Francesco Cossiga

Senator
 Francesco Cossiga

In office
3 July 1985 – 28 April 1992
Prime Minister Bettino Craxi
Amintore Fanfani
Giovanni Goria
Ciriaco De Mita
Giulio Andreotti
Preceded by Alessandro Pertini
Succeeded by Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
President Emeritus of the Italian Republic
In office
28 April 1992 – 17 August 2010
63rd Prime Minister of Italy
In office
4 August 1979 – 18 October 1980
President Alessandro Pertini
Preceded by Giulio Andreotti
Succeeded by Arnaldo Forlani
In office
12 July 1983 – 3 July 1985
Preceded by Vittorino Colombo
Succeeded by Amintore Fanfani
Italian Minister of the Interior
In office
29 July 1976 – 11 May 1978
Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti
Preceded by Aldo Moro
Succeeded by Giulio Andreotti
In office
28 April 1992 – 17 August 2010
Constituency Former President
Born 26 July 1928(1928-07-26)
Sassari, Sardinia, Italy
Died 17 August 2010(2010-08-17) (aged 82)
Rome, Italy
Nationality Italian
Political party Christian Democracy
Spouse(s) Giuseppa Sigurani
Children Anna Maria Cossiga, Giuseppe Cossiga
Religion Roman Catholicism

Francesco Cossiga (26 July 1928 – 17 August 2010[1]) was an Italian politician, the 63rd Prime Minister and the eighth President of the Italian Republic. He was also a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sassari.

Contents

Early career

Cossiga was born in Sassari in the north of Sardinia.[1] He started his political career during World War II. His name is now pronounced Italian pronunciation: [kosˈsiːɡa], but it was originally pronounced [ˈkɔssiɡa], with the stress on the first syllable, meaning "Corsica".[2] He was the cousin of Enrico Berlinguer.[3]

He was a minister several times for the Democrazia Cristiana party (DC), notably during his stay at Viminale (Ministry for internal affairs) where he re-structured the Italian police, civil protection and secret services. In 1977, when Cossiga was minister of internal affairs, police squads organized by Cossiga shot against a demonstration in Rome, killing student Giorgiana Masi. Cossiga for many years stated that she was killed by her companions.[4]

He was in-charge during the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro by Red Brigades, and he resigned when Moro was found dead in 1978.[5] According to Italian journalist Enrico Deaglio, Cossiga to justify his lack of action "accused the leaders of CGIL and of the Italian Communist Party to know the location where Moro was detained".[4] Cossiga was also minister of internal affairs when Fascist terrorists bombed Bologna station in 1980. He initially declared that it was a Fascist attack, but he later stated it was a Palestinian transport of weapons which went wrong. He also supported the innocence of Giusva Fioravanti and Francesca Mambro, who were later condemned for the bombing and for numerous murders, declaring: "They are good guys and they want me well."[4]

During the early 1980s, Cossiga attacked several times the antimafia judges and spoke in favour of judge Corrado Carnevale, a member of the Corte di Cassazione (Italy's supreme court) who had annulled numerous sentences against mafia leaders and was later tried for these actions.[4]

Election as the President of the Italian Senate

Cossiga was elected President of the Italian Senate 12 July 1983, a position he held until 24 June 1985, when he became the President of Italy.

Election as President of Italy

Following his resignation as president of the Senate in 1985, Cossiga was elected President of Italy (Head of State). This was the first time a candidate had won following the first ballot (where a majority of over two thirds is necessary).

Cossiga Presidency

It was not until his last two years as President that Cossiga began to express some unusual opinions regarding the Italian political system. He opined that the Italian parties, especially the DC (his own party) and Italian Communist Party, had to take into account the deep changes brought about by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.[6]

Cossiga during his Presidency

These statements, soon dubbed "esternazioni", or "mattock blows" (picconate), were considered by many to be inappropriate for a President and, often, beyond his constitutional powers; also, his mental health was doubted and Cossiga had to declare "I am the fake madman who speaks the truth."[6]

Tension developed between Cossiga and the President of the Council of Ministers Giulio Andreotti. This tension emerged when Andreotti revealed the existence of Gladio, a stay-behind organization with the official aim of countering a possible Soviet invasion through sabotage and guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. Cossiga announced his involvement in the establishment of the organization.[7][8] The Democratic Party of the Left (successor to the Communist Party) started the procedure of impeachment (Presidents of Italy can be impeached only for high treason against the State or for an attempt to overthrow the Constitution).[9][10] Although he threatened to prevent the impeachment procedure by dissolving Parliament, the impeachment request was ultimately dismissed.

Cossiga resigned two months before the end of his term, on 25 April 1992.[11]

Life senator

After his resignation from the office of President, Cossiga was made a lifetime senator, like all the former Presidents of Italy since the birth of the Republic. He was often called President Emeritus of the Italian Republic.

