Gianfranco Fini (born January 3, 1952) is an
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
politicianA politician or political leader is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making. This includes people who hold decision-making positions in government, and people who seek those positions, whether by means of election, coup d'état, appointment, electoral fraud, conquest,...
, currently President of the
Italian Chamber of DeputiesThe Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a majority of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
and member of the
centre-rightThe centre-right , also known as right of center, is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances...
party People of Freedom. He was also
Deputy Prime MinisterA Deputy Prime Minister or Vice Prime Minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting Prime Minister when the Prime Minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, but is significantly different, though both...
and
Minister of Foreign AffairsAs in most countries, in Italy the Minister of Foreign Affairs is one of the most important ministerial positions.-Kingdom of Italy:-Italian Republic:...
in Berlusconi’s government of 2001 to 2006.
Family origins
His grandfather, a communist activist, died in 1970. His father, Argenio "Sergio" Fini (
BolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of northern Italy...
1923 -
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
1998), was a volunteer with the
Italian Social RepublicThe Italian Social Republic was a puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the Nation" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" Benito Mussolini. The RSI exercised official sovereignty in northern Italy but was largely dependent on the Wehrmacht to maintain control...
(the nazi puppet state in Northern Italy in 1943-45); he later declared feeling close to the Italian Socialist Democratic Party, but he withdrew from political activity after his son became involved in the Movimento Sociale Italiano.
His mother, Erminia Marani (
FerraraFerrara is a city in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara.It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north. The town has broad streets and numerous palaces...
1926 -
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
2008), was the daughter of Antonio Marani, who took part along with
Italo BalboItalo Balbo was an Italian Blackshirt leader, Marshal of the Air Force , Governor-General of Libya, Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa , and the "heir apparent" to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.-Early life:In 1896, Balbo was born in Quartesana...
in the
march on RomeThe March on Rome was a march by which Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party came to power in the Kingdom of Italy...
, which signaled the beginning of
fascismFascism, , comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
in 1922. The name Gianfranco was chosen in remembrance of a cousin, who was killed when hewas 20 years old by partisans soon after the liberation of Northern Italy on April 25th, 1945.
Personal events
In the 1980s he met Daniela Di Sotto, at that time married to Sergio Mariani, a friend and party officer. Mrs. Di Sotto ended her marriage to stay with Fini. Mariani would try to kill hiself soon after. In 1985 they had their only daughter, Giuliana. Fini and Di Sotto married in a civil ceremony in
MarinoMarino, Mariño or Maryino may refer to:In places:* Marino, Italy, a town in the province of Rome * Marino, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide* Marino, County Down in Northern Ireland...
in 1988. They separated in 2007.
Five months after his separation, his relationship with Elisabetta Tulliani, a lawyer who was twenty years younger than he, was revealed. In December 2007, they had a daughter, Carolina..
From the beginning to the role of Deputy of Giorgio Almirante
Gianfranco Fini attended "Laura Bassi" high school in Bologna. His first known involvement with politics occurred in 1968 when, the 16-year-old Fini was involved in clashes with communist activists, among them a protest in front of a cinema against the projection of
John WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , born Marion Robert Morrison, better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and has become an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive voice, walk and height...
's The Green Berets movie. At this time, he became involved with the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a neo-fascist political party.
He then began his political career in the
Fronte della Gioventù (Youth Front),
MSIThe Italian Social Movement , later Italian Social Movement–National Right , was a neo-fascist and, later, national-conservative political party in Italy formed in 1946 by supporters of former dictator Benito Mussolini .The...
youth organization.
Three years later, he moved with his family to
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
. In August 1976 he served his military service in
SavonaSavona is a seaport and comune in the northern Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea....
, then in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
at the
Ministry of DefenceIn states where the government is divided into ministries, the Ministry of Defence may refer to that part of the government responsible for matters of defence, usually including all branches of the military and is usually controlled by a Defence minister or minister of defence.-List of Defence...
. In 1977 he became national secretary of the
Fronte della Gioventù, chosen by
Giorgio AlmiranteGiorgio Almirante was an Italian politician, the founder and leader of the Italian Social Movement until his retirement in 1987....
