Roberta Pinotti (born 20 May 1961) is an Italian politician, member of the Democratic Party. From 22 February 2014 to 1 June 2018 she served as the

Italian Minister of Defence This Italian Ministers of Defence ( it, Ministro della Difesa) is a senior member of the Italian Cabinet who leads the Ministry of Defence. The minister is responsible for military and civil defence matters and managing the Italian Armed Forces. ...

in the governments of Matteo Renzi and

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 Decembe ...

Early life

Roberta Pinotti was born in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

, in 1961; she holds a degree in modern literature at the

University of Genoa The University of Genoa, known also with the acronym UniGe ( it, Università di Genova), is one of the largest universities in Italy. It is located in the city of Genoa and regional Metropolitan City of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Ligur ...

and is a teacher of Italian in high schools. During her adolescence, she was a member of the Association of Italian Catholic Guides and Scouts.

Political career

She began her political career at the end of the 1980s as a district counselor of

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) ...

. She later joined the Democratic Party of the Left, 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 ...

party (in which she held the position of provincial secretary between 1999 and 2001) and the Democratic Party. In her hometown she has served as councilor for school, youth policies and social policies (1993–1997) and for educational institutions (1997–1999). First elected

deputy Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...

in 2001, Pinotti was the shadow minister of defense in the Shadow Cabinet 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 serve ...

between May 2008 and April 2009. In 2012 she was a candidate for the centre-left primary election to become

Mayor of Genoa The mayor of Genoa (Italian: ''sindaco di Genova'') is an elected politician who, along with the Genoa City Council of 40 members, is accountable for the strategic government of the municipality of Genoa, Liguria, Italy. The current office hold ...

, but she arrived only third after the leftist Marco Doria and the upcoming Mayor

Marta Vincenzi Marta Vincenzi (born 27 May 1947) is an Italian politician and former Mayor of Genoa. She was previously a Member of the European Parliament for the North-West of Italy with the Democrats of the Left (DS), part of the Socialist Group from 2004 ...

. In 2013 she was appointed undersecretary of state (''sottosegretario di stato'') in the Ministry of Defence in the

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 i ...

led by

Enrico Letta Enrico Letta (; born 20 August 1966) is an Italian politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy from April 2013 to February 2014, leading a grand coalition of centre-left and centre-right parties. Since March 2021, Letta has been secretary ...

. After her stint as Minister of Defence, Pinotti became a Senator of the Democratic Party of Italy.

Minister of Defence

When the new Secretary of the Democratic Party Matteo Renzi forced Letta to resign and became the new Prime Minister on 22 February 2014, he appointed Pinotti as

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

; she is the first woman to have ever held this office in Italy. Her first act was to meet the wives of the two Italian marines detained in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, due to the ''Enrica Lexie'' case. She received the ''America Award'' of the Italy-USA Foundation in 2014. In October 2014 she visited the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

and met with Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the w ...

Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in order to strengthen the bilateral relations with regards to the

Defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

. In February 2015 she returned to the

in occasion of the International Defence Industry Exhibition (IDEX), attended by several Italian companies, and met again with Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. She received criticism in February 2015 over navy recruitment adverts which used slogans written in English. Later that month she hinted that Italy was ready to lead a coalition force to defeat ISIS in Libya, saying: “We have been discussing it for months, but now an intervention has become urgent.” On 12 December 2016, when Renzi resigned as Prime Minister after the

constitutional referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

, Pinotti was confirmed as Defence Minister by the new Prime Minister

. In 2017 the Parliament approved the so-called "White Book", a plan of reorganization of the heads of the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

and the related structures; the plan also provided a reform of the

Italian Armed Forces The Italian Armed Forces ( it, Forze armate italiane, ) encompass the Italian Army, the Italian Navy and the Italian Air Force. A fourth branch of the armed forces, known as the Carabinieri, take on the role as the nation's military police and a ...

and a reorganization of the training system.Libro bianco: il Ministro Pinotti ha illustrato la riforma delle Forze armate
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinotti, Roberta 1961 births 21st-century Italian women politicians Democratic Party (Italy) politicians Democratic Party of the Left politicians Democrats of the Left politicians Deputies of Legislature XIV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XV of Italy Female defence ministers Italian Communist Party politicians Italian Ministers of Defence Italian Roman Catholics Living people Politicians from Genoa Renzi Cabinet Senators of Legislature XVI of Italy Senators of Legislature XVII of Italy Senators of Legislature XVIII of Italy University of Genoa alumni Women government ministers of Italy 20th-century Italian women Women members of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy) Women members of the Senate of the Republic (Italy)