Franco Frattini
Franco Frattini was an Italian politician and magistrate. He served as the President of the Council of State from January to December 2022.
Frattini previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2002 to 2004 and from 2008 to 2011 in the governments of Silvio Berlusconi as well as Minister of Public Function from 1995 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2002, in the government of Lamberto Dini and Silvio Berlusconi. From 2004 to 2008, he was also the European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security in the first Barroso Commission.
Education and career
Frattini was born in Rome in 1957. He attended the "Giulio Cesare" Classical High School in Rome and graduated in law in 1979 at the Sapienza University.From 1984 he was State Attorney and magistrate of the Regional Administrative Court in Piedmont. In 1986, Frattini was named member of the Italian Council of State and legal adviser of the Treasury Ministry. During these years, he served as secretary of the Federation of Young Italian Socialists and member of the Italian Socialist Party.
In 1990 and 1991, he worked as a legal adviser to the deputy secretary of the PSI, Claudio Martelli, in the Andreotti VI Cabinet.
Early political career
In 1994, Frattini was appointed Secretary General to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers during the first government of Silvio Berlusconi. However, in January 1995, the government lost its majority in the parliament and Lamberto Dini, an independent technocrat who was serving as Minister of Treasury, became the new Prime Minister. Frattini was appointed Minister for Public Function.In 1996, he joined Berlusconi's Forza Italia and was candidated in the upcoming election within the Pole for Freedoms, the electoral coalition between FI, National Alliance and other minor conservative parties. He was elected in the northern constituency of Bolzano–Laives. However, the centre-left coalition of Romano Prodi won the election and from 1996 to 2001, Frattini served as chairman of the parliamentary committee for the supervision of intelligence. Moreover, from November 1997 until August 2000 he was also a City Councillor in Rome.
Minister in Berlusconi's cabinets (2001–2004)
Minister of Public Function
In 2001, Frattini was a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies in the constituency of Bolzano, supported by House of Freedom. From 2001, he took part in the Berlusconi II Cabinet as Minister for Public Administration. The so-called Frattini Act, namely Law no. 215/2004, on "Rules on conflicts of interest", approved by Parliament on 13 July 2004, received criticism from the Council of Europe's Venice Commission on its compatibility with international standards on freedom of expression and pluralism of the media.Minister of Foreign Affairs
From 14 November 2002 to 18 November 2004, Frattini served as Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs: the appointment of Frattini followed ten months of interim by Berlusconi himself, after the resignation of the former minister Renato Ruggiero due to his contrasts with the foreign policies of the government.During his ministerial tenure, Italy supported the invasion of Iraq by the United States led by president George W. Bush; Frattini called it a "legitimate intervention" even in the absence of a United Nations mandate. Frattini authorized the overflight and the use of Italian military bases by the Anglo-American coalition. Frattini later sent an Italian military and police contingent to Iraq, in what he called a "humanitarian emergency intervention," of about 3,200 men. This force made Italy the 3rd largest participant in the Coalition of the willing after the United States and the United Kingdom.
Italian forces took part in Operation Ancient Babylon which began in July 2003 together with British forces in the southern Dhi Qar province, centered in the town of Nassiriya; the Italian Barbara Contini was charged with civilian administration by the Coalition Provisional Administration. A suicide attack there killed 19 Italians, among military and civilians.
During the Italian military presence in the south of Iraq, eight Italians were kidnapped, of whom two were later murdered: the mercenary Fabrizio Quattrocchi and the journalist Enzo Baldoni, in addition to the SISMI agent Nicola Calipari, killed by U.S. soldiers during the liberation of kidnapped journalist Giuliana Sgrena. It remains unclear whether Italy offered a ransom for the release of the other six hostages. The killing of Quattrocchi was reported live on the late night Italian television program Porta a Porta, at the time of which Frattini was a guest in the studio, which raised criticism of Frattini for the lack of tact in not informing the victim's family in advance. Frattini was later also criticized for saying Quattrocchi "died bravely, I would say as a hero".
In 2004, Frattini had to leave office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which passed to Gianfranco Fini following a government reshuffle. Italy's participation in the post-war occupation of Iraq remained unpopular within the Italian public opinion. At the beginning of 2006, the Berlusconi III government announced its intention to withdraw the Italian contingent from Iraq by the end of the year, a decision confirmed by the new government of Romano Prodi that succeeded it.
