Romano Prodi

Romano 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 Prime Minister of Italy, first from 18 May 1996 to 21 October 1998, and then from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008. Prodi is considered the founder of the Italian centre-left and one of the most prominent and iconic figures of the Second Republic. He is often nicknamed Il Professore ("The Professor") due to his academic career. A former professor of economics and international advisor to Goldman Sachs, Prodi ran as lead candidate of The Olive Tree coalition, winning the 1996 Italian general election and serving as Prime Minister until 1998. Following the victory of his coalition The Union over the House of Freedoms led by Silvio Berlusconi in the 2006 Italian general election, Prodi took power again. On 24 January 2008, he lost a vote of confidence in the Senate and consequently tendered his resignation as Prime Minister to President Giorgio Napolitano; he continued in office for almost four months for routine business until early elections were held and a new government was formed. Prodi has been the first left-leaning candidate to ever come first at legislative elections since the 1921 Italian general election and to manage to form a government without the need of opponents' parliamentary support. On 14 October 2007, Prodi became the first president of the Democratic Party upon foundation of the party. On 12 September 2008, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon selected Prodi as president of the African Union–United Nations peacekeeping panel. Since 2021, he is serving as the United Nations Special Envoy for the Sahel. Early life and family Prodi was born in Scandiano, near Reggio Emilia, in 1939; he is the eighth of nine children. His father, Mario Prodi, was an engineer grown up in a peasant family, and his mother, Enrichetta, was an elementary school teacher. Most of the brothers are, or have been, university professors, among them Giovanni Prodi (professor of mathematical analysis), Vittorio Prodi (professor of physics and member of the European Parliament), Paolo Prodi (professor of modern history), (professor of atmospheric physics), and Giorgio Prodi (professor of general pathology).