Giorgio Ruffolo

{{Infobox officeholder

| image = Mario Ruffolo.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption =

| office = Minister of Environment

| primeminister = {{ubl|Giovanni Goria| Ciriaco De Mita | Giulio Andreotti}}

| predecessor = Mario Pavan

| successor = Carlo Ripa di Meana

| term_start = 29 July 1987

| term_end = 28 June 1992

| order2 = Member of the Senate

| term_start2 = 1 July 1987

| term_end2 = 14 April 1994

| order3 = Member of the Chamber of Deputies

| term_start3 = 12 July 1983

| term_end3 = 1 July 1987

| birth_date = {{birth date|1926|8|14|df=y}}

| birth_place = Rome, Kingdom of Italy

| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|2|16|1926|8|14|df=y}}

| death_place = Rome, Italy

| party = {{ubl|PSI (1944–1948; 1958–1994) | PDS (1994–1998) | DS (1998–2007) | PD (2007–2023)}}

| alma_mater = Sapienza University of Rome

| spouse =

| nationality = Italian

| children =

}}

Giorgio Ruffolo (14 August 1926 – 16 February 2023) was an Italian economist, journalist and politician who held several government posts and was the minister of environment for five years between 1987 and 1992 in four successive cabinets. He was a member of the now defunct Italian Socialist Party and a significant socialist intellectual.{{cite journal|author=Mattia Granata

|doi=10.1080/13532944.2015.1028347|page=139|s2cid=143234086}} He is known to be the founder of economic planning in Italy.{{cite journal|author=Giovanna Zincone|title=The Leisure Vote: The Campaign for European Elections|journal=Il Politico|date=September 1980|volume=45|issue=3|page=401|jstor=43208619}}

Biography

Ruffolo was born on 14 August 1926 in Rome.{{cite web|title=Giorgio Ruffolo|date=14 August 1926 |publisher=European Parliament|access-date=10 September 2021|url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/714/GIORGIO_RUFFOLO/history/1}} He was part of the Italian Socialist Youth Federation. He headed the research and public relations department of Eni between 1956 and 1962.{{cite book|author=Patrick McCarthy|title=The Crisis of the Italian State: From the Origins of the Cold War to the Fall of Berlusconi and Beyond

|page=6}} He joined the Italian Socialist Party and was elected to the Italian Parliament in 1983.

Ruffolo was the president and cofounder of the Europa Research Center (Centro Europa Ricerche), a Rome-based research institute in applied economic analysis with a special reference to the central issues for Italian and European economic policy.{{cite web|title=Giorgio Ruffolo|publisher=Italiani europei|url=https://www.italianieuropei.it/it/la-rivista/archivio-della-rivista/itemlist/user/557-giorgioruffolo.html|access-date=10 September 2021}}{{cite web|title=About Us|publisher=Centro Europa Ricerche

|url=https://www.centroeuroparicerche.it/about/|access-date=10 September 2021}}{{cite journal|author=Carlo Cristiano|title=Centro Europa Ricerche from its foundation to the end of the First Republic|journal=History of Economic Thought and Policy|year=2017|issue=2|pages=83–102|doi=10.3280/SPE2017-002005}} The other founders of the institute included Antonio Pedone and Luigi Spaventa. Ruffolo was also the president of a public investment company, Finanziaria Meridionale, which had been established to improve the economic development of Southern Italy.

From 1987 to 1992, Ruffolo was the minister of environment.{{cite web|title=Giorgio Ruffolo. Biography|publisher=Ediesse Online

|url=https://www.ediesseonline.it/author/giorgio-ruffolo/|access-date=10 September 2021|language=it}}{{cite journal |author=Albert Weale|title=Environmental administration in six European states: Secular convergence or national distinctiveness?|journal=Public Administration|date=June 1996|volume=74|issue=2|page=268|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9299.1996.tb00869.x

|display-authors=et. al.}} Although he was an economist by profession, he published various publications on environment, which made him one of the most qualified environment ministers of Italy. During his term, the ministry published the first report about the environmental conditions in the country. Another significant event was the closure of the Farmoplant in Massa in July 1988 following a massive explosion which had caused environmental pollution in the Massa coastline.{{cite journal|title=Chronology of Italian political events, 1988|journal=Italian Politics|year=1990|volume=4|pages=vii–xxiii |jstor=43039615}}

Ruffolo also served in the European Parliament for three terms: 17 July 1979–30 September 1983; 19 July 1994–19 July 1999 and 20 July 1999–19 July 2004.

Ruffolo was a contributor to the Italian edition of Huffington Post and Italian newspaper La Repubblica.{{cite news|title=H Blog|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.it/news/giorgio-ruffolo/|access-date=10 September 2021|work=HuffPost}}

Ruffolo died in Rome on 16 February 2023, at the age of 96.{{cite news|title=E' morto Giorgio Ruffolo, economista e storico esponente del Psi|access-date=16 February 2023|url=https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2023/02/16/news/giorgio_ruffolo_morto_socialista_ministro-388351290/|work=La Repubblica|date=16 February 2023|language=it}}{{Cite web|date=16 February 2023|title=È morto a 96 anni Giorgio Ruffolo, economista e storico esponente del Partito socialista italiano|url=https://www.ilpost.it/2023/02/16/giorgio-ruffolo-morto/|access-date=18 February 2023|work=Il Post|language=it}}