Elisabetta Casellati
Casellati in 2018
Minister for Institutional Reforms
Assumed office
22 October 2022
Prime MinisterGiorgia Meloni
Preceded byMaria Elena Boschi (2014–2016)
President of the Senate of the Republic
In office
24 March 2018 – 12 October 2022
Preceded byPietro Grasso
Succeeded byIgnazio La Russa
Member of the Senate
Assumed office
23 March 2018
ConstituencyVenice (2018–2022)
Potenza (since 2022)
In office
30 May 2001 – 15 September 2014
ConstituencyPadua (2001–2006)
Veneto (2006–2014)
In office
15 April 1994 – 8 May 1996
ConstituencyCittadella
Personal details
Born
Maria Elisabetta Alberti

(1946-08-12) 12 August 1946
Rovigo, Italy
Political partyForza Italia (1994–2009)
The People of Freedom (2009–2013)
Forza Italia (2013–present)
SpouseGiambattista Casellati
Children2, including Alvise
Alma materUniversity of Ferrara
Pontifical Lateran University
Profession

Maria Elisabetta Alberti (born 12 August 1946), known by her married name as Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati,[note 1] is an Italian lawyer and politician, serving as Minister fo Institutional Reforms since 2022. She was President of the Italian Senate from 2018 to 2022. She was the first woman ever to have held this position.[1][2] Casellati is a long-time member of the liberal-conservative party Forza Italia and served as Undersecretary of Health and Justice in previous governments. In 2022, she was nominated as candidate for President of Italy by the centre-right coalition.[3][4]

Early life

Born in Rovigo in the year 1946, to noble parents of Calabrian origins. Her father was a partisan during the Second World War.[5] She graduated with a degree in law at the University of Ferrara. She was subsequently a university researcher at the University of Padua.[6] She also practiced the profession of matrimonial lawyer in Padua. For many years, she also worked as a professional lawyer along with her husband, Gianbattista Casellati.[7] She has two children, writer and bicycle advocate Ludovica Casellati[8] and conductor Alvise Casellati.[9]

Political career

Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati in 2001

Previously a member of the Italian Liberal Party, she joined Forza Italia (FI), the liberal-conservative party founded by Silvio Berlusconi. She held key posts within the party. In March 1994, she was elected to the Italian Senate in the general election, for the single-member constituency of Cittadella, near Padua. During the 12th Legislature, Casellati served as a secretary of Forza Italia's parliamentary group in the Senate and also as a president of the Health Commission.[10]

Casellati was not re-elected in 1996 snap election and was defeated by the Lega Nord candidate by just a few votes. From 1999 to 2000, she served as provincial commissioner of Forza Italia for Rovigo. Following the 2001 general election, Casellati returned to the Senate for the constituency of Padua. During the 14th Legislature, she served as vice-leader of Forza Italia in the Senate. On 30 December 2004, Casellati was appointed undersecretary to Health in Berlusconi's second cabinet. She also held this office in Berlusconi's third cabinet, until 16 May 2006.[11]

She was re-elected again in the 2006 general election, which saw a narrow victory for the centre-left party of Romano Prodi; Casellati was confirmed vice-leader of her party in the Senate.[12] The 2008 election featured a strong showing by Berlusconi's new party The People of Freedom and his centre-right coalition; Casellati was re-elected in the Senate and served as undersecretary for Justice from 12 May 2008 to 16 November 2011, when the conservative Prime Minister was forced to resign amid financial crisis and public protests.[13][14]

In the 2013 general election, Casellati was elected to the multi-member constituency of Veneto. However, on 15 September 2014 she was elected by the Parliament in joint session to the High Council of the Judiciary (CSM), where she remained as a member until returning to the Senate in 2018 with the revived Forza Italia.[15] At the CSM she served as president of the Third Commission for access to the judiciary and for mobility from October 2016 until her resignation.[16]

President of the Senate

On 24 March 2018 she was elected President of the Senate, becoming the first woman to hold this position.[17] She was supported by her own party, the League, Brothers of Italy and the Five Star Movement.[18][19]

On 18 April 2018 she was given an exploratory mandate by President Sergio Mattarella to try and reconcile the issues between the centre-right coalition and the Five Star Movement (M5S), in order to break the post-election political deadlock and form a fully functional new government.[20][21] However, she failed in finding a solution to the disputes between the parties, especially between the M5S and Forza Italia.[22]

On 27 October 2021 she agreed on allowing a secret vote on a law that would have extended Italy's already existing hate speech and hate crime statutes to cover hate based on ability, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity (Italian law currently covers racial-based and religion-based hatred only), by using a provision in the Italian Senate rule of procedures code that is meant to be enacted only when voting on named individuals. This resulted in having the law proposal being voted down, and barred similar provisions from being proposed again in the six months following the vote.[23]

Minister for Institutional Reforms

On 22 October 2022, following the right-wing victory in the general election, Casellati was appointed Minister for Institutional Reforms in the government of Giorgia Meloni. In late December 2022, Meloni announced that Casellati would meet with the opposition parties to officially begin the roadmap towards a constitutional reform to strengthen the powers of the Prime Minister.[24]

On 3 November 2023, the government officially presented the reform which provided the direct election of the Prime Minister, the so-called "premierato", and a new electoral law which gave 55% of parliamentary seats in both houses to the coalition that arrives first in the general election.[25]