,
MSIThe Italian Social Movement , later Italian Social Movement–National Right , was a neo-fascist and, later, national-conservative political party in Italy formed in 1946 by supporters of former dictator Benito Mussolini .The...
secretary, notwithstanding his fifth place on seven candidates elected in the national secretariat of the youth movement.
In the meantime, Fini had also graduated with a degree in
pedagogyPedagogy is the study of being a teacher. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction.Pedagogy is also sometimes referred to as the correct use of teaching strategies . For example, Paulo Freire referred to his method of teaching adults as "critical pedagogy"...
from La Sapienza University in Rome. He alsocollaborated with the party's newspaper,
Secolo d'Italia, along with the youth movement magazine
Dissenso.
Fini was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies on June 26th, 1983, as a member of the MSI. Re-elected in 1987, in September he was nominated by Almirante to be his successor as the party's secretary.
In 2009 it emerged that as already in 1980 Almirante had identified Fini as one among a group of young Italians who were «young, non-fascist, non-nostalgic, who believe, as I do by now, in these institutions, in this
ConstitutionThe Constitution of the Italian Republic was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended 13 times, was promulgated in the extraordinary edition of Gazzetta Ufficiale No. 298 on 27 December 1947...
. Because only in this way the
MSIThe Italian Social Movement , later Italian Social Movement–National Right , was a neo-fascist and, later, national-conservative political party in Italy formed in 1946 by supporters of former dictator Benito Mussolini .The...
can have a future».
From the Italian Social Movement to National Alliance
Giorgio AlmiranteGiorgio Almirante was an Italian politician, the founder and leader of the Italian Social Movement until his retirement in 1987....
died in May of 1998, and in the party's congress in
SorrentoSorrento is the name of many cities and towns:*Sorrento, Italy*Sorrento, Florida, United States*Sorrento, Louisiana, United States*Sorrento, Maine, United States*Sorrento, Victoria, a township on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia...
that year, Fini defeated the right wing of the party, headed by
Pino RautiGiuseppe Umberto "Pino" Rauti has been a leading figure on the Italian far right for many years. He is father-in-law to the current mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno .-Early years:...
, and is elected party secretary. He remained in the national secretariat of the MSI until January 1990, when in the next party congress in
RiminiRimini is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It is located on the Adriatic Sea, near the coast between the rivers Marecchia and Ausa...
,
Pino RautiGiuseppe Umberto "Pino" Rauti has been a leading figure on the Italian far right for many years. He is father-in-law to the current mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno .-Early years:...
was elected secretary. But after a tough electoral defeat in administrative and regional elections in
SicilySicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. Several much smaller islands surrounding it are considered to be part of Sicily....
Fini returned to his role as party secretary in July 1991. He held this post until the dissolution of party in 1995.
During his time as national secretary, he confirmed the MSI’s role as the inheritors of Mussolini’s Fascist legacy with a number of famous polemical statements, including: "Dear comrades, MSI claims its right to refer to
fascismFascism, , comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
" (1988), "We are fascists, the heirs of fascism, the fascism of the year 2000" (1991), "After almost half a century, fascism is ideally alive" (1992), "There are phases where
freedomPolitical freedom is the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of coercion or aggression.The opposite of a free society is a totalitarian state, which highly restricts political freedom in order to regulate almost every aspect of behavior...
is not among the key values" (1994), "
MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
was the greatest Italian statesman of the twentieth century" , "
FascismFascism, , comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
has a tradition of honesty, correctness and good government" (1994).
Im the autumn of 1993, Fini ran for mayor of
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
, garnering enough votes to participate in a runoff election that resulted in the victory of
Francesco RutelliFrancesco Rutelli, MP is an Italian politician. He is a member of the Italian Senate, elected with the Democratic Party in 2008, and chairs the Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic, the Parliamentary Committee overviewing the Intelligence community structure and activity...
. Nevertheless, for the first time an MSI candidate received a large support in a major election.
Silvio Berlusconiis an Italian politician, entrepreneur, real estate and insurance tycoon, bank and media proprietor, sports team owner and songwriter. He is the longest-serving Prime Minister of the Italian Republic , a position he has held on three separate occasions: from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2006 and...
