Lamberto Dini

Lamberto Dini (born March 1, 1931), is a former Italian Prime Minister (1995–1996) and Foreign Minister (1996–2001).

After studying Economics in his home city of Florence, Dini took up a post at the International Monetary Fund in 1959, where he worked his way up until he served as Executive Director for Italy, Greece, Portugal and Malta between 1976 and 1979. Then, in October of 1979, he moved to the Banca d'Italia, where he served as Director-General, until May, 1994. When the Governor of the Bank of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, with whom there ws no love lost, was called upon to serve as Prime Minister, in April, 1993, Dini was widely tipped to succeed him, but was passed over (some say on Ciampi's instigation) in favour of Antonio Fazio.

Dini scored a comeback, though, when Silvio Berlusconi formed his first Government, in May,1994, in which Dini serves as Treasury Minister. Due to a split between Berlusconi and his coalition partner Umberto Bossi, from the Northern League, Berlusconi's government collapsed in December, 1994, after a mere seven months in power. In January, 1995, Dini was appointed Prime Minister by President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro in an attempt to forestall a general election which, according to most analysts would favour Berlusconi's right-wing coalition. Though he was not noted as a left-winger, Dini, in the confidence vote, was supported by the left-wing parties (apart from the Refounded Communists) and by the Northern League, whereas his erstwhile partners in the right-wing government chose to abstain ("benevolently", as they put it). His Cabinet, in any case, was made up (supposedly, at least), of "technicians", i.e. of people known for their professionalism but not attached to any political party.

In April, 1996, a general election was called, in which Berlusconi's right-wing coalition, minus the Northern League, was pitted against Romano Prodi's left-wing Olive Tree Coalition. Relations between Dini and Berlusconi had seriously soured then, and Dini chooses to enter the Olive Tree Coalition with his own centrist party, Rinnovamento Italiano (Italian Renewal). Dini was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, and served for the entire legislature as Minister of Foreign Affairs in four successive centre-left governments, under Prodi, Massimo D'Alema (in two separate, successive Cabinets), and finally Giuliano Amato. His party has dissolved into the Margherita, (Daisy), a larger party formed out of several centrist parties belonging to the centre-left coalition. In May, 2001 a general election is due. It was won by Berlusconi and his allies (including, once again, the Northern League), which led to Berlusconi forming his second government in June. Dini was elected to the Senate, and in this capacity, from February, 2002 to July, 2003, served as a delegate to the Convention in charge of drafting the European Constitution.