Romano Prodi

Prodi was born in Scandiano, near Reggio Emilia, in 1939; he is the eighth of nine children. His father, Mario Prodi, was an engineer who grew up in a peasant family, and his mother, Enrichetta, was an elementary school teacher. Most of the brothers are, or have been, university professors, among them Giovanni Prodi (professor of mathematical analysis), Vittorio Prodi (professor of physics and member of the European Parliament), Paolo Prodi (professor of modern history), {{ill|Franco Prodi|it|Franco Prodi}} (professor of atmospheric physics), and Giorgio Prodi (professor of general pathology).{{cite news | url = https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2010/06/09/news/massoneria_pd-4683769/ | title = I massoni di sinistra. Nelle logge sono 4mila. | trans-title = Freemasons of left wing. In the lodges are 4 thousands. | author = Alberto Statera | journal = La Repubblica | date = 9 June 2010 | language = it | archive-url = https://archive.today/20100612084229/https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2010/06/09/news/massoneria_pd-4683769/ | archive-date = 12 June 2010 | url-status = live}}

In 1969, Prodi married Flavia Franzoni, at that time a student, who later became an economist and university professor. The couple was married by Camillo Ruini, now a well-known cardinal.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/299254.stm|title=Profile: Romano Prodi |access-date=25 February 2007|date=10 May 1999|work=BBC}}{{cite web |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/11/news/prodi.php|title=A tenuous time for Mr. Serenity|access-date=25 February 2007 |date=12 April 2006|author=Fisher, Ian|work=International Herald Tribune}} They have two sons, Giorgio and Antonio. His wife, Flavia, died on 13 June 2023 at the age of 76.[https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/e-morta-flavia-franzoni-moglie-romano-prodi-AEucTCgD È morta Flavia Franzoni, moglie di Romano Prodi]. Il Sole 24 Ore

After completing his secondary education at the Liceo Ludovico Ariosto in Reggio Emilia, Prodi graduated in law at Milan's Università Cattolica in 1961 with a thesis on the role of protectionism in the development of Italian industry. He then carried out postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics.[http://www.romanoprodi.it/cgi-bin/adon.cgi?act=doc&doc=28 Biography of Romano Prodi] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120911192056/http://www.romanoprodi.it/cgi-bin/adon.cgi?act=doc&doc=28 |date=11 September 2012 }} (in Italian)

Prodi has received almost 20 honorary degrees from institutions in Italy, and from the rest of Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa.[http://www.romanoprodi.it/cgi-bin/adon.cgi?act=doc&doc=28 Romano Prodi – Onoreficenze] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120911192056/http://www.romanoprodi.it/cgi-bin/adon.cgi?act=doc&doc=28 |date=11 September 2012 }}

File:Prodi Pertini Andreotti.jpg and Giulio Andreotti in 1978]]

On 25 November 1978, Prodi was appointed Minister of Industry, Commerce, and Crafts in the government of the Christian Democracy leader Giulio Andreotti. Even if he was a party member, Prodi was widely considered a technical minister. As minister, he promoted a law, known as Prodi law, which aimed a regulating of the extraordinary state administration procedure for the rescue of large enterprises in crisis.[http://www.101professionisti.it/guida/fallimento/leggi/detta-anche-legge-prodi-ha-introdotto-nel-nostro-ordinamento-l-amministrazione-straordinaria-delle-253.aspx Detta anche Legge Prodi, ha introdotto nel nostro ordinamento l'amministrazione straordinaria delle grandi imprese in crisi]

On 2 April 1978, Prodi and other teachers at the University of Bologna passed on a tip-off that revealed the whereabouts of the safe house where the kidnapped Aldo Moro, the former prime minister, was being held captive by the Red Brigades. Prodi stated that he had been given this tip-off by the founders of Christian Democracy, contacted from beyond the grave via a séance and a Ouija board. Whilst during this supposed séance Prodi thought Gradoli referred to a town on the outskirts of Rome, it probably referred to the Roman address of a Red Brigades safe house, located at no. 96, Via Gradoli.{{cite web |url=http://cronologia.leonardo.it/storia/a1978c.htm |title=Moro e i segreti, by Paolo Avanti, page at Cronologia italiana history website |publisher=Cronologia.leonardo.it |access-date=5 May 2013 |archive-date=30 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130035630/http://cronologia.leonardo.it/storia/a1978c.htm |url-status=dead }}

The information was trusted, and a police group made an armed blitz in the town of Gradoli, 80 km from Rome, on the following day, 6 April, although Moro was not found. The supernatural element was generally not overlooked during the investigations. For example, the Italian government had engaged a diviner, hoping that he would find Moro's location.{{cite web|last=Agnoli|first=Francesco|date=2004|url=http://www.salpan.org/ARTICOLI/Seduta%20spiritica%20di%20Prodi.htm|title=La seduta spiritica di Prodi e l'omicidio Moro|website=Salpan|language=it|access-date=10 August 2023}} The police made another fruitless blitz in Viterbo after an abbess declared that, during a vision, she had seen him there.Flamigni, Sergio. La tela del ragno. pp. 102–103.

Prodi spoke to the Italian Parliament's commission about the case in 1981. In the notes of the Italian Parliament commission on terrorism, the séance is described as a fake, used to hide the true source of the information.{{cite web|url=http://www.repubblica.it/online/fatti/pellegrino/pelle/pelle.html |title=Pellegrino: un'intelligence a caccia delle carte di Moro, on La Repubblica online website, 28 July 1999 |publisher=Repubblica.it |access-date=5 May 2013}} In 1997, Andreotti declared that the information came from the Bologna section of Autonomia Operaia, a far-left organization with some ties with the Red Brigades, and that Francesco Cossiga also knew the true source. Judge Ferdinando Imposimato considered Andreotti's theory as possible but accused him of having kept information that could have been valuable in a trial about Moro's murder.Dino Martiniano. "Macchè seduta spiritica per Moro". Corriere della Sera. 12 April 1999. Moro's widow later declared that she had repeatedly informed the police that a Via Gradoli existed in Rome, but the investigators did not consider it; some replied to her that the street did not appear in Rome's maps. This is confirmed by other Moro relatives but strongly denied by Cossiga, who served as Interior Minister during Moro's kidnapping.[https://patrimonio.archivio.senato.it/inventario/scheda/terrorismo-e-stragi-x-xiii-leg/IT-SEN-114-015981/seduta-n-48-del-9-marzo-1999#lg=1&slide=0 Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sul terrorismo in Italia e sulle cause della mancata individuazione dei responsabili delle stragi, 48th session, interview of Giovanni Moro, 9 March 1999], in Archivio storico del Senato della Repubblica (ASSR), Terrorismo e stragi (X-XIII leg.), 1.48].