Vice President of the European Commission and European Commissioner (2004–2008)
On 4 November 2004, Frattini was named by Berlusconi to take up the Justice and security portfolio in the European Commission, replacing the controversial Rocco Buttiglione, whose appointment had been rejected by the European Parliament. The appointment of Frattini as European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom, and Security raised concerns from the British Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford, due to accusations of belonging to Freemasonry, raised by Buttiglione himself towards Frattini and denied by the latter. Frattini was also afforded one of the five seats as vice-president of the European Commission.In February 2006, during the Danish cartoons row, Frattini defended the media's freedom of speech, though he did express disagreement with subject of the cartoons. In November 2006, the commissioner's concern for child welfare extended to video games, calling for tougher controls; anything relating to stricter self-regulation to an outright ban. In 2007, Frattini called for a ban on the horror title Rule of Rose, and criticised the EU-endorsed PEGI system for granting the game a 16-years-or-over age rating. Reports on GameSpot showed he was seeking a Europe-wide ban on violent videogames. On 6 February 2007, during the Safer Internet Day 2007, Frattini recalled the need to protect children's rights, saying: "I am deeply concerned at this potential harm by the internet to children. This could involve people preying on them or children accessing racist, cruel or violent material."
At the start of 2007, Frattini backed an Italian push for EU support of a worldwide ban on the death penalty, while in April 2007, he asked for more powers to be given to Eurojust, advocating the power to initiate prosecutions with a European Public Prosecutor. Moreover, following the 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack, he criticised the handling of Islam by member-states and called for a "European Islam". Interviewed by Reuters he declared his intention to promote online communications monitoring and censorship of "dangerous words" like "bomb, kill, genocide or terrorism".
As European Commissioner, he promoted a "visa facilitation agreement between the European Community and the Russian Federation", which however led to the expulsion of countless citizens Europeans domiciled for a long time in Russia on the basis of annual visas, which due to the introduction by the agreement of a limit of stay in the territory of maximum 90 days out of 180 were forced to leave the country, not being able to reside on the spot on the basis of unlimited annual visas as happened in the past. Article 5 of the law of the Russian Federation 25 July 2002 n.115, provides in fact the limit of 90 days of stay only to those who are not subject to the visa regime, but the agreement drawn up by Frattini extends this limit to all the citizens of the Union.
In 2008, Frattini joined the newly formed People of Freedom and left on unpaid leave as Commissioner to run for election in Italy. He did not directly resign from his Commissioner post, to avoid that his successor be appointed by the out-going Prodi II Cabinet. He only resigned as Commissioner after taking up the position of Foreign Minister in the Berlusconi IV government. The role of European Commissioner from Italy was then assigned to Antonio Tajani, another member of PdL, with responsibility for transports rather than for justice. Frattini was the second ever European Commissioner from Italy to choose Italian over European politics, after the resignation of Franco Maria Malfatti in 1972.
During his term as European Commissioner, Frattini was also appointed by Prime Minister Berlusconi to the coordinate assistance from the government for the conduct of the Winter Olympics in Turin 2006.
Minister of Foreign Affairs (2008–2011)
At the 2008 snap election Frattini ran in north-eastern constituency of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. From 2008 to 2011, Frattini once again served as foreign minister.Benghazi Treaty and migration policy
During the first summer of his second foreign ministry the "Treaty of friendship between Italy and Libya" was signed ; with this treaty, Libya under Muammar Gaddafi agreed to repatriate the boats of sub-Saharan migrants from the Libyan coast to Italy. Cooperation between the two coast guards started in May 2009, with protests from international groups for the protection of human rights, which criticized the return of migrants – including eligible asylum seekers – to Libya, which had not ratified the UN Convention on Refugees; the policy was subsequently suspended but not officially repudiated. Frattini had openly supported the policy of respingimenti, contrary to the international humanitarian law principle of non-refoulement, describing such policy as a "due application of European rules", and stamping as "unworthy" the 2010 report by Amnesty International that highlighted the critical nature of this policy in light of international and European law.In September 2010, on the occasion of the second visit of Gaddafi to Rome, Frattini declared "We have blocked the trafficking of illegal immigrants", despite the figures showing the continuation of migratory flows, and despite being mainly people entitled to forms of international protection. In February 2011, in a set-up changed by the Arab spring uprisings, Frattini claimed to want to "mobilize the Mediterranean countries" and the EU, through the Frontex agency, for patrols and refoulements. However following the fall of the governments of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Gaddafi in Libya, the number of migrants attempting to reach Italy and Europe surged. Italy's response to these migrants has been criticized by organizations including Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The European Court of Human Rights, in the Hirsi v. Italy ruling of 23 February 2012, condemned Italy for breach of the convention, in particular with regard to Article 3 and Article 4 of Protocol IV ; in this case, 200 Somali and Eritrean migrants had been rejected in Libya under the Benghazi agreement, without having the possibility of applying for asylum in Europe.