Marina Elvira Calderone (born 30 July 1965) is an Italian politician. In October 2022, she was appointed Minister of Labour and Social Policies in the

Meloni Cabinet The Meloni government is the 68th government of the Italian Republic, the first led by the president of Brothers of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, who is also the first woman to hold the office of Prime Minister of Italy. The government was announced on ...

Biography

Marina Calderone affirmed she obtained a degree in International Business Economics from the University of Cagliari, but this information has not been confirmed by the university. According to a report from Il Fatto Quotidiano, she actually obtained her degree from

Link Campus University Link Campus University ( it, Università degli studi Link Campus University), formerly Link Campus—University of Malta, is a proprietary, for-profit university located in Rome, Italy, and owned by the for-profit Italian franchise chain C ...

, where her husband is the president. She funded the same University using the budget of the labour consultant association she managed.

Il Fatto Quotidiano ''il Fatto Quotidiano'' (English: "The Daily Fact") is an Italian daily newspaper owned by ''Editoriale Il Fatto SpA'' published in Rome, Italy. It was founded on 23 September 2009 and was edited by Antonio Padellaro until 2015, when Marco Trav ...

stated that Calderone « bought » her diploma. Together with her husband Rosario De Luca, she runs a company that provides job consulting services, with offices in

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popul ...

, and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. In 1994, she joined the competent territorial order of Labor Consultants and in 2005 became President of the National Council of the Order of Labour Consultants. In 2014, she was appointed by Renzi government in the board of directors of

Leonardo-Finmeccanica Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the eighth ...

, a position she held until 2020. Subsequently in the

Conte I Cabinet The first Conte government was the 65th government of the Italian Republic. It was led by Giuseppe Conte, an independent, and it was in office from 1 June 2018 to 5 September 2019. The cabinet was formed by a coalition between the Five Star Mo ...

, she was nominated for the presidency of the National Institute for Social Security.

Conflicts of interest

An investigation by

talks about a scandal involving the Calderone family and the private university Link, where Maria Calderone's husband is the director. According to the article, Maria Calderone graduated from the Link University and also taught there, but the main issue concerns the fact that the University would have been funded with the consultants' fund of which Maria Calderone was the president. This has raised concerns about possible conflicts of interest and the opaque management of funds. The article also suggests that the acquisition of the university by the "Premiata Ditta" may be linked to this scandal. In general, the scandal appears to concern the possible interaction between personal interests and public funding in relation to the management of the Link University. https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/in-edicola/articoli/2023/03/04/calderone-no-limits-la-premiata-ditta-si-e-comprata-luniversita/7085222/

References

Living people 1965 births 21st-century Italian women politicians Women government ministers of Italy University of Cagliari alumni Italian Ministers of Labour {{DEFAULTSORT:Calderone, Marina