In February 1998, Cossiga created the Unione Democratica per la Repubblica (a political party), declaring it to be politically central. The UDR was a crucial component of the majority that supported the D'Alema government in October 1998, after the fall of the Prodi government which lost a vote of confidence.

Cossiga declared that his support for D'Alema was intended to end the conventional exclusion of the former Communist Party (PCI) leaders from the premiership in Italy.

In 1999 UDR was dissolved and Cossiga returned to his activities as a senator, with competences in the Military Affairs' Commission.[12]

In May 2006 he brought in a bill that would allow the region of South Tyrol to hold a referendum, where the local electorate could decide whether to remain within the Republic of Italy, take independence, become part of Austria or become part of Germany.[13]

On 27 November 2006, he resigned from his position as a lifetime senator. His resignation was, however, rejected on 31 January 2007 by a vote of the Senate.

Cossiga died on 17 August 2010 because of respiratory problems.

Political views

In 2007, in a statement published by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Cossiga commented on the 11 September attacks and on a video attributed to Osama Bin Laden 2001. He wrote that "all of the democratic circles of America and of Europe, especially those of the Italian centre-left, now know well that the disastrous attack was planned and realized by the American CIA and Mossad with the help of the Zionist world in order to place the blame on Arabic Countries and to persuade the Western powers to intervene in Iraq and Afghanistan".[14][15]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Page at Senate website (Italian).
  2. ↑ See http://www.dizionario.rai.it/poplemma.aspx?lid=75285&r=424.
  3. ↑ (Italian) Corriere della Sera: Mio cugino Berlinguer: Cossiga racconta un leader (Cossiga talking about Enrico Berlinguer in an interview to Gian Antonio Stella - June 10, 2004)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Deaglio, Enrico (18 August 2010). "La lepre marzolina che attraversò la storia senza pagar dazio". L'Unità. 
  5. ↑ Sassoon, Donald (18 August 2010). "Francesco Cossiga obituary". The Guardian. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Washington Post: Veteran Italian politician Cossiga dies
  7. ↑ Bloomberg: Francesco Cossiga, Italy's Combative Former President, Dies at Age 82
  8. ↑ ADN Kronos: Former president Francesco Cossiga dies at 82
  9. ↑ (Italian) Il Sole 24 ore: Occhetto, lo strappo mai ricucito su Gladio
  10. ↑ (Italian) La Repubblica: Il PDS vota l'impeachment di Cossiga (Dec 4th, 1991)
  11. ↑ (Italian) La Repubblica: E l'uomo grigio prese il piccone (Apr. 26th, 1992)
  12. ↑ (Italian) Cossiga's activity as a Senator, on the Senate's website
  13. ↑ Cossiga, Francesco (8 June 2006). "Riconoscimento del diritto di autodeterminazione al Land Südtyrol – Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano". Disegno di Legge Costituzionale N. 592. Senato della Repubblica XV Legislatura. http://www.senato.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/BGT/00209688.pdf. Retrieved 21 February 2009. 
  14. ↑ "Osama-Berlusconi? "Trappola giornalistica"". Corriere della Sera. 30 November 2007. http://www.corriere.it/politica/07_novembre_30/osama_berlusconi_cossiga_27f4ccee-9f55-11dc-8807-0003ba99c53b.shtml. Retrieved 5 August 2010. 
  15. ↑ Scherer, Steve; Totaro, Lorenzo (August 17, 2010). "Francesco Cossiga, Italy’s Combative Ex-President, Dies at 82". Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-17/francesco-cossiga-italy-s-combative-former-president-dies-at-age-82.html. Retrieved August 20, 2010. 
Political offices
Preceded by
Aldo Moro		 Italian Minister of the Interior
1976–1978		 Succeeded by
Giulio Andreotti
Preceded by
Giulio Andreotti		 Prime Minister of Italy
1979–1980		 Succeeded by
Arnaldo Forlani
Preceded by
Vittorino Colombo		 President of the Italian Senate
1983–1985		 Succeeded by
Amintore Fanfani
Preceded by
Sandro Pertini		 President of the Italian Republic
1985–1992		 Succeeded by
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
Preceded by
Title jointly held		 President Emeritus of the Italian Republic
1992-2010		 Succeeded by
Title jointly held
Italian Senate
Preceded by
Title jointly held		 Senator
Legislatures
IX
1983–1985		 Succeeded by
Title jointly held
Preceded by
Title jointly held		 Lifetime Senator
Legislatures
XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI
1992–2010		 Succeeded by
Title jointly held
Italian Chamber of Deputies
Preceded by
Title jointly held		 Deputy
Legislatures
III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII
1958–1983		 Succeeded by
Title jointly held
Honorary titles
Preceded by
Masayoshi Ohira		 Chair of the G8
1980		 Succeeded by
Pierre E. Trudeau