, then an entrepreneur but not involved in politics, affirmed on that occasion his preference for Fini: "If I had to vote in Rome, my preference would go to Fini.
After Berlusconi's election in 1994, for the first time in Italy's politics, an Italian government include four ministers from the MSI party, including the Deputy Prime Minister Giuseppe Tatarella, although Fini did not directly take part as a minister. (Fini was not a minister at that time.)
Towards the end of the 1990s Fini gradually began to move the MSI away from its
neo-fascistFascism, , comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
ideology to a more traditionally
conservativeConservatism is the diverse political and social philosophy that supports tradition and the status quo, or that calls for a return to the values and society of an earlier age, the status quo ante. However, the term has been used by politicians and political commentators with a variety of meanings...
political agenda. In January 1995, the Party's congress in
FiuggiFiuggi is a comune in the province of Frosinone in the region of Lazio in central Italy.-History:Fiuggi, originally called Anticoli di Campagna, gained fame as early as the 14th century, when Pope Boniface VIII claimed his kidney stones had been healed by the mineral waters from the nearby Fiuggi...
marked a radical change, afterwards referred to as
la svolta di Fiuggi (the turning point at Fiuggi) and merged the MSI-DN with conservative elements of the disbanded Christian Democrats to form the
National AllianceNational Alliance was a conservative political party in Italy.Gianfranco Fini was the leader of the party since its foundation in 1995, however he stepped down in 2008 after being elected to the nominally non-partisan post of President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and was succeeded by...
(AN), of which Fini assumed the presidency.
The new party took a decisive stance apart from fascism, and some MSI members (
Pino RautiGiuseppe Umberto "Pino" Rauti has been a leading figure on the Italian far right for many years. He is father-in-law to the current mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno .-Early years:...
, Erra, Staiti) dissented and seceded to form the new Tricolor Flame party.
Government experiences
Fini and his party have been part of Berlusconi's right-wing
House of FreedomsCasa delle Libertà , was a major Italian right-wing political alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi...
coalition which won the
1994An early national general election was held in Italy on March 27, 1994 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right won handly the election for the Chamber and only narrowly lost that for the Senate....
and
2001 parliamentary electionA national general election was held in Italy on May 13, 2001 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. Leader of the House of Freedoms Silvio Berlusconi won the election, defeating Francesco Rutelli, former Mayor of Rome, and premieral candidate of the Olive Tree...
. Fini became
deputy prime ministerA Deputy Prime Minister or Vice Prime Minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting Prime Minister when the Prime Minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, but is significantly different, though both...
in 2001 and
foreign ministerA minister for foreign affairs, or foreign minister, is a governmental cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign nation. The ministry for foreign affairs is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government ; it is often granted to...
in November 2004.
From February 2002 to 2006, he represented the Italian Government at the
European ConventionThe European Convention, sometimes known as the Convention on the Future of Europe, was a body established by the European Council in December 2001 as a result of the Laeken Declaration. Its purpose was to produce a draft constitution for the European Union for the Council to finalise and adopt...
. Following the
April 2008 general electionA snap general election was held in Italy on 13 April and 14 April 2008. The election came after President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved parliament on 6 February 2008 following the defeat of the government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi in a January 2008 Senate vote, and the unsuccessful tentative...
, Fini was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies on April 30, 2008 on the fourth ballot, receiving 355 votes.
His most widely known legislative acts have been:
- The Bossi
Umberto Bossi is an Italian politician and former singer, leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy. He is married to Manuela Marrone and has four sons .-Birth and education:Umberto Bossi was born in 1941 in Cassano Magnago, in the province of Varese...
-Fini Act, a restrictive legislation on immigrationImmigration is the arrival of new individuals into a habitat or population. It is a biological concept and is important in population ecology, differentiated from emigration and migration.-As a political term:...
;
- The Fini-Giovanardi Act (2006), a restrictive legislation on drugs. The act abolish any distinction between sotf drugs (cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa L., Cannabis indica Lam., and Cannabis ruderalis Janisch. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for medicinal purposes, and as a...
