Teresa Bellanova (born 17 August 1958) is an Italian politician and

trade unionist A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

, who served as

Minister of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

from September 2019 to January 2021 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 ...

. In 2018, she was elected in the Italian Senate for 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 ...

(PD), but in 2019 she joined

Italia Viva Italia Viva (, IV) is a liberal political party in Italy founded in September 2019. The party is led by Matteo Renzi, a former Prime Minister of Italy and former secretary of the Democratic Party (PD). History Background Matteo Renzi sta ...

(IV), the new movement of

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 ...

. Bellanova was also a member of the

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies ( it, Camera dei deputati) is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Senate of the Republic). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical funct ...

from 2006 to 2018.

Biography

Agricultural laborer and trade unionist

Teresa Bellanova was born near Brindisi, Apulia in 1958. At only 15 years old, she started working as an agricultural laborer and later joined the left-wing trade union CGIL, serving as regional coordinator of ''Federbraccianti''. She worked in the south-east of Bari and then moved to the province of Lecce, to fight against the ''caporalato'', the gang-master system in which people, usually migrants, are illegally recruited for agricultural labour for little or no pay and under slavery-like conditions. In 1988, she was nominated to the post of Provincial General Secretary of the FLAI (Federation of Agro-industrial Workers) for Lecce. In 1996 she became General Secretary of the FILTEA (Italian Federation of Footwear Textile Clothing), a position she held until 2000, when she joined the FILTEA National Secretariat with responsibility for Southern Italy policies, industrial policies, labor market and professional training.

Political career

In 2005 she was elected member of the National Council of

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 ...

. On 22 April 2006 she was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

for the first time to the Chamber of Deputies within the centre-left The Olive Tree government 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 the following year, she was a founding member of the

, and was thus re-elected in the Chamber of Deputies for the second time in the 2008 election. From 21 May 2008 she was a member of the Commission for Public and Private Work. Bellanova was re-elected again in the 2013 general election. On 28 February 2014 she was appointed Undersecretary of State to Labour Policies 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 is ...

. On 29 January 2016 she was appointed Deputy Minister of

Economic Development In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and ...

, a position she held both in the governments of 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 December ...

. In the 2018 general election, which was characterized by a strong showing of populist parties, she was elected in the Italian Senate for the first time, running in the multi-member constituency of

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

Minister of Agriculture (2019–2021)

In August 2019 tensions grew within the populist government, leading to the issuing of a motion of no-confidence on Prime Minister

by the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

. After Conte's resignation, the national board of the PD officially opened to the possibility of forming a new cabinet in a coalition with the M5S, based on pro-Europeanism, green economy, sustainable development, fight against

economic inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of ...

and a new immigration policy. The party also accepted that Conte may continue at the head of a new government, and on 29 August President

Sergio Mattarella Sergio Mattarella (; born 23 July 1941) is an Italian politician, jurist, academic and lawyer who has served as the president of Italy since 2015. A Christian leftist politician, Mattarella was a leading member of the Christian Democracy par ...

formally invested Conte to do so. On 5 September 2019 Bellanova was appointed

.Bellanova, da ex sindacalista dei braccianti a ministro Agricoltura
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellanova, Teresa 1959 births Living people Politicians from Trieste Democrats of the Left politicians Democratic Party (Italy) politicians Deputies of Legislature XV of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVI of Italy Deputies of Legislature XVII of Italy Senators of Legislature XVIII of Italy Italian trade unionists 21st-century Italian women politicians Agriculture ministers of Italy Women government ministers of Italy Conte II Cabinet Italia Viva politicians Italian women trade unionists 20th-century Italian women Women members of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy) Women members of the Senate of the Republic (Italy)