In the 1990s, the séance matter was reopened by the Italian Parliament's commission on terrorism. While Prodi (then Prime Minister) declared that he had no time for an interview, both Mario Baldassarri (senator and vice-minister in two Silvio Berlusconi cabinets) and Alberto Clò (Minister of Industry in Lamberto Dini's cabinet and owner of the house where the séance was performed) responded to the call; they confirmed the circumstances of the séance, and that Gradoli had appeared in several sessions, even if the participants had changed. Later, other Italian members of the European Commission alleged that Prodi had invented this story to conceal the real source of the tip-off, which they believed to have originated somewhere among the far-left Italian political groups.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/eurocommission/Story/0,2763,206412,00.html|title=Seance points to problem for Prodi|access-date=25 February 2007 |date=3 August 1999|author=Willan, Philip|work=The Guardian|location=UK }}

This issue came back again in 2005, when Prodi was accused of being "a KGB man" by Mario Scaramella.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/the-seance-that-came-back-to-haunt-romano-prodi-517786.html |title='Multiple attempts' on Litvinenko |date=22 January 2007 |work=BBC |location=London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510133701/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/the-seance-that-came-back-to-haunt-romano-prodi-517786.html |archive-date=10 May 2008 }} The allegations were rejected by Prodi. Former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer Alexander Litvinenko also said that FSB deputy chief Anatoly Trofimov "did not exactly say that Prodi was a KGB agent, because the KGB avoids using that word."{{cite news |date=2007-01-23 |title=Prodi slams TV over spy claim |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-italy-prodi-idUKL2382491120070123 |url-status=live |access-date=2021-11-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112074044/https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-italy-prodi-idUKL2382491120070123 |archive-date=2021-11-12}} The same accusation was raised in 2002 by the Mitrokhin Commission, which was closed in 2006 with a majority and a minority report, without reaching shared conclusions, and without any concrete evidence given to support the original allegations of KGB ties to Italian politicians contained in the Mitrokhin Archive. Led by the centre-right coalition majority, it was criticized as politically motivated, as it was focused mainly on allegations against opposition figures.{{cite web|last=Stille|first=Alexander|date=11 December 2006|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2006/12/the-secret-life-of-mario-scaramella.html|url-status=live|title=The Secret Life of Mario Scaramella|website=Slate|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920123906/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2006/12/the_secret_life_of_mario_scaramella.html|archive-date=20 September 2018|access-date=19 July 2023}} 2006 saw the publication of telephone interceptions between the chairman of the Mitrokhin Commission, Forza Italia senator Paolo Guzzanti, and Scaramella. In the wiretaps, Guzzanti made it clear that the true intent of the Mitrokhin Commission was to support the hypothesis that Prodi would have been an agent financed or in any case manipulated by Moscow and the KGB.{{cite news |date=30 November 2006 |title='Così la Mitrokhin indagava su Prodi' |language=it |work=Corriere della Sera |url=https://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Cronache/2006/11_Novembre/30/mitrokhin.shtml |access-date=24 July 2022}}{{cite news |date=1 December 2006 |title=Mitrokhin, la magistratura indaga, l'Udc prende le distanze |language=it |work=L'Unità |url=http://www.unita.it/view.asp?IDcontent=61474 |url-status=dead |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929090954/http://www.unita.it/view.asp?IDcontent=61474 |archive-date=29 September 2007}} According to the opposition, which submitted its own minority report, this hypothesis was false, and the purpose of the commission was therefore to discredit him.{{cite web |date=16 December 2004 |title=Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta concernente il 'dossier Mitrokhin' e l'attività di'intelligence italiana – Relazione di minoranza sull'attività istruttoria svolta sull'operazione Impedian |url=https://www.parlamento.it/parlam/bicam/14/Mitrokhin/documenti/x4088.pdf |access-date=24 July 2023 |language=it|publisher=Italian Parliament}} In the wiretaps, Scaramella had the task of collecting testimonies from some ex-agents of the Soviet secret service refugees in Europe to support these accusations; he was later charged for calumny.{{cite news|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2108215.ece|title= Scaramella questioned in Rome over arms trafficking allegations|work=The Independent|date=2006-12-28|access-date=2007-01-24 | location=London | first=Peter | last=Popham|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906205842/http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2108215.ece|archive-date=2008-09-06}}

In November 2006, the new Italian Parliament with a centre-left coalition majority instituted a commission to investigate the Mitrokhin Commission for allegations that it was manipulated for political purposes.{{Cite web |url=http://today.reuters.it/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-11-28T141548Z_01_DIG850609_RTRIDST_0_OITTP-COPACO-MITROKHIN.XML |title=Archived copy |access-date=23 July 2023 |archive-date=30 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930185650/http://today.reuters.it/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-11-28T141548Z_01_DIG850609_RTRIDST_0_OITTP-COPACO-MITROKHIN.XML |url-status=dead }} In a December 2006 interview given to the television program La storia siamo noi,{{cite episode|date=December 2006 |url=http://www.lastoriasiamonoi.rai.it/puntata.aspx?id=266 |url-status=dead |title=Licenza di uccidere?|language=it|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213061752/http://www.lastoriasiamonoi.rai.it/puntata.aspx?id=266 |series=La storia siamo noi|archive-date=13 February 2007 |access-date=23 July 2023}} colonel ex-KGB agent Oleg Gordievsky, whom Scaramella claimed as his source, confirmed the accusations made against Scaramella regarding the production of false material relating to Prodi and other Italian politicians,{{cite news |date=27 November 2006|title='Il gruppo della Mitrokhin voleva Prodi e D'Alema' |url=https://www.repubblica.it/2006/11/sezioni/esteri/putin-spia-avvelenata/intervista-limarev/intervista-limarev.html |access-date=26 July 2023 |work=La Repubblica|language=it}} and underlined their lack of reliability.{{cite news|last1=Bonini|first1=Carlo|last2=D'Avanzo|first2=Giuseppe|date=7 December 2006 |title=L'ex spia del Kgb su Scaramella 'Un bugiardo, voleva rovinare Prodi' |url=https://www.repubblica.it/2006/12/sezioni/esteri/caso-litvinenko-2/scaramella-testa-prodi/scaramella-testa-prodi.html |access-date=22 July 2023 |work=La Repubblica|language=it}} Despite this, those claims were further repeated by the UK Independence Party's Gerard Batten, the member of the European Parliament for London who stated that he was informed of this by Litvinenko, who was his constituent and former FSB operative. The 16 February 2018 indictment of Paul Manafort unsealed on 23 February,{{Cite web|last=Reilly|first=Ryan J.|date=23 February 2018|title=Former Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort Indicted Yet Again|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/paul-manafort-indicted_n_5a90878be4b01e9e56bbc0ef|access-date=5 October 2021|website=HuffPost|language=en}} as part of the Mueller special counsel investigation, alleges that foreign politicians hypothesized to be Prodi and Alfred Gusenbauer took payments exceeding $2 million from Manafort to promote the case of his client, Viktor Yanukovich; both denied this and said their work was focused to get closer European Union–Ukraine relations.{{cite news |last1=Erlanger |first1=Steven |last2=Horowitz |first2=Jason |date=2018-02-24 |title=European Ex-Officials Deny Being Paid by Manafort to Lobby for Ukraine |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/world/europe/manafort-gusenbauer-hapsburg-ukraine-indictment.html |access-date=2023-07-26 |issn=0362-4331|quote=On Saturday, Romano Prodi, a former prime minister of Italy, said in an interview that he and an ex-chancellor of Austria, Alfred Gusenbauer, had worked to try to bring Ukraine and the European Union closer together. But Mr. Prodi said the funds he had been paid by Mr. Gusenbauer did not come, to his knowledge, from Mr. Manafort. The compensation from Mr. Gusenbauer was a result of the 'normal private relations I had with him,' Mr. Prodi said, but 'not any money from external sources.' He added: 'I tell you I have never been paid from any lobby group in America.' In a statement to the BBC, Mr. Gusenbauer, who led Austria from January 2007 to December 2008, denied any involvement in Mr. Manafort's work in Ukraine but acknowledged that he had met him twice and talked to European and American politicians about Ukraine, as Mr. Prodi had also done. ... Mr. Prodi said that Mr. Gusenbauer was the 'coordinator' of a group of like-minded liberal and center-left politicians on the issue. ... Mr. Prodi recalled meeting members of Congress interested in Ukraine, but said he had not heard of Mercury. Asked who scheduled the meetings in Washington, Mr. Prodi said, 'I imagine it was Gusenbauer.' ... Asked if the money Mr. Gusenbauer received came from Mr. Manafort, Mr. Prodi seemed skeptical but said that he didn't know. 'Go ask Gusenbauer,' he said, adding that he thought that it was more likely that the money came from European businessmen interested in keeping Europe and Ukraine close.}}{{cite web|last1=Meyer|first1=Theodoric|last2=Gerstein|first2=Josh|title=Former Austrian chancellor appears to have lobbied as part of Manafort scheme|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/23/paul-manafort-mueller-probe-washington-lobbying-ukraine-austria-423439|access-date=5 October 2021|website=Politico|date=23 February 2018|quote=Kutler also accompanied Romano Prodi, a former Italian prime minister, to meetings with Royce and a staffer for House Majority Whip Eric Cantor months beforehand. Gusenbauer and Prodi said their work was focused on bringing Ukraine and the European Union closer together and denied being paid by Yanukovych or Manafort. ... Prodi told The New York Times on Saturday that he'd been paid by Gusenbauer as part of the 'normal private relations I had with him' and they the money had not, to his knowledge, come from Manafort. He said he'd never heard of the Hapsburg Group. 'It was Gusenbauer heading the group; we did all our efforts to have peace in Ukraine,' Prodi said. The group, which consisted of 'experts and former politicians,' broke up when it became clear that 'a stronger relationship with the European Union was impossible,' he added.}}

