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Vincenzo Amendola

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Vincenzo Amendola
Minister for European Affairs
In office
5 September 2019 – 13 February 2021
Prime MinisterGiuseppe Conte
Preceded byLorenzo Fontana
Succeeded byRaffaele Fitto (2022)
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
Incumbent
Assumed office
13 October 2022
ConstituencyBasilicata
In office
15 March 2013 – 22 March 2018
ConstituencyCampania
Personal details
Born (1973-12-22) 22 December 1973 (age 50)
Naples, Italy
Political partyPCI (1989–1991)
PDS (1991–1998)
DS (1998–2007)
PD (since 2007)

Vincenzo "Enzo" Amendola (born 22 December 1973) is an Italian politician of the Democratic Party (PD). On 5 September 2019, Amendola was appointed Minister for European Affairs in the Conte II Cabinet.[1]

Early life and career

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Amendola was born in Naples in 1973. During the 1990s Amendola joined the Left Youth (SG), the youth wing of the Democrats of the Left (DS), the main social democratic party in Italy. In 1998, he was appointed SG's responsible for foreign affairs as well as vice president of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY), of which he was elected secretary general in 2001.[2]

Political career

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In 2006, Amendola was appointed in the national secretariat of the Democrats of the Left, and in November 2006, he was elected regional secretary of DS for Campania. Together with the majority of DS members, in 2007 Amendola joined the Democratic Party (PD), the new centre-left party, born from the union between DS and The Daisy.[3][4] In October 2009 he won the primary election to become regional secretary of the PD for Campania, a position that he held until 2014.[5]

In the 2013 general election Amendola was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the Campania constituency.[6] As a deputy, he was appointed in the Foreign Affairs Commission, where he was elected leader of the PD's group.[7]

In June 2013, PD's acting secretary, Guglielmo Epifani, appointed Amendola in the national secretariat, as coordinator of regional secretaries.[8] In December 2013, Matteo Renzi became the new party's leader and Amendola was not confirmed in the secretariat; however, after only few months, many members of Renzi's board was appointed ministers in his newly formed government, thus Amendola was re-appointed in the secretariat as responsible for Foreign and European Affairs in September 2014. He was also responsible for relations with the Party of European Socialists.[9]

On 29 January 2016, Amendola was appointed undersecretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Renzi's cabinet, a position that he held until 1 June 2018, serving under the premiership of Paolo Gentiloni too.[10] In both governments, he had been responsible for Italians abroad and for environmental and energy policies. During his term he often accompanied the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, on international state visits.

The 2018 general election resulted in a historic defeat for the PD and Amendola, who ran for the Senate of the Republic, did not succeed in being elected.[11]

On 15 June 2019, the new party's leader, Nicola Zingaretti, appointed Amendola party's responsible for Foreign Affairs.[12]

Minister of European Affairs

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In August 2019 tensions grew within the populist government, leading to the issuing of a motion of no-confidence on Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte by the League.[13] After Conte's resignation, the national board of the PD officially opened to the possibility of forming a new cabinet in a coalition with the M5S,[14] based on pro-Europeanism, green economy, sustainable development, fight against economic inequality and a new immigration policy.[15] The party also accepted that Conte may continue at the head of a new government,[16] and on 29 August President Sergio Mattarella formally invested Conte to do so.[17] On 5 September, Amendola was appointed new Minister of European Affairs.[18]

From 17 to 21 July 2020, Amendola took part, along with Prime Minister Conte, in one of the longest European Councils in history. After days of harsh confrontations,[19] the European leaders agreed on a new proposal by the President of the Council, Charles Michel, which provided a budget of €750 billion for the so-called Recovery Fund, composed of €390 billion in grants and €360 billion in loans.[20] Italy would benefit from nearly €82 billion in grants and €127 billion in loans.[21][22]

Other activities

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Personal life

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On 24 June 2013, Amendola married Karima Moual, an Italian journalist with Moroccan ancestry,[25] with whom he has two children.[26]

Electoral history

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Election House Constituency Party Votes Result
2013 Chamber of Deputies Campania 2 PD –[a] checkY Elected
2018 Senate of the Republic Campania PD –[a] ☒N Not elected
2022 Chamber of Deputies Basilicata PD –[a] checkY Elected
  1. ^ a b c Elected in a closed list proportional representation system.

References

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  1. ^ "La guardia della troika Pd sull'ortodossia europeista". InsideOver (in Italian). 5 October 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  2. ^ Segretario Vincenzo Amendola, Minister degli Esteri
  3. ^ Vespa, Bruno (2010). Il Cuore e la Spada: Storia politica e romantica dell'Italia unita, 1861–2011. Mondadori. p. 650. ISBN 9788852017285.
  4. ^ Augusto, Giuliano (8 December 2013), "De profundis per il Pd", Rinascita, archived from the original on 1 March 2014
  5. ^ Enzo Amendola: chi è il nuovo Ministro degli Affari Europei, quifinanza.it
  6. ^ Elezioni del 2013: Circoscrizione Campania 2, Ministero dell'Interno
  7. ^ Vincenzo Amendola, Camera dei Deputati
  8. ^ Chi è Vincenzo Amendola, nuovo ministro per gli Affari europei, formiche.net
  9. ^ Renzi nomina la nuova 'segreteria unitaria' del Pd: 8 donne e 7 uomini. Minoranza dentro, la Repubblica
  10. ^ Governo Gentiloni, governo.it
  11. ^ Elezioni del 2018: Circoscrizione Campania 3, Ministero dell'Interno
  12. ^ Ecco chi sono i membri della segreteria di Zingaretti, Democratica
  13. ^ Horowitz, Jason (20 August 2019). "Italy's Government Collapses, Turning Chaos Into Crisis" – via NYTimes.com.
  14. ^ Giuffrida, Angela (20 August 2019). "Italian PM resigns with attack on 'opportunist' Salvini" – via www.theguardian.com.
  15. ^ "Governo, Zingaretti: "I 5 punti per trattare con il M5S. No accordicchi, governo di svolta"". Repubblica.it. 21 August 2019.
  16. ^ "Conte wins crucial support for new Italian govt coalition". Washington Post.
  17. ^ "Il Presidente Mattarella ha conferito l'incarico al Prof. Conte di formare il Governo". Quirinale (in Italian). Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  18. ^ Vincenzo Amendola – Ministro per gli Affari Europei, governo.it
  19. ^ Fondi Ue, Conte a Rutte: "Se crolla mercato ne risponderai". La bozza di Michel: 400 miliardi di aiuti e 350 di prestiti, la Repubblica
  20. ^ EU leaders agree on €1.82T budget and coronavirus recovery package, Politico Europe
  21. ^ Recovery fund, intesa raggiunta su 750 miliardi. All’Italia 36 in più: 82 a fondo perduto e 127 di prestiti. Conte: “Momento storico, ora ripartire con forza”, Il Fatto Quotidiano
  22. ^ Conte: «Soddisfatti dell'accordo, giornata storica per Ue e Italia», Il Messaggero
  23. ^ Members European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
  24. ^ Board Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI).
  25. ^ Epifani e Orlando al matrimonio di Enzo Amendola, affaritaliani.it
  26. ^ Il ministro Vincenzo Amendola: "Nel Pd tante vittime di Renzi", Corriere della Sera
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