) and hard drugs (heroine, cocaineCocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system and an appetite suppressant...
), punishing the user on the base of the quantity of active ingredientAn active ingredient , is the substance in a drug or a pesticide that is pesticidal or pharmaceutically active. Terms in similar use include: active pharmaceutical ingredient and bulk active in medicine, or in pesticide formulations active substance may be used. Some medications and pesticide...
in the dose. As administrative sanctions, personal use of drugs is punished with a fee and the suspension of passport, driving license and/or weapon carring permit. The cultivation of a single plant is punished with 1 up to 6 years of imprisonment
From National Alliance to The People of Freedom
After some disband between the party's factions in 2005, a congress dismantled the factions and confirmed Fini as president of the party.
In 2006, Fini announced the removal of the symbol of the flame and of the "M.S.I." writing from
ANNational Alliance was a conservative political party in Italy.Gianfranco Fini was the leader of the party since its foundation in 1995, however he stepped down in 2008 after being elected to the nominally non-partisan post of President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and was succeeded by...
symbol. The move, after finding opposition from party members such as
Maurizio GasparriMaurizio Gasparri is an Italian politician.After a period as Member of the Italian Parliament for the Movimento Sociale Italiano, Gasparri served as an Alleanza Nazionale member. During the course of his career he has served as Minister of Communications...
was finally denied.
Fini began a personal evolution towards more liberal stances in the 2000s, notwithstanding the opposition of the rest of his party. In particular:
- in 2005 he announced a positive vote (three yes, one no) on a referendum on artificial insemination aimed at removing some limits introduced by the Act n.40/2004 of the same Berlusconi III Cabinet
The Berlusconi III Cabinet was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 23 April 2005 to 5 May 2006.-Sources:*...
.
- in December 2006 he declared he would be in favour of public acknowledgement of civil unions, including homosexual ones, although in opposition anyway to the centre-left government proposed bill on the theme.
At the end of January 2007, Berlusconi declared Fini would be his only successor in case of unification of centre-right parties, finding dissent from the
Northern LeagueNorthern League may refer to:In baseball & cricket:* Northern League , an independent baseball in the United States and Canada* Northern League , the name of the five 'northern' baseball leagues...
and the UDC.
In 2008 Berlusconi proclaimed the dissolution of his
Forza ItaliaForza Italia was a Christian-democratic, liberal and liberal-conservative political party in Italy led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
party and the birth of a new unitary party of the centre-right, the People of Freedoms. At first, Fini reacted coldly, affirming that
ANNational Alliance was a conservative political party in Italy.Gianfranco Fini was the leader of the party since its foundation in 1995, however he stepped down in 2008 after being elected to the nominally non-partisan post of President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and was succeeded by...
would not participate, judging confused and superficial the way the new party was born, and expressing an open dissent against his ally of the "former coalition".
Anyway, two months later, he gets close to Berlusconi again, soon after the fall of the
Prodi II CabinetThe Prodi II Cabinet was the cabinet of the government of Italy from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008.It was composed of 26 ministers, 10 deputy-ministers and 66 under-secretaries, for a total of 102 members.-Sources:*
...
. They agree to present the two party under the same symbol of the People of Freedoms in the
April 2008 parliamentary electionA national general election was held in Italy on May 13, 2001 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. Leader of the House of Freedoms Silvio Berlusconi won the election, defeating Francesco Rutelli, former Mayor of Rome, and premieral candidate of the Olive Tree...
, to proceed then towards a unitary centre-right party.
Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies
After the eletoral victory, on 30 April 2008 Fini is elected President (speaker) of the Chamber of Deputies, with 335 votes on 611, on the fourth roll call. He then announce to leave the presidency of
ANNational Alliance was a conservative political party in Italy.Gianfranco Fini was the leader of the party since its foundation in 1995, however he stepped down in 2008 after being elected to the nominally non-partisan post of President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and was succeeded by...
, while waiting for the unification in the People of Freedoms.
Commenting the hommage of the President of the Republic to every victim of terrorism, the former
PCIThe Italian Communist Party 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...
