Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Former Communist Becomes Italy's New Head of State
VOA ^ | 10MAY06 | Sabina Castelfranco

Posted on 05/10/2006 2:36:51 PM PDT by familyop

Newly elected Italian President Giorgio Napolitano waves as he leaves Italian Senate
Newly elected Italian President Giorgio Napolitano waves as he leaves Italian Senate
A huge applause broke out when the provisional results showed former Communist Giorgio Napolitano was elected Italy's 11th post-war WW II president. The speaker of the lower house Fausto Bertinotti later officially confirmed the result.

Bertinotti announced that the new head of state had obtained 543 votes and a long applause erupted in parliament. The number of votes was well above the minimum 505 mark required for victory.

He then announced the winner.

"I proclaim elected President of the Republic, Senator Giorgio Napolitano," he said.

Giorgio Napolitano, 80, was elected in the fourth round of voting in parliament. He is the first former communist to become president of Italy. He will be replacing President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, whose seven-year mandate expires May 18.

Mr. Napolitano was the center-left candidate and is a widely respected life senator who has also been parliament speaker and interior minister in the past. He has been known for his moderate, pro-Western stance and was among the biggest supporters of the reform that led the communists to change the party's name and drop the hammer-and-sickle symbol.

His choice paves the way for the winner of last month's general elections, Romano Prodi, to form the new government.

Mr. Prodi, who heads the center-left coalition, said Napolitano will represent all Italians, even if the center-right did not vote for him.

Silvio Berlusconi (file photo)
Silvio Berlusconi (file photo)
Outgoing prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition had said before the vote that it would not back Giorgio Napolitano because it opposed having a former communist as head of state.

After the vote, Mr. Berlusconi urged the new head of state to be even handed in his functions.

Mr. Berlusconi later added that there has been a military occupation by the left of all the state's highest offices.

The Italian president is now expected to take his oath of office as early as tomorrow, depending on when his predecessor resigns.



TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: communist; fascist; giorgionapolitano; italy; napolitano; prodi; ransomstoalqaeda; surrendermonkeys
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last
...from fascism to communism and back and forth again. Italy contributed 2 or 3 thousand non-combat troops and enriched Al-Qaeda in Iraq by several million dollars in ransoms for several anti-American women (the "two Simonas" and others).
1 posted on 05/10/2006 2:36:54 PM PDT by familyop
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: familyop

...background info:

Italy Plans to Charge GI in Iraq Death
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1559896/posts

I warned Bush about Iraq: Italy's PM
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1512263/posts

Berlusconi protests over CIA ‘kidnap'
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1434969/posts

Italy Demands 'Full Respect' From U.S. Over Terror Suspect's Seizure
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1434975/posts

20,000 in farewell to Italian 'martyr'
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1358260/posts

Freed Italians eye return to Iraq [Italy paid a ransom!]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1231061/posts

Sgrena's 'truth' doesn't ring true
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1361764/posts

Italy to stop paying ransoms
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1361666/posts


2 posted on 05/10/2006 2:38:40 PM PDT by familyop ("Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." --President Bush)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: familyop

I know a few Italian communists. They are easily the most annoying kind.


3 posted on 05/10/2006 2:38:46 PM PDT by Gordongekko909 (I know. Let's cut his WHOLE BODY off.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: familyop

Yieks!!! Guess where I am stationed? LOL. Well I guess it will be more important than ever for the U.S. military to be here...


4 posted on 05/10/2006 2:42:28 PM PDT by napscoordinator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: familyop
It's the end of the world as we know it...
It's the end of the world as we know it..
And I feel fine!
5 posted on 05/10/2006 2:43:26 PM PDT by Winston Smith
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Gordongekko909

I do tend to refer to Americans of whatever European ancestry as Americans. Italians and other Europeans are another matter, sometimes. Here's some more background info.

U.S. Undersecretary of State to visit Moscow next week ["Italy, Iran's largest trading partner?"]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1615405/posts


6 posted on 05/10/2006 2:44:20 PM PDT by familyop ("Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." --President Bush)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: familyop; an italian

I think Italy's presidency is largely ceremonial, rather like Ireland's, just as well....


7 posted on 05/10/2006 2:44:48 PM PDT by Irish_Thatcherite (~A vote for Bertie Ahern is a vote for Gerry Adams!~| IRA supporters on FR are trolls, end of story!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: familyop

No, I mean Italian as in "from Italy." Exchange students.