File:Prodi Granelli 1985.jpg

After leaving his position in 1989, Prodi ran the Bologna based consulting company Analisi e Studi Economici, which he jointly owned along with his wife.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/2809685/Italians-claim-country-run-by-Goldman-Sachs.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/2809685/Italians-claim-country-run-by-Goldman-Sachs.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Italians claim country run by Goldman Sachs |date=19 June 2007 |publisher=Telegraph Media Group |access-date=5 August 2013 |location=London |first=Ambrose |last=Evans-Pritchard}}{{cbignore}} Between 1990 and 1993 the company earned £1.4 million, most of which was paid by the investment bank Goldman Sachs.

In 1993, Prodi was between the main candidates to become Prime Minister of Italy at the head of a technocratic government; instead, the Governor of the Bank of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, was chosen for this office by President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro.[http://storia.camera.it/governi/i-governo-ciampi Governo Ciampi]

In 1993–1994, Prodi was appointed again President of the IRI, by Ciampi, where he oversaw extensive privatization of public assets. For his activities in this period Prodi would later twice come under investigation – firstly for an alleged conflict of interest in relation to contracts awarded to his own economic research company in relation to the Italdel-Siemens merger, and secondly concerning the sale of the loss-making state-owned food conglomerate SME to the multinational Unilever, for which he had previously been a paid consultant.

Prodi's former employer, Goldman Sachs, was involved in both of the deals. In February 2007 the Italian Treasury Police raided the Milan office of Goldman Sachs, where they removed a file called "MTononi/memo-Prodi02.doc". They also obtained a letter to Siemens from the Frankfurt office of Goldman Sachs regarding the Italdel deal, which revealed that Prodi was made the Senior Advisor of Goldman Sachs International in Italy in March 1990. In November 1996, after Prodi had been elected prime minister, Rome prosecutor Guiseppa Geremia concluded that there was enough evidence to press charges against Prodi for conflict of interest in the Unilever deal. The case was, however, shut down within weeks by superiors, while Geremia was "exiled to Sardinia".

On 25 May 1994, Prodi went to Palazzo Chigi to announce his resignation as IRI President to the new Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi;[http://archivio.corriere.it/Archivio/interface/landing.html Quel summit Prodi-Berlusconi] the resignation had been formalised on 31 May and became effective on 22 July.[http://archivio.corriere.it/Archivio/interface/landing.html Iri, comincia il dopo Prodi]

On 11 August, Prodi announced to the Gazzetta di Reggio of his intent to enter politics.[http://archivio.corriere.it/Archivio/interface/landing.html Prodi: "Pronto a lavorare per il Centro"] A few months earlier, Prodi had rejected a proposal from the Italian People's Party (PPI) to run for the 1994 European election.[http://archivio.corriere.it/Archivio/interface/landing.html Europee, si candidano tutti i leader]

{{see also|1996 Italian general election|The Olive Tree (Italy)|Prodi I Cabinet}}

File:Romano Prodi 1996.jpg

On 13 February 1995 Prodi, along with his close friend Arturo Parisi, founded his political alliance The Olive Tree.[http://archivio.corriere.it/Archivio/interface/landing.html E Berlusconi prepara un "contratto con gli Italiani"] Prodi's aim was to build a centre-left coalition composed by centrist and leftist parties, opposed to the centre-right alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi, who resigned from the office of prime minister few weeks before, when Lega Nord withdrew his support to the government. The movement was immediately supported by Mariotto Segni, leader of the centrist Segni Pact; after few weeks the post-communist Democratic Party of the Left of Massimo D'Alema, the PPI and the Federation of the Greens also joined the Olive Tree coalition.

On 19 February 1996, the outgoing Prime Minister Lamberto Dini announced that he would run in the election with a new party called Italian Renewal, allied with Prodi's Olive Tree rather than Berlusconi's Pole for Freedoms. Shortly after, Berlusconi claimed that Dini "copied his electoral programme".{{Cite web |url=http://cronologia.leonardo.it/storia/a1996a2.htm |title=Cronoligia, anno 1996 – Mese di Febbraio |access-date=3 May 2017 |archive-date=8 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208075245/http://cronologia.leonardo.it/storia/a1996a2.htm |url-status=dead }}

On election day, Prodi's Olive Tree coalition won over Berlusconi's Pole for Freedoms, becoming the first coalition composed of a post-communist party to win a general election since the Second World War. In the Senate, The Olive Tree obtained the majority; in the Chamber, it required the external support of Communist Refoundation Party. On 17 May 1996, Prodi received from President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro the task of forming a new government.[http://www.repubblica.it/online/fatti/rifondazione/prodi/prodi.html La storia del governo Prodi] He ultimately formed a 23-member cabinet that included 16 PDS ministers (including Deputy Prime Minister Walter Veltroni) and 10 PDS junior ministers–the first (former) Communists to take part in government in half a century.