Giorgio NapolitanoGiorgio Napolitano is an Italian politician and former lifetime senator, the eleventh and current President of the Italian Republic...
, he announced the «the end of post-war period», of « the cleavage between the right and the society», and the «overcoming of the condition of minority»
Going on in his path of revision of the values of the Italian right, at the 2008 youth fest
Atreju 2008 he asserted that the Right has to acknowledge those rights «present in the Constitution: freedom, equality and social justice. Values that led and still lead the the path of the Right, that are values of any democracy and that are fully anti-fascist».
In his role of Speaker of the Chamber, he rebuked more than once the government over the use of confidence votes, criticizing theirs estensive use.
He fought against the bad costumes of absenteeism and double-voting of MPs in the Italian Parliament, promoting a digital voting system (to be implemented from March 2009) to impede MPs from voting for absent members, judging it "immoral" 19 MPs over 630 refused, however, to allow their fingerprints to be recorded, and the system was implemented on a voluntary base.
He also negatively judged the will of the Berlusconi government to intervene with a decree on the case of
Eluana EnglaroEluana Englaro was an Italian woman from Lecco, who entered a persistent vegetative state on January 18, 1992, following a car accident, and subsequently became the focus of a court battle between supporters and opponents of euthanasia...
and supported the need to defend the
secularismSecularism is the concept that government or other entities should exist separately from religion and/or religious beliefs.In one sense, secularism may assert the right to be free from religious rule and teachings, and freedom from the government imposition of religion upon the people, within a...
of the State, being then criticized from members of UDC and of his same party.
Controversies
The most usual criticism to Fini from the Right side are linked with the move from the traditional stances of the party. Apart of the "Social Right" area of his tradition rival
Pino RautiGiuseppe Umberto "Pino" Rauti has been a leading figure on the Italian far right for many years. He is father-in-law to the current mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno .-Early years:...
, the right-wing intellectual Marcello Veneziani accused Fini to have tied any link with the right-wing thought (whether traditional, nostalgic, modern or conservative) and to represent by now an "astral" right, with no similarity to other European rights.
Further criticism came to Fini from the
Northern LeagueNorthern League may refer to:In baseball & cricket:* Northern League , an independent baseball in the United States and Canada* Northern League , the name of the five 'northern' baseball leagues...
with respect to some aspects of
federalismFederalism is political philosophy in which a group of members are bound together with a governing representative head. The term federalism is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent...
, and from
Forza ItaliaForza Italia was a Christian-democratic, liberal and liberal-conservative political party in Italy led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
regarding justice.
Fini was lately accused of being incoherent from some "teo-con" members, for his position in favor of the natural family while being separated and never married in Church.
- In 1999 Fini asked for forced hospitalization of drug consumers, without distinctions between different illegal drugs.
- On January 29, 2006, after the approval by the Senate of the Fini-sponsored drug bill (equiparation of marijuana to class 1 drugs such as heroin
Heroin, or diacetylmorphine , also known as diamorphine , is a semi-synthetic opioid drug synthesized from morphine, a derivative of the opium poppy. It is the 3,6-diacetyl ester of morphine...
or cocaineCocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system and an appetite suppressant...
for dealers and fines for consumption) Fini, guest on the popular TV-Show Che tempo che fa, hosted by Fabio Fazio, admitted to having smoked marijuana while on vacation in JamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, amounting to 11,100 km
2. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
.
- In May 2008, he sparked outrage when he said that the burning of an Israeli flag was much worse than the murder of a 29-year-old man in Verona, savagely beaten to death by a local group of skinheads.
- He ignited controversy when he stated that the racial laws were not the sole responsibility of the Fascist regime, but also that Italian civil society and the Roman Catholic Church had to have their share of the blame as well.
- In a press conference to the Foreign Press Association, was asked about his thought on Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
. A journalist reminded him that 15 years ago he called the dictator the greatest statesman of the century, and Fini replied: "I'm fascinated by your question.... clearly the answer is in what I've done in the past 15 years." Today, Fini added, "my answer is no, I have changed my mind, otherwise I would be schizophrenic."
External links