Posted on 05/10/2006 2:36:51 PM PDT by familyop
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Newly elected Italian President Giorgio Napolitano waves as he leaves Italian Senate |
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.
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Silvio Berlusconi (file photo) |
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.
...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
I know a few Italian communists. They are easily the most annoying kind.
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...
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
I think Italy's presidency is largely ceremonial, rather like Ireland's, just as well....
No, I mean Italian as in "from Italy." Exchange students.
A "former communist" is just a communist with an image consultant.
Christ, they elected Junior Soprano!
Is it SAFE ?
As a European Union official, Prodi forcefully backed the Spanish governments 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 positionthe 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 Europes goal was to create a superpower on the European continent that stands equal to the United States.[8] In his position as the EUs 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] Prodis radicalism culminated in a major speech to Valery Giscard dEstaings convention on the future of Europe in which Prodi spoke of European Commission plans to create the worlds first true supra-national democracy. - Heritage Foundation
"former" Communist? Do they ever give up?
"Christ, they elected Junior Soprano!"
LOL. You nailed it. No wonder he looked familiar!
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
....on the flip side... they build a helluva bike.
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