Prodi's economic programme consisted in continuing the past governments' work of restoration of the country's economic health, in order to pursue the then seemingly unreachable goal of leading the country within the strict European Monetary System parameters in order to allow the country to join the Euro currency. He succeeded in this in little more than six months.

During his first premiership, Prodi faced the 1997 Albanian civil unrest; his government proposed the so-called Operation Alba ("Sunrise"), a multinational peacekeeping force sent to Albania in 1997 and led by Italy. It was intended to help the Albanian government restore law and order in their troubled country after the 1997 rebellion in Albania.{{Cite web |url=http://www.un.int/slovenia/pk-alba.html |title=Operation Alba |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-date=21 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081021051920/http://www.un.int/slovenia/pk-alba.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}

File:Defense.gov News Photo 980507-D-2987S-047.jpg William Cohen]]

Following the degenerating loss of administrative control by the Government in the first days of March 1997, culminating in the desertion of most Police and many Republican Guard and Army units, leaving their armouries open to the inevitable looting which soon followed, several Nations autonomously helped evacuate their Nationals in Operation Silver Wake and Operation Libelle.

The UN Security Council therefore agreed the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1101 as a stop-gap operation to manage this and buy time, laying the foundations for a planned reconstruction, which after six weeks of debate fell to the Western European Union, creating the Multinational Albanian Police Element around a command structure of Italian Carabinieri, which actually undertook the work of Judicial and Police reconstruction, extending into the elimination of the economic causes of the crisis.

The Italian 3rd Army Corps assumed responsibility for the stop-gap mission as Operation Alba, the first multinational Italian-led Mission since World War II. Eleven contributing European Nations{{cite book|last= Colonel Marchio|first= Riccardo|url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA378201|title= "Operation Alba": A European Approach to Peace Support Operations in the Balkans|year= 2000 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130723175151/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA378201| url-status= dead| archive-date= 23 July 2013|page= iii}} "This operation, in which 11 European countries took part" brought humanitarian aid to a country that was in a dramatic economic and political situation.NATO, [http://www.nato.int/nrdc-it/about/emblem.htm NRDC-IT Emblem], accessed November 2011 In 1997, Prodi declared that "the problem of the safety of the country seems to be no longer one of external safety, but an internal one: the safety of citizens in their everyday life".{{Cite book|title= Crime and Security | author1= Benjamin Goold |publisher= Taylor & Francis |year=2017 |isbn= 9781351570732 | pages=399}}

Prodi's government fell in 1998 when the Communist Refoundation Party withdrew its external support. This led to the formation of a new government led by Massimo D'Alema as prime minister. There are those who claim that D'Alema, along with People's Party leader Franco Marini, deliberately engineered the collapse of the Prodi government to become prime minister himself.{{cite news |url=http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2001/maggio/29/Marini_cosi_Alema_facemmo_cadere_co_0_0105295076.shtml|title=Così io e D'Alema facemmo cadere Prodi|date=May 2001}} As the result of a vote of no confidence in Prodi's government, D'Alema's nomination was passed by a single vote. This was the first occasion in the history of the Italian Republic on which a vote of no confidence had ever been called; the Republic's many previous governments had been brought down by a majority "no" vote on some crucially important piece of legislation (such as the budget).

{{main|Prodi Commission}}

File:Romano Prodi 1999.jpg, 1999]]

In September 1999 Prodi, a strong supporter of European Integration, became President of the European Commission, thanks to the support of both the conservative European People's Party, the social-democratic Party of European Socialists and the centrist Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party in the European Parliament.

His commission took office on 13 September 1999 following the scandal and subsequent resignation of the Santer Commission, which had damaged the reputation of the institution. It took over from the interim Marín Commission. The College consisted of 20 Commissioners, which grew to 30 following the Enlargement of the European Union in 2004. It was the last commission to see two members allocated to the larger member states. This commission (the 10th) saw an increase in power and influence following the Amsterdam Treaty. Some in the media described president Prodi as being the first "Prime Minister of the European Union".

It was during Prodi's presidency, in 2002, that 11 EU member states ditched their national currencies and adopted the euro as their common currency. This commission (the 10th) saw an increase in power and influence following the Amsterdam Treaty.

The treaty was the result of long negotiations which began in Messina, Sicily, on 2 June 1995, nearly forty years after the signing of the Treaty of Rome, and reached completion in Amsterdam on 18 June 1997. Following the formal signing of the Treaty on 2 October 1997, the member states engaged in an equally long and complex ratification process. The European Parliament endorsed the treaty on 19 November 1997, and after two referendums and 13 decisions by parliaments, the member states finally concluded the procedure. Under this treaty the member states agreed to devolve certain powers from national governments to the European Parliament across diverse areas, including legislating on immigration, adopting civil and criminal laws, and enacting foreign and security policy (CFSP), as well as implementing institutional changes for expansion as new member nations join the EU.

Due to this increased power of the Commission President, some media described President Prodi as being the first "Prime Minister of the European Union".[http://www.iht.com/articles/1999/04/16/eu.2.t_0.php Prodi to Have Wide, New Powers as Head of the European Commission] iht.com 16 April 1999[https://web.archive.org/web/20010406003725/http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_39/b3648256.htm Commentary: Romano Prodi: Europe's First Prime Minister? (int'l edition)] Businessweek.com 1999

File:Vladimir Putin with Romano Prodi-1.jpg in 2000]]

File:Lionel Jospin & Romano Prodi - 2001.jpg in 2001]]

File:President George W. Bush poses with Swedish Prime Minister Goran Person and European Union Commission President Romano Prodi.jpg and Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson with in the EU–US Summit in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2001]]

File:Romano Prodi and Ilham Aliyev (2004-05-18) 02.jpg in 2004]]

File:Prodi Erdogan 2004.jpg in 2004]]

As well as the enlargement and Amsterdam Treaty, the Prodi Commission also saw the signing and enforcement of the Treaty of Nice as well as the conclusion and signing of the European Constitution: in which he introduced the "Convention method" of negotiation. The treaty was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003.

It amended the Maastricht Treaty (or the Treaty on European Union) and the Treaty of Rome (or the Treaty establishing the European Community which, before the Maastricht Treaty, was the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community). The Treaty of Nice reformed the institutional structure of the European Union to withstand eastward expansion, a task which was originally intended to have been done by the Amsterdam Treaty but failed to be addressed at the time. The entry into force of the treaty was in doubt for a time after its initial rejection by Irish voters in a referendum in June 2001. This referendum result was reversed in a subsequent referendum held a little over a year later.

===2004 enlargement and end of the mandate===

{{See also|2004 enlargement of the European Union}}

In 2004, his last year as Commission President, the European Union was enlarged to admit several more member nations, most formerly part of the Soviet bloc. It was the largest single expansion of the European Union (EU), in terms of territory, number of states, and population to date; however, it was not the largest in terms of gross domestic product. It occurred on 1 May 2004.

