The first Prodi government was the 53rd

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

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 ...

. It held office from 18 May 1996 until 21 October 1998.

Formation

On 21 April 1996, the Olive Tree won 1996 general election in alliance with the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), making

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 ...

Prime Minister of Italy The Prime Minister of Italy, officially the President of the Council of Ministers ( it, link=no, Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri), is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is ...

. The Olive Tree's main component was the

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 ...

, which contained the bulk of the former

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) ...

. The PDS'

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 ...

, who ran in ticket with Prodi in a long electoral campaign, served as Deputy Prime Minister, and 15 other PDS ministers joined him in cabinet alongside 10 PDS junior ministers. It was the first time that (former) Communists had taken part in government since 1947. Besides the external support of PRC, the coalition received the support also of some minor parties: the

Italian Republican Party The Italian Republican Party ( it, Partito Repubblicano Italiano, PRI) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Italy. Founded in 1895, the PRI is the oldest political party still active in Italy. The PRI has old roots and a long hist ...

(PRI, social-liberal), The Network (social-democratic), the

South Tyrolean People's Party The South Tyrolean People's Party (german: Südtiroler Volkspartei, SVP) is a regionalist and autonomist political party in South Tyrol, an autonomous province with a German-speaking majority in northern Italy. Founded on 8 May 1945, the SVP h ...

( regionalist and Christian democratic) and some other minor parties which later merged with PDS. The average age of the ministers was 55.9 years and 14 ministers has parliamentary experience. The number of female ministers was three.

Fall

The government fell in 1998 when the Communist Refoundation Party withdrew its support. This led to the resignation of Prodi and to the formation of a new government led 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 ...

as Prime Minister.

Party breakdown

* Independents: Prime minister, 3 ministers and 4 undersecretaries *

(PDS): 10 ministers and 16 undersecretaries * Italian People’s Party (PPI): 3 ministers and 11 undersecretaries *

Italian Renewal Italian Renewal ( it, Rinnovamento Italiano, RI) was a centrist and liberal political party in Italy. The party was a member of The Olive Tree and centre-left coalition, while also affiliated to the European People's Party from 1998 to 2004. ...

(RI): 3 ministers and 4 undersecretaries *

Federation of the Greens The Federation of the Greens ( it, Federazione dei Verdi, FdV), frequently referred to as Greens (''Verdi''), was a green political party in Italy. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the Federation of Green Lists and the Rainbow Greens. T ...

(FdV): 1 minister and 3 undersecretaries * Democratic Union (UD): 1 minister and 2 undersecretaries *

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 ...

(Patto): 2 undersecretaries * Italian Socialists (SI): 1 undersecretary * Democratic Alliance (AD): 1 undersecretary * Movement of Unitarian Communists (MCU): 1 undersecretary * Republican Left (SR): 1 undersecretary

Composition

References

Sources

Italian Government - Prodi I Cabinet
{{Italian Governments Italian governments 1996 establishments in Italy 1998 disestablishments in Italy Cabinets established in 1996 Cabinets disestablished in 1998 Romano Prodi