Giulio Tremonti

Giulio Tremonti (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒuːljo treˈmonti]) (born 18 August 1947) is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finances under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 2008 to 2011.

Giulio Tremonti
Minister of Economy and Finance
In office 8 May 2008 – 16 November 2011
Prime Minister	Silvio Berlusconi
Preceded by	Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa
Succeeded by	Mario Monti
In office 23 April 2005 – 17 May 2006
Prime Minister	Silvio Berlusconi
Preceded by	Domenico Siniscalco
Succeeded by	Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa
In office 10 June 2001 – 3 July 2004
Prime Minister	Silvio Berlusconi
Preceded by	Vincenzo Visco
Succeeded by	Silvio Berlusconi (Acting)
In office 10 May 1994 – 17 January 1995
Prime Minister	Silvio Berlusconi
Preceded by	Franco Gallo
Succeeded by	Augusto Fantozzi
Member of the Senate
In office 15 March 2013 – 22 March 2018
Constituency	Lombardy
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 15 April 1994 – 14 March 2013
Constituency	Lombardy (1994–2001) Veneto (2001–06) Calabria (2006–08) Lombardy (2008–13)
Personal details
Born	(1947-08-18) 18 August 1947 Sondrio, Italy
Political party	Italian Socialist Party (1987–1993) Segni Pact (1993–1994) Forza Italia (1994–2009) The People of Freedom (2009–2013) Labour and Freedom List (2013) Independent (2014–2017; since 2018) Renaissance (2017–2018)
Alma mater	University of Pavia
Profession	Lawyer Tax advisor

Early life

Tremonti was born in Sondrio, Northern Lombardy, in a family of Venetian ancestry (from Lorenzago di Cadore, Northern Veneto). He is a full professor of law at the University of Pavia, Italy, and has been a visiting professor at the Institute of Comparative Law, Oxford. His particular fields of interest are fiscal and tributary law, as well as fiscal policies.

Political career

Tremonti was the man who facilitated the dialogue between billionaire entrepreneur/politician Silvio Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi, leader of the federalist Northern League and a friend of Tremonti's, leading to the formation of the center-right coalition House of Freedoms. Although a member of Forza Italia, on many issues he is closer to the League. In particular, he is a staunch political and fiscal federalist, supporting a federal reform of the Italian political system and more autonomy for Lombardy and Veneto, where he has his core supporters.

He first ran for the Italian Parliament in 1987 with the Italian Socialist Party.

Minister of Finance

Elected for the first time in 1994 for the Pact for Italy, he switched his allegiance to center-right Forza Italia soon after the Parliament held session, and obtained the finances position in the first Berlusconi cabinet.

Tremonti again served as finance minister starting in 2001, when Berlusconi came back to power. He was compelled to resign on 3 July 2004, after internal disputes about the economic situation of the country within the House of Freedoms, particularly with conservative National Alliance.[1] In late 2005 he was then reappointed to the same position for the third time after his substitute Domenico Siniscalco resigned until the end of the Berlusconi III Cabinet. At the 2008 general elections, Berlusconi came back to power with a large majority in the parliament and assigned Tremonti the Economics and Finances position. At the end of 2011, following some rumours Tremonti would close to leave Pdl and to adhere to the Northern League. On 5 September 2012 Tremonti announced that he was setting up his own political movement ahead of elections to be held by next spring, potentially syphoning support from Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party.

During his time in office, Tremonti made the first and biggest across the board Income tax cuts in Italy by introducing a No-Tax-Area (2003) and reducing the top marginal tax rate (2005). He also made a significant reduction in the Corporate tax rate (from 36% to 33% now down to 27.5%) and has abolished taxes on reinvested profits. He has also completely abolished all Donation taxes, Estate/Inheritance taxes (2001) and more importantly Property taxes on Housing/Real Estate (2008) at the national level (property continues to be taxed at the local level). Nevertheless, after these measures, the OECD stated in its latest (2007) report on Italy that "tax rates are high compared to other countries".[2] He has been the promoter of the Global Legal Standards.

From 2008 until 2009, Tremonti was a member of the High Level Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems, co-chaired by Gordon Brown and Robert Zoellick.[3]

Other activities

As an author, during his life, Tremonti has written mostly on taxation and international trade. He expressed how high taxes are a drag on growth and how fiscal federalism can create territorial taxation competition between regions that can reduce the burden on families and workers. He has also been a critic of China's dumping trade policy that causes delocalization of jobs from Europe to Asia.[4] Nevertheless, he gave an important lecture at the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China in 2009.

He is currently a member of the Italy-USA Foundation, chairman of the Aspen Institute Italia and a frequent guest columnist on the Corriere della Sera.

References

1. Sylvers, Eric (5 July 2004). "Berlusconi seeks new economy minister : Hole in Italy's cabinet". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
2. "Economic Survey of Italy 2007". OECD. 4 June 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
3. High Level Taskforce on International Innovative Financing for Health Systems: Report released WHO, press release of May 29, 2009.
4. "Tremonti was always fairly suspicious of globalization, once remarking that Europe would end up in the pot of a Chinese cook if it wasn’t careful." Tony Barber, Financial Times, 2008

Books on Economics and Finances

• La fiera delle tasse ("The Tax Fair", 1991)
• Il federalismo fiscale ("Fiscal Federalism", 1994)
• Il fantasma della povertà ("The Phantom of Poverty", 1995)
• Le cento tasse degli italiani ("The Hundred Taxes of Italians", 1996, with G. Vitaletti)
• Lo Stato criminogeno ("The crime-generating State", 1997)
• Rischi fatali – L’Europa vecchia, la Cina, il mercatismo suicida: come reagire ("Fatal risks: Old Europe, China, the Suicidal Free Market Ideology: How to React", 2005)
• La paura e la speranza - Europa : la crisi globale che si avvicina e la via per superarla ("Fear and hope - Europe: crisis approaching and the way to overcome it", 2008)

External links

• University biography (in Italian)
• 2001 Profile in Business Week
• BBC Report on his resignation in 2004
• Giulio Tremonti's Official Website

Political offices
Preceded by Franco Gallo	Minister of Economy and Finances 1994–1995	Succeeded by Augusto Fantozzi
Preceded by Ottaviano Del Turco	Minister of Economy and Finances 2001–2004	Succeeded by Silvio Berlusconi Acting
Preceded by Domenico Siniscalco	Minister of Economy and Finances 2005–2006	Succeeded by Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa
Preceded by Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa	Minister of Economy and Finances 2008–2011	Succeeded by Mario Monti
Preceded by Alfredo Biondi Publio Fiori Clemente Mastella Fabio Mussi	Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies 2006–2008 Served alongside: Pierluigi Castagnetti Carlo Leoni Giorgia Meloni	Succeeded by Rosy Bindi Rocco Buttiglione Antonio Leone Maurizio Lupi
Party political offices
New office	Vice President of Forza Italia 2004–2008	Succeeded by Roberto Formigoni