The simultaneous accessions concerned the following countries (sometimes referred to as the "A10" countries{{Cite web |url=http://www.derbyshire.police.uk/Documents/Safety-Advice/Migrants/UKResidency.pdf |title=Essential information for new arrivals in Derbyshire |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006213609/http://www.derbyshire.police.uk/Documents/Safety-Advice/Migrants/UKResidency.pdf |archive-date=6 October 2018 |url-status=dead }}[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2014/jul/21/twenty-years-tony-blair-britain-iraq Twenty years of Tony Blair: totting up the balance sheet]): Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Seven of these were part of the former Eastern Bloc (of which three were from the former Soviet Union and four were and still are members of the Central European alliance Visegrád Group), one of the former Yugoslavia (together sometimes referred to as the "A8" countries), and the remaining two were Mediterranean islands and former British colonies.

Part of the same wave was the 2007 enlargement of the European Union that saw the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, who were unable to join in 2004, but, according to the Commission, constitute part of the fifth enlargement. The commission was due to leave office on 31 October 2004, but due to opposition from the European Parliament to the proposed Barroso Commission which would succeed it, it was extended and finally left office on 21 November 2004. When his mandate expired, Prodi returned to domestic politics.

{{see also|2005 Italian centre-left primary election|}}

Shortly before the end of his term as President of the European Commission, Prodi returned to national Italian politics at the helm of the enlarged centre-left coalition, The Union.

File:ProdiBari.jpg during the electoral campaign]]

Having no party of his own, in order to officially state his candidacy for the 2006 general election, Prodi came up with the idea of an apposite primary election, the first of such kind to be ever introduced in Europe and seen by its creator (Prodi himself) as a democratic move to bring the public and its opinion closer to the Italian politics.

When the primary elections were first proposed, they were mostly meant as a plebiscite for Romano Prodi since there were no other candidates for the leadership of the coalition. The secretary of the Communist Refoundation Party, Fausto Bertinotti, then announced he would run for the leadership, even if only to act as a symbolic candidate, to avoid a one-candidate election. After some time, more candidates were presented, like Union of Democrats for Europe leader Clemente Mastella, Italy of Values leader and former magistrate Antonio Di Pietro, Federation of the Greens leader Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio and others few minor candidates.[http://www.quotidiano.net/politica/primarie-pd-storia-1.3075073 Primarie Pd, la storia: partì tutto da Prodi nel 2005]

The primary election may have been foreseen an easy win for Romano Prodi, with the other candidates running mostly to "measure their strengths" in the coalition, and they often talked about reaching a certain percentage rather than winning. However, there were rumours of supporters of the House of Freedoms trying to participate in the elections, and vote in favour of Mastella, reputed to be the least competent of the candidates and the least likely to win against Berlusconi, other than the most centrist; other rumours indicated such "fake" left-wing voters would vote for Bertinotti, because his leadership would likely lose any grip on the political centre.[http://www.corriere.it/Speciali/Politica/2005/primarie/articoli/voto.shtml Quattro milioni e 300mila, Prodi al 74,1%]

The election had been held nationwide on 16 October 2005, from 8 am to 10 pm. Poll stations were mainly managed on a voluntary basis; they were hosted mainly in squares, local party quarters, schools, and even restaurants, bars, campers and a hairdresser; some polling stations were also provided outside the country for Italians abroad. Most of the party leaders claimed a result of 1 million voters would be a good success for the election, but over four million people for the occasion went to cast a vote in the primary election.[http://www.repubblica.it/2005/j/sezioni/politica/primarieunio2/16ottobr/16ottobr.html Unione, quasi 4 milioni di elettori. Prodi supera il 73%, Bertinotti al 15,4%]

After having won the centre-left primary election, Prodi led The Union coalition in the 2006 election. The Union was a heterogeneous alliance, which was formed by centrist parties like UDEUR and communists like PRC and Party of Italian Communists.

Prodi led his coalition to the electoral campaign preceding the election, eventually on 9 and 10 April won by a very narrow margin of 25,000 votes, and a final majority of two seats in the Senate. Initial exit polls suggested a victory for Prodi, but the results narrowed as the count progressed. On 11 April 2006, Prodi declared victory;[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4897994.stm Centre-left claims Italy victory], BBC News Berlusconi never conceded defeat explicitly but this is not required by the Italian law.

Preliminary results showed The Union leading the House of Freedoms in the Chamber of Deputies, with 340 seats to 277, thanks to obtaining a majority bonus (actual votes were distributed 49.81% to 49.74%). One more seat is allied with The Union (Aosta Valley) and 7 more seats in the foreign constituency. The House of Freedoms had secured a slight majority of Senate seats elected within Italy (155 seats to 154), but The Union won 4 of the 6 seats allocated to voters outside Italy, giving them control of both chambers.{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/04/11/italy.elections/index.html |title=Berlusconi refuses to concede |website=CNN |access-date=11 April 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060412121023/http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/04/11/italy.elections/index.html |archive-date=12 April 2006}}

On 19 April 2006, Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation ruled that Prodi had indeed won the election, winning control of the Chamber of Deputies by only 24,755 votes out of more than 38 million votes cast, and winning 158 seats in the Senate to 156 for Berlusconi's coalition. Even so, Berlusconi refused to concede defeat, claiming unproven fraud.

Prodi's appointment was somewhat delayed, as the outgoing president of the Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, ended his mandate in May, not having enough time for the usual procedure (consultations made by the president, appointment of a prime minister, the motion of confidence and oath of office). After the acrimonious election of Giorgio Napolitano to replace Ciampi, Prodi could proceed with his transition to government. On 16 May he was invited by Napolitano to form a government. The following day, 17 May 2006, Prodi and his second cabinet were sworn into office.

Prodi's new cabinet drew in politicians from across his centre-left winning coalition, in addition to Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, an unelected former official of the European Central Bank with no partisan membership. Romano Prodi obtained the support for his cabinet on 19 May at the Senate and on 23 May at the Chamber of Deputies.

The coalition led by Prodi, thanks to the electoral law which gave the winner a sixty-seat majority, can count on a good majority in the Chamber of Deputies but only on a very narrow majority in the Senate. The composition of the coalition was heterogeneous, combining parties of communist ideology, the Party of Italian Communists and Communist Refoundation Party, within the same government as parties of Catholic inspiration, Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy and UDEUR. The latter was led by Clemente Mastella, former chairman of Christian Democracy. Therefore, according to critics,{{by whom|date=November 2011}} it was difficult to have a single policy in different key areas, such as economics and foreign politics (for instance, Italian military presence in Afghanistan).

