Antonio Maccanico

Antonio Maccanico (4 August 1924 – 23 April 2013) was an Italian constitutional specialist and social liberal politician, who served in various capacities in the parliament and federal administrations of Italy.

Antonio Maccanico
Minister of Institutional Reforms
In office 21 June 1999 – 11 June 2001
Prime Minister	Massimo D'Alema, Giuliano Amato
Preceded by	Giuliano Amato
Succeeded by	Umberto Bossi
Minister of Post and Communications
In office 17 May 1996 – 21 October 1998
Prime Minister	Romano Prodi
Preceded by	Giovanni Motzo
Succeeded by	Salvatore Cardinale
Minister of Regional Affairs
In office 13 April 1988 – 13 April 1991
Prime Minister	Ciriaco De Mita, Giulio Andreotti
Preceded by	Aristide Gunnella
Succeeded by	Francesco D'Onofrio
Member of the Senate
In office 23 April 1992 – 14 April 1994
In office 28 April 2006 – 28 April 2008
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 9 May 1996 – 27 April 2006
Personal details
Born	(1924-08-04)4 August 1924 Avellino, Kingdom of Italy
Died	23 April 2013(2013-04-23) (aged 88) Rome, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Political party	Action Party 1942–1947 Italian Communist Party 1947–1956 Italian Republican Party 1956–1994 Independent 1994–1996 Democratic Union 1996–1999 The Democrats 1999–2002 The Daisy 2002–2007
Alma mater	Pisa University

Early life and education

Maccanico was born on 4 August 1924 in Avellino.[1] He graduated in law at the University of Pisa in 1946.[2]

Career

Maccanico began his career at the house of deputies as a referendary in June 1947.[2] He worked in different commissions in the house. He also served as the general secretary in the office of the Italian president Sandro Pertini for nine years.[3][4] He was the president of Italian investment bank Mediobanca from 1987 to 1988 during the bank was privatised.[4][5] He succeeded Enrico Cuccia in the aforementioned post.[6]

He was appointed minister of regional affairs and institutional problems on 13 April 1988 and was in office until 13 April 1991.[2] However, no significant institutional reforms were developed during his tenure.[7] He was elected senator on 6 April 1992 for the Italian Republican Party and was in office until 1994.[6] He served as undersecretary of state of the presidency of the cabinet in the Ciampi Government from 29 April 1993 to 9 May 1994.[2]

Following the resignation of prime minister Lamberto Dini in January 1996, Maccanico was tasked with forming a government on 1 February 1996.[8][9] Maccanico strongly argued that all parties should agree on the required reforms before the formation of the government.[10] However, he was unable to form a majority, renouncing the mandate on 14 February, and thus, Italian president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro dissolved parliament on 16 February.[8] He was elected deputy on 21 April 1996, being part of Romano Prodi's list, from the constituency of Campania 2.[2]

On 18 May 1996, Maccanico was appointed minister of posts and communications to the cabinet led by prime minister Romano Prodi.[11][12] In the cabinet, he was part of the Democratic Union to which he had joined early in 1996.[13][14] He was the father of law no. 249 dated 31 July 1997 that was the basis of Italy's communications authority.[15] The law is also called the Maccanico law.[16] His tenure lasted until 1998.[4] In June 2000 he was named Minister of Institutional Reforms of the first D'Alema government, in place of Giuliano Amato, and he kept the charge even in the successive governments until 2001.[6] In 2001, Maccanico was elected to the chamber of deputies.[6] In 2006, he was elected for the fourth time to the parliament with The Daisy in Campania.[6]

Death

Maccanico died in a clinic in Rome on 23 April 2013 at the age of 88.[1][6]

References

1. "Morto a 88 anni l'ex ministro Antonio Maccanico". TGCOM 24. 23 April 2013.
2. "Biography". MediaMente. Archived from the original on 22 September 2004.
3. Celestine Bohlen (2 February 1996). "Italy Turns to Top Bureaucrat to Try to Remake the Country". The New York Times. p. 2.
4. "Italian politician and banker Antonio Maccanico dead at 88". Gazzetta del Sud. Rome. 23 April 2013.
5. "Maccanico may become Mediobanca chairman". Il Sole 24 Ore. 19 October 2002.
6. "Morto Antonio Maccanico : fu ministro e presidente di Mediobanca". Corriere Del Mezzogiorno. 23 April 2013.
7. Gumbel, Andrew (2 February 1996). "Backroom fixer given task of reforming Italy". The Independent. Rome.
8. Kenneth H.F. Dyson (2002). European states and the Euro: Europeanization, variation, and convergence. Oxford University Press. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-19-925026-4.
9. Carol Diane St Louis (2011). Negotiating Change: Approaches to and the Distributional Implications of Social Welfare and Economic Reform. Stanford University. p. 150. STANFORD:RW793BX2256.
10. Richard L. Wentworth (20 February 1996). "Its Politics in Neutral, Italy Gears for Vote". The Christian Science Monitor. Rome.
11. Patrick McCarthy (1997). The Crisis of the Italian State: From the Origins of the Cold War to the Fall of Berlusconi and Beyond. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-312-16359-4.
12. Richard L. Wentworth (20 May 1996). "One Nation Indivisible Under Prodi? Italy's New Chief Tries to Avoid Split". The Christian Monitor.
13. Piero Ignazzi (1998). "Italy". European Journal of Political Research. 34 (3–4): 447–451. doi:10.1111/1475-6765.00054-i5.
14. Alan Friedman (27 February 1996). "Berlusconi Looks Like the Loser in Dini's Jump into Politics". The New York Times. Paris.
15. Andrea. Czepek; Melanie. Hellwig; Eva. Nowak (2009). Press freedom and pluralism in Europe. Intellect Books. p. 296. ISBN 978-1-84150-243-4.
16. Adriano Giuliano (2012). 1960-2010: Game Over for Italy's Most Criminal Governments. Author House. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-4772-1822-8.