (PdL), Civic Choice (SC), the Union of the Centr ...

with responsibility for intelligence services, presiding the Delegated Authority for the Security of the Republic. Minniti hold this office also in the government of

, becoming one of the most prominent councilors of the Prime Minister.

Minister of the Interior

On 12 December 2016, Minniti was appointed new

in the government of

Paolo Gentiloni Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019. He previously served as prime minister of Italy from December ...

. On 23 December 2016, Anis Amri, the perpetrator of the Berlin truck attack on 19 December, was killed in a shootout with police in front of the

Sesto San Giovanni railway station Sesto San Giovanni railway station is a railway station in Italy. Located on the Milan–Chiasso railway, it serves the city of Sesto San Giovanni. Services Sesto San Giovanni is served by lines S7, S8, S9, and S11 of the Milan suburban railw ...

, near

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 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The suspect had just arrived by train from

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chamb ...

, France (via

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

). During a routine patrol, two police officers asked to search his backpack after he said he did not have any identity documents. Amri then pulled out a gun and shot one of the officers in the shoulder. The other officer responded by shooting Amri. Minniti stated that a policeman had been hospitalized with a shoulder injury. One of the first actions as minister was the reopening and increase of the Identification and Expulsion Centres (CIE) and the doubling of the expulsions of irregular immigrants; this measures was supported by the Chief of Police

Franco Gabrielli Franco Gabrielli (born 13 February 1960) is an Italian police officer, prefect and civil servant. He has been director of SISDE (the civil intelligence service) and prefect of L'Aquila. In November 2010, he was named chief of the Italian Protez ...

, but was harshly criticized by the left-wing opposition of

Italian Left Italian Left ( it, Sinistra Italiana, SI) is a left-wing political party in Italy. SI was launched in November 2015 as a parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies (full name: Italian Left – Left Ecology Freedom), including Left Ecology ...

, and also by intellectuals and writers like

. On 9 January 2017, Minniti traveled to

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

to begin the negotiations with President

Fayez al-Sarraj Fayez Mustafa al-Sarraj ( ar, فائز السراج or ; born 20 February 1960) is a Libyan politician who served as the Chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya and Head of Government of the Government of National Accord from 2016 to 2021 ...

to sign a new agreement on repatriation of irregular immigrants. On this occasion it was reopened the Italian

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

that, previously, had been closed. In May 2017, Minniti met the Interior Ministers of

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesChiad, and

, with whom he announced that Italy would build migration centers in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

to stop the migration through the Mediterranean Sea. However, Minniti was often accused by his critics of being responsible for severe human rights violations of refugees trapped in Libyan detention centers. Minniti remained in office until 1 June 2018, when

Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been Federal Secretary of Italy's Lega Nord (Northern League) party s ...

was appointed new Interior Minister in the government of

Giuseppe Conte Giuseppe Conte (; born 8 August 1964) is an Italian jurist, academic, and politician who served as prime minister of Italy from June 2018 to February 2021. He has been the president of the Five Star Movement (M5S) since August 2021. Conte ...

NGO Code

In July 2017, he promoted the so-called "Minniti Code", which must be subscribed by the

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s that are involved in rescuing asylum seekers in the Mediterranean. Among other things, the code forbids NGO vessels entering

n territorial waters. Minniti warned those NGOs who did not sign the pact that they have set themselves "outside of the organised system for rescue at sea". Some NGOs refused to sign the new code of conduct;

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced ), also known as Doctors Without Borders, is a humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation (NGO) or charity of French origin known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases. ...

(MSF) was the first charity to officially announce its refusal of the code, saying that there were no conditions under which to sign. Facing growing public discontent and scrutiny by the Italian, Libyan, and EU authorities, MSF had to suspend its activities in the Mediterranean sea. The German NGO, Sea Watch, said that the code was "largely illegal" and "will not save lives but will have the opposite effect".

Macerata shooting

In his last year as Minister of the Interior, Minniti faced the important issue related to a right-wing terrorist shooting occurred in

Macerata Macerata () is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. It has a population of about 41,564. History The historical city centre is on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza ...

by a 28-year-old man, inviting political parties to tone moderation and harshly condemning the attack, saying that no political party must "ride the hate".

After the government

On 18 November 2018, Minniti announced his candidacy for the 2019 leadership election to become the new party's secretary. Minniti was supported by

, former Prime Minister and party's leader, who led a liberal and centrist

faction Faction or factionalism may refer to: Politics * Political faction, a group of people with a common political purpose * Free and Independent Faction, a Romanian political party * Faction (''Planescape''), a political faction in the game ''Planes ...

within the PD. He was also supported by former Minister of Economic Development Carlo Calenda, who was considered by many a strong potential candidate for the leadership election, and the former Minister of Economy and Finance

Pier Carlo Padoan Pier Carlo Padoan (; born 19 January 1950) is an Italian economist who served as Minister of Economy and Finance of Italy from 2014 to 2018. Padoan was director of the International Monetary Fund for Italy from 2001 to 2005. On 1 June 2007, he b ...

. However, on 5 December, 17 days after having announced his candidacy, Minniti withdrew from the race, saying to do so in order to facilitate the path of the party primaries and with the sole intent to encourage the election of an authoritative secretary.Primarie Pd, Marco Minniti verso l’addio: l’ex ministro non si fida di Matteo Renzi
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minniti, Marco 1956 births Democratic Party (Italy) politicians Democratic Party of the Left politicians Foreign ministers of Italy Forza Italia politicians Italian Communist Party politicians Italian Ministers of the Interior Living people People from Reggio Calabria Politicians of Calabria