File:33rdG8Leaders.jpg, June 2007]]

In foreign policy, the Prodi II Cabinet continued the engagement in Afghanistan, under UN command, while withdrawing troops from post-invasion Iraq on 18 May 2006, when Prodi laid out some sense of his new foreign policy, pledging to withdraw Italian troops from Iraq and called the Iraq War a "grave mistake that has not solved but increased the problem of security".{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/Iraq/Story/0,,1778041,00.html |title=Prodi condemns Iraq war as 'grave mistake' |access-date=25 February 2007 |date=18 May 2006 |author=Sturcke, James|work=The Guardian |location=UK}}

The major effort of foreign minister Massimo D'Alema concerned the aftermath of the 2006 Lebanon War, being the first to offer troops to the UN for the constitution of the UNIFIL force, and assuming its command in February 2007. In fact, Prodi had a key role in the creation of a multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon following the Israel-Lebanon conflict.

Italy led negotiations with the Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni and was proposed by Israel to head the multinational peacekeeping mission, although the dangers of the mission for Italian troops sparked warnings from the center-right opposition that it could prove a "kamikaze" mission, with the peacekeepers sandwiched between Israel and the well-armed Hezbollah.{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/753518.html|title=Italy to send up to 3,000 troops to Lebanon, largest pledge so far|work=Haaretz|date=22 August 2006|access-date=22 August 2006|archive-date=1 September 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901034954/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/753518.html|url-status=dead}} Prodi and D'Alema pledged Italy's willingness to enforce the United Nations resolution on Lebanon and urged other European Union member states to do the same because the stability of the Middle East should be a chief concern for Europeans.{{cite news|title=France Pledges More Troops to Lebanon|date=24 August 2006|work=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/world/middleeast/24cnd-force.html?hp&ex=1156478400&en=46313588d9065f6f&ei=5094&partner=homepage|first=Craig S.|last=Smith|access-date=12 May 2010}}

Prodi's government faced a crisis over policies in early 2007, after just nine months of government. Three ministers in Prodi's Cabinet boycotted a vote in January to continue funding for Italian troop deployments in Afghanistan. Lawmakers approved the expansion of the US military base Caserma Ederle at the end of January, but the victory was so narrow that Deputy Prime Minister Francesco Rutelli criticised members of the coalition who had not supported the government. At around the same time, Justice Minister Clemente Mastella, of the coalition member UDEUR, said he would rather see the government fall than support its unwed couples legislation.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6324829.stm|title=Rift threatens Italian coalition|access-date=25 February 2007 |date=2 February 2007 |work=BBC News }}

Tens of thousands of people marched in Vicenza against the expansion of Caserma Ederle, which saw the participation of some leading far-left members of the government.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6370671.stm|title=Italians march in US base protest|access-date=25 February 2007 |date=17 February 2007 |work=BBC News }} Harsh debates followed in the Italian Senate on 20 February 2007. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Massimo D'Alema declared during an official visit in Ibiza, Spain, that, without a majority on foreign policy affairs, the government would resign. The following day, D'Alema gave a speech at the Senate representing the government, clarifying his foreign policy and asking the Senate to vote for or against it. In spite of the fear of many senators that Prodi's defeat would return Silvio Berlusconi to power, the Senate did not approve a motion backing Prodi's government foreign policy, two votes shy of the required majority of 160.{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/italian-pm-prodi-resigns-after-foreign-policy-defeat-1.651945|title=Italian PM Prodi resigns after foreign policy defeat|access-date=25 February 2007 |date=21 February 2007 |work=CBC News}}

File:Prodi Napolitano.jpg]]

After a government meeting on 21 February, Romano Prodi tendered his resignation to the president, Giorgio Napolitano, who cut short an official visit to Bologna in order to receive the prime minister. Prodi's spokesman indicated that he would only agree to form a new Government "if, and only if, he is guaranteed the full support of all the parties in the majority from now on."{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/6383051.stm |title=Italian PM hands in resignation |access-date=24 February 2007 |date=21 February 2007 |work=BBC News }} On 22 February, centre-left coalition party leaders backed a non-negotiable list of twelve political conditions given by Prodi as conditions of his remaining in office. President Napolitano held talks with political leaders on 23 February to decide whether to confirm Prodi's Government, ask Prodi to form a new government or call fresh elections.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6388455.stm |title=Italian coalition 'to back Prodi|access-date=24 February 2007 |date=23 February 2007 |work=BBC News }}

Following these talks, on 24 February, President Napolitano asked Prodi to remain in office but to submit to a vote of confidence in both houses.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6391669.stm |title=Italian PM asked to resume duties |access-date=24 February 2007 |date=24 February 2007 |work=BBC News }} On 28 February, the Senate voted to grant confidence to Prodi's Government. Though facing strong opposition from the centre-right coalition, the vote resulted in a 162–157 victory. Prodi then faced a vote of confidence in the lower house on 2 March, which he won as expected with a large majority of 342–198.[http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/03/02/italy.prodi.reut/index.html]{{dead link|date=February 2014}}

On 14 October 2007, Prodi oversaw the merger of two main parties of the Italian centre-left, Democrats of the Left and Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy, creating the Democratic Party. Prodi himself led the merger of the two parties, which had been planned over a twelve-year period, and became the first President of the party. He announced his resignation from that post on 16 April 2008, two days after the Democratic Party's defeat in the general election.

{{see also|2008 Italian political crisis}}

In early January 2008, Justice Minister and Union of Democrats for Europe's leader Clemente Mastella resigned after his wife Sandra Lonardo was put under house arrest for corruption charges. With three Senators, UDEUR was instrumental in ensuring a narrow centre-left majority in the Italian Senate.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7194342.stm|publisher=BBC News |title=Italy's ruling coalition weakened|date=17 January 2008|access-date=24 January 2008}}

After first promising to support the government, he later retracted this support, and his party followed, in part also due to pressure from the Vatican, for which the government's proposed laws in regards to registered partnerships of same-sex couples, and other liberal reforms were objectionable.{{cite web | url = http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1706790,00.html?xid=rss-world | title = How An Italian Government Falls | publisher = TIME | author = Jeff Israely | date = 24 January 2008 | access-date = 27 January 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080129005649/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0%2C8599%2C1706790%2C00.html?xid=rss-world | archive-date = 29 January 2008 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }} Mastella also cited lack of solidarity from the majority parties after the arrest of his wife, and declared that his party would vote against the government bills since then.

The decision of former Minister of Justice Mastella arrived a few days after the confirmation of the Constitutional Court which confirmed the referendum to modify the electoral system.[https://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSL1685828620080116 "Italian court okays referendum on election law"] Reuters, 16 January 2008 As stated many times by Minister Mastella, if the referendum had been confirmed, it would lead directly to the fall of the government[http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Politica/2007/04_Aprile/10/legge_elettorale_mastella_referendum.shtml "Legge elettorale, Mastella minaccia la crisi"] Corriere della Sera, 10 April 2007[http://www.lastampa.it/redazione/cmsSezioni/politica/200704articoli/20302girata.asp "Mastella: Se c'è referendum si rischia la crisi di governo"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070828192601/http://www.lastampa.it/redazione/cmsSezioni/politica/200704articoli/20302girata.asp |date=28 August 2007 }} La Stampa, 10 April 2007

and it happened.
The fall of the government would disrupt a pending election-law referendum that, if passed, would make it harder for small parties like Mastella's to gain seats in parliament.