8 posted on 05/10/2006 2:46:17 PM PDT by Gordongekko909 (I know. Let's cut his WHOLE BODY off.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: familyop

A "former communist" is just a communist with an image consultant.


9 posted on 05/10/2006 2:46:25 PM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: familyop
Wow, this strunz even has the look of the old line commies.

God save Italy from the Italians!
10 posted on 05/10/2006 2:46:39 PM PDT by Antoninus (I will not vote for a liberal, regardless of party.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: familyop

Christ, they elected Junior Soprano!


11 posted on 05/10/2006 2:48:55 PM PDT by muleskinner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: familyop

Is it SAFE ?

12 posted on 05/10/2006 2:49:32 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Cheney X -- Destroying the Liberal Democrat Traitors By Any Means Necessary -- Ya Dig ? Sho 'Nuff.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: familyop
"...Prodi, the dour former president of the European Commission, has been a fierce critic of the Iraq War and key aspects of Washington’s anti-terrorism policy. He attacked the war as “deadly and useless”[1] and accused Berlusconi of dragging Italy “into an unwanted military adventure for the sole reason that our prime minister could be invited to the palaces of the world.”[2] Echoing the Zapatero victory in Spain, Prodi has pledged to withdraw the 2,600 Italian troops still stationed in Iraq immediately if elected.[3] The new Prime Minister is likely to distance himself from President Bush and align himself more closely with Brussels than Washington in the wider war on terrorism.

As a European Union official, Prodi forcefully backed the Spanish government’s decision to pull out of Iraq following the Madrid bombings, a move viewed by many in Europe and the United States as a cowardly capitulation to terrorism. As Commission president, Prodi declared that “with this decision, Spain has fallen into line with our position—the divide that prevented Europe from having a common position is being overcome.”[4]

Prodi has been fiercely critical of the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, describing it as a “constant wound on our image” that “needs to be closed.”[5] He has also been an outspoken proponent of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is strongly opposed by the United States. As president of the European Commission, Prodi made headlines when, in a thinly veiled threat, he warned aspiring EU member states not to sign agreements that would bar them from handing over U.S. peacekeepers for prosecution by the ICC.[6] "

"As European Commission president from 1999 to 2004, Prodi was an arch Euro-federalist whose gushing vision of a powerful, unified Europe in a “multipolar” world would make even French President Jacques Chirac blush. In a speech to an EU summit in Barcelona in 2002, Prodi stated that Europe’s goal was to create “a superpower on the European continent that stands equal to the United States.”[8] In his position as the EU’s chief political spokesman, Prodi called for “a giant step forward in European integration,” producing a blueprint for a Europe-wide super-state, with direct control over foreign policy, criminal justice, and taxation.[9] Prodi’s radicalism culminated in a major speech to Valery Giscard d’Estaing’s convention on the future of Europe in which Prodi spoke of European Commission plans to create “the world’s first true supra-national democracy.” - Heritage Foundation

13 posted on 05/10/2006 2:50:45 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: familyop
Not to worry, Italy like most of Western Civilisation, including the US will become extinct by the end of the century. The left has made a suicide pact and they are hell bent on including us in it. Problem is they are succeeding.



14 posted on 05/10/2006 2:51:45 PM PDT by Cacique (quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat ( Islamia Delenda Est ))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Gordongekko909
"No, I mean Italian as in 'from Italy.' Exchange students."

Thanks! ...my mistaken assumption.
15 posted on 05/10/2006 2:53:33 PM PDT by familyop ("Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." --President Bush)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: familyop

"former" Communist? Do they ever give up?


16 posted on 05/10/2006 3:07:30 PM PDT by expatpat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: muleskinner

"Christ, they elected Junior Soprano!"

LOL. You nailed it. No wonder he looked familiar!


17 posted on 05/10/2006 3:13:32 PM PDT by dynachrome ("Where am I? Where am I going? Why am I in a handbasket?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

Comment #18 Removed by Moderator

To: napscoordinator

Bravo Zulu hello fm retired Coastie whose first 8 were in the Navy... best part of which was onboard USS ALBANY (CG-10), COM6THFLT, Gaeta, Italia 1977-1980.

Great memories, some of the best years of my life.

God Bless,

CGVet58


19 posted on 05/10/2006 3:35:20 PM PDT by CGVet58 (God has granted us Liberty, and we owe Him Courage in return)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: familyop

....on the flip side... they build a helluva bike.


20 posted on 05/10/2006 3:39:50 PM PDT by taxed2death (A few billion here, a few trillion there...we're all friends right?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson