Century up close
14 January 1919 6 June 2013 Giulio Andreotti, Italian politician among the best known, beloved but also heavily discussed, was born in Rome on January 14, 1919. Summarize life is desperate and difficult undertaking for both the enormous span of time that it invests, both for the amount of experience that the curriculum of the grand old man of Italian politics is able to boast. He pretty much dominated the political scene of the last fifty years of the 20th century: seven times Prime Minister, Defence Minister eight times, five times Foreign Minister, twice for finance, budget and industry, once the Secretary of the Treasury and Minister for the Interior, always in Parliament since 1945, but ever Secretary of the Dc. After graduating in law in 1941, specializing later in Canon law is President of FUCI already at 22 years and elected following the constituent Assembly. Enter the room as Deputy Democrat in 1948 and was reelected even in subsequent legislatures. After the liberation of Rome in June 1944 he became national delegate of youth groups of the Christian Democrats and in 1945 he joined the National Council. Member of the constituent Assembly in 1946 was confirmed in all subsequent elections of the Chamber of deputies in Rome-Latina-Viterbo-Frosinone, where he was elected for the twelfth time in 1987. He has also been elected twice to Parliament (Central and North-Eastern Italy). The day June 1, 1991 the President Francesco Cossiga appointed him Senator for life. The work of governing begins in 28 years as Undersecretary to the Prime Minister in the fourth De Gasperi. Fourth to eighth charge stint De Gasperi between 1947 and 1953, maintaining that position even with the next Government Pella, until January 1954. Afterwards, will cover the previously mentioned Government posts: Interior, finance, Treasury, defense, industry, budget and Foreign Affairs. Chairman of the deputies of the D.C. from December 1968 to February 1972, Giulio Andreotti presided throughout the eighth term the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. For the first time becomes Chairman of the Board in 1972 (the shortest of the Republic Government only 9 days). The task he was given again in July 1976 in season of the historic compromise between DC and PCI. The Communists abstained and the solid Democrat can arise. We have to deal with two dramatic emergencies: the economic crisis and terrorism bloodying the Italy. The agreement between Enrico Berlinguer and Aldo Moro becomes ever more closely. The latter is President of DC and is also the man who in previous years has opened the corridors of power to the Socialists, and now is going to attempt the operation with PCI. The occasion is the Government of national solidarity that in 1978 Andreotti is preparing to form and which provides no longer abstaining but also voting in favour of the Communists (which, however, would not have government posts). Aldo Moro is kidnapped by the Red Brigades on 16 March, the day of the birth of the new Government. The news of the ambush and killing of men of the escort swoops in Parliament during the vote of confidence to Andreotti. Are moments of great tension in the country, to the brink of a constitutional crisis without precedent. The Government does not give in to blackmail brigades--are demanding the release of some imprisoned terrorists-and Andreotti is in line with firmness against Br, so the Communist Party and the Republicans. Aldo Moro was found dead on May 9, 1978 in a Renault 4 parked in via Caetani in Rome, symbolically midway between Botteghe Oscure and Piazza del Gesù, the headquarters of PCI and DC respectively. The death of Aldo Moro will mark the Italian political life in the following years. Francesco Cossiga, then Interior Minister Resigns from Office. Written by the President of the Memorial-related poisons DC during his kidnapping surfacing amid secret service stories, blackmail and tragic events that will also involve Giulio Andreotti. The Government of national solidarity does not last long, until June 1979. Then Berlinguer back into opposition and State ended the season of the historic compromise. Arnaldo Forlani becomes Prime Minister and Andreotti is not participating in the Executive Branch; his temporary departure from the scene lasts until Government Craxi (1983), when he was appointed Foreign Minister. This is the first Socialist-led Executive (formerly the first DC at the helm of the country had been the Republican Giovanni Spadolini). Bettino Craxi is confirmed as head of the Executive Government and the Foreign Ministry in the second Fanfani, Goria and De Mita. Expert geopolitical balances, Giulio Andreotti does relax the backbone of Italian foreign policy, together with the support of the Atlantic strategy. Has a strong role in the Middle East tensions, working on resolving the conflict Iraq-Iran, supports the Eastern European countries in their process of democratization and the courageous work of Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union, like Yes Italian with the installation of NATO missiles. Gli anni ' 80 close with the Pact with Craxi and Fazal (CAF, the initials of the three): Andreotti salt at Palazzo Chigi and Forlani Christian Democrat Secretariat. In 1991 Andreotti forms a new Executive, the last because the DC is overwhelmed by the investigation of Tangentopoli. Andreotti misses your investigation, but in the mid ' 90 is processed by two powers of Attorney: Perugia and Palermo. Prosecutors accuse him of being the instigator of the Umbrian murder of journalist Mino Pecorelli, the Director of Op, killed March 20, 1979 and that he blackmailed Andreotti, among other things, because of the truth of the Memorial Moro. The April 11, 1996 begins the process: after 169 hearings, September 24, 1999 is pronounced the verdict that acquitted him "for not having done the deed." But another Prosecutor shakes the unflappable Andreotti of colluding with the mafia. The news goes around the world and, if proven, would give a heavy blow to the image of Italy: for fifty years the Republic would be led by a political mafioso. On 23 March 1993 's Giancarlo Caselli's Office submits to the Senate requesting authorization to proceed to competition with the mafia. According to the magistrates Andreotti would have favored the mafia in Sicily procurement control through the mediation of Salvo Lima. As evidence of this the testimony of some regret among them Balduccio Di Maggio, telling investigators he saw Andreotti Kiss Totò Riina (mob slang means that gesture between the two there is a relationship of mutual understanding and respect). On May 13, 1993 the Senate grants permission: the trial begins on 26 September 1995, prosecutors demand 15 years in prison. The trial of first instance closes on October 23, 1999: Giulio Andreotti is acquitted because "the fact there is no", but the Prosecutor's Office in Palermo decided to lodge an appeal. Resolved judicial matters, more than eighty years, the "Divo Giulio" returns to politics. Leaving the PPI and makes his return to the scene with a new party founded with former CISL leader Sergio D'antoni and the former Minister for higher education Ortensio Zecchino. 2001 general election the new lineup looks released by two poles and gets only 2.4 per cent of the votes does not exceed the threshold. On October 30, 2003 Andreotti was acquitted by the Supreme Court definitively from the charge of being the instigator of the murder of journalist Mino Pecorelli. While the ruling of first instance (October 23, 1999) had acquitted for lack of evidence, this appeal ruling, distinguishing the judgment to the facts until 1980 and subsequent, ruled that Andreotti had "committed the crime of participation in the" conspiracy "(Cosa Nostra), «concretely apparent until spring 1980», but «offense extinct by prescription." For the facts after the spring of 1980 was acquitted. Author of several books that depict the history of our country, Andreotti has kept up late in life a bright personality, intelligence and political acumen, the fruit of the experiences that saw perennial star of Italian political life. It was off at his home in Rome on May 6, 2013, at the age of 94 years.