[https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aEv_XkZP2lg0&refer=home "Prodi Likely to Quit, Prompt Vote or Election Reform"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613163056/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087 |date=13 June 2010 }} Bloomberg.com

The UDEUR defection forced caused Prodi to ask for a confidence vote in both Chambers: he won a clear majority in the Chamber of Deputies on 23 January,{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7205578.stm|publisher=BBC News |title=Embattled Italy PM backed by MPs|date=23 January 2008|access-date=24 January 2008}} but was defeated 156 to 161 (with 1 abstention){{in lang|it}} [http://it.wikinews.org/wiki/Crisi_di_governo:_il_Senato_sfiducia_Prodi Crisi di governo: il Senato sfiducia Prodi – Wikinotizie]. It.wikinews.org. Retrieved on 24 August 2013. in the Senate the next day. He therefore tendered his resignation as prime minister to President Giorgio Napolitano, who accepted it and appointed the President of the Senate, Franco Marini, with the task of evaluating possibilities for forming interim government to implement electoral reforms prior to holding elections. Marini, after consultation with all major political forces, acknowledged the impossibility of doing so on 5 February, forcing Napolitano to announce the end of the legislature.{{cite web|url=http://www.ansa.it/opencms/export/site/visualizza_fdg.html_12342748.html|title=Domani Lo Scioglimento Delle Camere |publisher=Ansa|date=5 February 2008|access-date=5 February 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080204214404/http://www.ansa.it/opencms/export/site/visualizza_fdg.html_12342748.html|archive-date=4 February 2008|language=it}} Prodi said that he would not seek to lead a new government and snap election were called.Andrew Davis and Steve Scherer, [https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a773AGctFECE&refer=home "Prodi Government Near Collapse After Key Ally Defects (Update2)"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613163056/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087 |date=13 June 2010 }}, Bloomberg.com, 22 January 2008. In the election that followed in April 2008, Berlusconi's centre-right The People of Freedom and allies defeated the Democratic Party.{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7347618.stm |title=Berlusconi declares election win |publisher=BBC News |date=14 April 2008}}

File:Romano Prodi 2024 (cropped).jpg

On 19 March 2008, during the political campaign for the snap general election, Romano Prodi stated "I called it a day with Italian politics and maybe with politics in general."{{cite web|url=http://www.ansa.it/opencms/export/site/visualizza_fdg.html_18938668.html|title=Prodi, lascio la politica ma il mondo è pieno di occasioni|author=ANSA|access-date=3 September 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080330070541/http://www.ansa.it/opencms/export/site/visualizza_fdg.html_18938668.html |archive-date = 30 March 2008}}

On 12 September 2008, Prodi was named by the UN as head of a joint AU-UN panel aimed at enhancing peacekeeping operations in Africa.[http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N12513725.htm Thomson Reuters Foundation | News, Information and Connections for Action]. Alertnet.org. Retrieved on 24 August 2013.

On 6 February 2009, he was appointed Professor-at-Large at the Watson Institute for International Studies of Brown University.{{cite web|url=https://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2009/02/prodi|title=Former Italian Prime Minister Appointed Professor-at-Large| date=6 February 2009|publisher=Brown University|access-date=29 June 2010}} Since 2010 Romano Prodi is the chair for Sino-European dialogue at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS – Shanghai&Beijing), China's leading business school.

On 9 October 2012, Romano Prodi was appointed by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as his Special Envoy for the Sahel. He served in that position until 31 January 2014.[https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/sga1377.doc.htm Secretary-General Appoints Romano Prodi of Italy as Special Envoy for Sahel]. Un.org. Retrieved on 24 August 2013.

Prodi is also a member of the Club de Madrid, an international organization of former democratic statesmen, which works to strengthen democratic governance and leadership.{{cite web|title=Prodi, Romano|url=http://www.clubmadrid.org/en/miembro/romano_prodi|publisher=Club de Madrid|access-date=22 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626144600/http://www.clubmadrid.org/en/miembro/romano_prodi|archive-date=26 June 2012|url-status=dead}} He is a former member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group.{{cite web|url=http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/former-steering-committee-members.html |title=Former Steering Committee Members |work=bilderbergmeetings.org |publisher=Bilderberg Group |access-date=8 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202095633/http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/former-steering-committee-members.html |archive-date=2 February 2014}}

Prodi was drafted by Democratic Party parliamentarians to be President of Italy during the 2013 presidential election after Democratic Party–People of Freedom compromise candidate Franco Marini failed to receive sufficient votes on the first ballot.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} During the first three rounds of voting, few people cast ballots for Prodi (14 on the first ballot, 13 on the second and 22 on the third).{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

On 16 April 2013, just a few days prior to the fourth ballot, Prodi gave a lectio magistralis at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum entitled "I grandi cambiamenti della politica e dell'economia mondiale: c'è un posto per l'Europa?" ("The Great Changes in Politics and the World Economy: Is there Room for Europe?). Prodi was sponsored by the Angelicum and the Università degli Studi Guglielmo Marconi:it:Università degli Studi "Guglielmo Marconi" Accessed 17, 2013 on behalf of the Political Science program "Scienze Politiche e del Buon Governo."[http://angelicumnewsletterblog.blogspot.com/ Angelicum Newsletter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150321072053/http://angelicumnewsletterblog.blogspot.com/|date=21 March 2015}} Accessed 17 April

A few days later, on 19 April, starting on the fourth ballot, Prodi was looked at seriously as a possible candidate. However, Prodi announced he was pulling out of the presidential race after more than 100 centre-left electors did not vote for him as he received only 395 (of 504 votes needed to be elected). After this vote, Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, announced his resignation as the party's secretary.[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-vote-idUSBRE93I08I20130419 Italy centre-left leader Bersani quits after vote debacle] Reuters. 19 April 2013. Accessed 20 April 2013 As of September 2020, he is a member of the Italian Aspen Institute.[https://www.aspeninstitute.it/istituto/comunita-aspen/comitato-esecutivo executive Committee] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101009043826/https://www.aspeninstitute.it/istituto/comunita-aspen/comitato-esecutivo |date=9 October 2010 }}, aspeninstitute.it/

{{notelist}}

• {{Flag|Albania}}: Received a copy of the Key of the City of Tirana on the occasion of his state visit to Albania.[http://tirana.gov.al/Celesi_qytetit/L'Studio-03_550.jpg Received a copy of the key of the city of Tirana] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011145029/http://tirana.gov.al/Celesi_qytetit/L%27Studio-03_550.jpg |date=11 October 2011 }}
• {{Flag|France}}: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (2013){{Cite web|url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/mon-figaro/2013/12/11/10001-20131211ARTFIG00659-romano-prodi-bientot-grand-croix-de-la-legion-d-honneur.php|title=Romano Prodi bientôt grand-croix de la Légion d'honneur|website=lefigaro.fr|date=11 December 2013 }}
• {{flag|Italy}}: Knight of Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2 June 1993){{Cite web|url=https://www.quirinale.it/onorificenze/insigniti/10754|title=Romano Prodi |website=quirinale.it}}
• {{flag|Japan}}: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (2012)[http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/info/conferment/pdfs/2012_au.pdf 2012 Autumn Conferment of Decorations on Foreign Nationals]. mofa.go.jp. Retrieved 2 July 2024
• {{Flag|KSA}}: Grand Cordon of the Order of Abdulaziz Al Saud (2007)
• {{flag|Latvia}}: First Class of the Order of the Three Stars (2007){{cn|date=May 2024}}
• {{flag|Poland}}: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (1997){{cn|date=May 2024}}
• {{flag|Romania}}: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania (2000){{cn|date=May 2024}}
• {{flag|Slovakia}}: Grand Cordon of the Order of the White Double Cross (2022){{cite web | url=https://www.prezident.sk/page/vyznamenania/ | title=Prezidentka Slovenskej republiky | Vyznamenania }}
• {{flag|Slovenia}}: First Class of the Order for Exceptional Merits (2005)
• {{flag|Spain}}: The Most Excellent Sir Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic (1998){{Cite web|url=https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1998/09/28/index.php?s=3&lang=fr|title=Boletín Oficial del Estado: lunes 28 de septiembre de 1998, Núm. 232|website=boe.es}}

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Laurea in Giurisprudenza (110 e lode) Università Cattolica Milano (1961)
• Madras University (India, 1998)
• Sofia University (Bulgaria, 1998)
• Universitat Politecnica de Barcelona (Spain, 1998)
• Brown University (United States, 1999)
• University of Michigan (United States, 1999)
• Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies (Romania, 2000)
• Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium, 2000)
• University of Malta (Malta, 2000)
• University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy, 2000)
• University of Ottawa (Canada, 2000)
• St. Gallen University (Switzerland, 2000)
• Kyung Hee University, (South Korea, 2000)
• Pisa University (Italy, 2001)
• University of Tirana (Albania, 2001)
• Carleton University (Canada, 2001)
• Instituto de Empresa de Madrid (Spain, 2002)
• University of Oxford, (United Kingdom, 2002)
• Pavia University, (Italy, 2002)
• Skopje University, (North Macedonia, 2003)
• Tunis University, (Tunisia, 2003)
• University of Calabria (Italy, 2003)
• Torino University (Italy, 2004)
• Lublin University (Poland, 2004)
• Tongji University (P.R.China, 2006)
• Catholic University of Milan (Italy, 2007)
• Addis Abeba University (2007)
• University of Calcutta (2007)
• University of Freiburg (2008)
• MIRBIS University Moscow (2009)
• Chinese Academy of Governance (P.R.China, 2010)
• University of Nova Gorica (2010)
• Nankai University (P.R.China, 2010)
• University of Halle-Wittenberg (Germany, 2011)

{{div col end}}

• Modello di sviluppo di un settore in rapida crescita: l'industria della ceramica per l'edilizia, Milan, ed. Franco Angeli, 1966
• Concorrenza dinamica e potere di mercato. Politica industriale e fusioni d'impresa, Milan, ed. Franco Angeli, 1967
• La diffusione dell'innovazione nell'industria italiana, Bologna, ed. Il Mulino, 1973
• Sistema economico e sviluppo industriale in Italia, Bologna, ed. Il Mulino, 1973
• Per una riconversione e ristrutturazione dell'industria italiana, Bologna, ed. Il Mulino, 1980
• C'è un posto per l'Italia fra i due capitalismi?, Bologna, ed. Il Mulino, 1991
• Una crisi non solo politica: L'industria italiana a rischio, Bologna, ed. Il Mulino, 1991
• Modello strategico per le privatizzazioni, Bologna, ed. Il Mulino, 1992
• La società istruita. Perché il futuro italiano si gioca in classe, Bologna, ed. Il Mulino, 1993
• Il capitalismo ben temperato, Bologna, ed. Il Mulino, 1995
• La mia Italia, Rome, ed. Carmenta, 1995.
• Un'idea dell'Europa (Contemporanea), Bologna, ed. Il Mulino, 1999 (trad. Europe as I See It, Cambridge, ed. Polity Press, 2000).
• Una nuova anima europea, Rome, ed. AVE, 2002.
• La mia visione dei fatti. Cinque anni di governo in Europa, Bologna, ed. Il Mulino, 2008.
• Capire il mondo. Il futuro sfida l'Europa, Rome, ed. Cittadella, 2012.
• Missione incompiuta: Intervista su politica e democrazia, Rome/Bari, ed. Editori Laterza, 2015.
• Tra politica e politiche: La lezione di Nino (with Enrico Letta), Bologna, ed. Il Mulino, 2016.
• Il piano inclinato: Conversazione con Giulio Santagata e Luigi Scarola (Voci), Bologna, ed. Il Mulino, 2017.
• L'acqua: armonie, disarmonie, conflitti (with Giuseppe Zaccaria), Padova, ed. Padova University Press, 2019.
• Strana vita, la mia, Milan, ed. Solferino, 2021.
• Le immagini raccontano l'Europa, Milan, ed. Rizzoli, 2021.

• Enlargement of the European Union
• Lisbon Agenda

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Romano Prodi}}

• [http://www.partitodemocratico.it Democratic Party website]
• [http://ec.europa.eu/archives/commission_1999_2004/prodi/index_en.htm Official Site of the President of the European Commission]. Includes a curriculum vitae, from which some of the information in this article was drawn.
• The personal archives of [https://archives.eui.eu/en/fonds/190273?item=RP Romano Prodi] are deposited at the [https://www.eui.eu/Research/HistoricalArchivesOfEU Historical Archives of the European Union] in Florence
• {{C-SPAN|43978}}

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{{s-bef|before=Carlo Donat-Cattin}}

{{s-ttl|title=Minister of Industry, Commerce and Crafts|years=1978–1979}}

{{s-aft|after=Franco Nicolazzi}}

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{{s-bef|before=Lamberto Dini}}

{{s-ttl|title=Prime Minister of Italy|years=1996–1998}}

{{s-aft|after=Massimo D'Alema}}

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{{s-bef|before=Manuel Marín}}

{{s-ttl|title=President of the European Commission|years=1999–2004}}

{{s-aft|after=José Manuel Barroso}}

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{{s-bef|before=Silvio Berlusconi}}

{{s-ttl|title=Prime Minister of Italy|years=2006–2008}}

{{s-aft|after=Silvio Berlusconi}}

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{{s-ppo}}

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{{s-non|reason=Position established}}

{{s-ttl|title=Leader of The Olive Tree|years=1995–1998}}

{{s-aft|after=Massimo D'Alema}}

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{{s-bef|before=Francesco Rutelli}}

{{s-ttl|title=Leader of The Olive Tree|years=2004–2007}}

{{s-non|reason=Position abolished}}

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{{s-non|reason=Position established}}

{{s-ttl|title=President of the Democratic Party|years=2007–2008}}

{{s-aft|after=Rosy Bindi}}

{{s-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Prodi, Romano}}

Category:1939 births

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