Political views

Casellati has described herself as a conservative and a Catholic;[26] she has often stressed her strong opposition to artificial insemination and has signed a bill to abolish law 194 on the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, describing abortion as "a very serious mistake, which flirts with the culture of death."[27][28] She is also in favour of the reopening of brothels and the subsequent abolition of the Merlin law.[29]

Casellati strongly opposed the Cirinnà law, promoted by the centre-left government of Matteo Renzi, which recognized same-sex unions in Italy, stating that "family is not an extensible concept and the state cannot equate marriage and civil unions."[30] She also added "any parity between marriages and civil unions would be a blurring of non-overlapping models."[31] Following the approval of the law on 13 May 2016, she gave an interview stating that she believed that the Cirinnà law discriminated against heterosexual couples.[32][33] During the 2020 International Day Against Homophobia, she stated that "any type of sexual discrimination is something to be considered intolerable and shameful in a modern society. Fighting homophobia and promoting respect is something no one—families, society, working places, politics and institutions—can shy away from".[34]

She supports the chemical castration for those guilty of sexual violence or pedophilia, saying in 2008 that "chemical castration is a path to follow as it is not a violent imposition on those who have committed aberrant offenses, but the administration of a drug that lowers sexual impulses."[35] She supported the Bossi–Fini law, which introduced criminal sentences for those illegally entering Italy; she declared that "only those who have the opportunity to live and keep themselves in dignity should be able to come to Italy."[36][37]

On 15 March 2013, she presented a law for the abolition of the IMU, the real estate tax promoted by Mario Monti's technocratic government in 2011. She is a strong supporter of the flat tax and when she became president of the Senate, she stated that the priority for Italy was a tax reform to support families and businesses.[38]

Electoral history

Election House Constituency Party Votes Result
1994 Senate of the Republic Cittadella FI 70,207 check Elected
1996 Senate of the Republic Cittadella FI 52,196 ☒ Not Elected
2001 Senate of the Republic Padua FI 77,598 check Elected
2006 Senate of the Republic Veneto at-large FI –[lower-alpha 1] check Elected
2008 Senate of the Republic Veneto at-large PdL –[lower-alpha 1] check Elected
2013 Senate of the Republic Veneto at-large PdL –[lower-alpha 1] check Elected
2018 Senate of the Republic Venice FI 118,877 check Elected
2022 Senate of the Republic Potenza FI 88,277 check Elected
  1. 1 2 3 Elected in a closed list proportional representation system.

First-past-the-post elections

1994 general election (S): Veneto — Cittadella
Candidate Coalition or Party Votes %
Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati Pole of Freedoms 70,207 43.2
Tino Bedin Pact for Italy 37,365 23.0
Dino Cavinato Alliance of Progressives 28,265 17.4
Gabriella Tornaboni National Alliance 10,390 6.4
Others 16,384 10.0
Total 162,611 100.0
1996 general election (S): Veneto — Cittadella
Candidate Coalition or Party Votes %
Luciano Gasperini Lega Nord 56,707 34.0
Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati Pole of Freedoms 52,196 31.2
Stelio Decarolis The Olive Tree 50,439 30.2
Others 7,658 4.7
Total 167,000 100.0
2001 general election (S): Veneto — Padua
Candidate Coalition or Party Votes %
Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati House of Freedoms 77,598 41.7
Paolo Giaretta The Olive Tree 74,863 40.2
Germano Grassivaro Italy of Values 7,471 4.0
Manlio Tommaso Gaddi Communist Refoundation Party 6,000 3.2
Alessandro Lanzerotto Bonino List–Pannella List 5,465 2.9
Others 14,587 7.8
Total 185,984 100.0
2018 general election (S): Veneto — Venice
Candidate Coalition or Party Votes %
Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati Centre-right coalition 118,877 41.9
Marco Nardin Five Star Movement 76,734 27.0
Andrea Ferrazzi Centre-left coalition 66,749 23.5
Giulio Marcon Free and Equal 10,263 3.6
Caterina Baldo The People of Family 2,353 0.8
Others 6,311 2.2
Total 283,723 100.0

Notes

  1. ↑ Or simply Casellati. This is in contrast with Italian laws and naming customs, whereby a woman does not take her husband's surname upon marriage and is referred to by her maiden name.

References

  1. ↑ Discorso di insediamento in Aula di Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, Presidente del Senato della XVIII legislatura
  2. ↑ "Profile of Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati". The official website of the Senate of the Italian Republic.
  3. ↑ Presidente della Repubblica, repubblica.it, 28 gennaio 2022
  4. ↑ Elezione Presidente, repubblica, 29 gennaio 2022
  5. ↑ "Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati. La biografia". Biografieonline. March 25, 2018.
  6. ↑ Tutto sui Presidenti
  7. ↑ "Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, chi è la presidente del Senato". Notizie.it. April 18, 2018.
  8. ↑ "LUDOVICA CASELLATI". Ludovicacasellati.it. December 18, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Ecco chi è Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, la berlusconiana di ferro prima donna presidente del Senato". Messaggero.it. March 28, 2018.
  10. ↑ "senato.it - Scheda di attività di Maria Elisabetta ALBERTI CASELLATI - XII Legislatura". www.senato.it.
  11. ↑ "Chi è Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati". April 18, 2018.
  12. ↑ "senato.it - Composizione del Gruppo cs.dizioneGruppo nella cs.legislatura.romanNumLeg Legislatura". www.senato.it.
  13. ↑ Nir, Sarah Maslin (12 November 2011). "Italians Rejoice in the Streets After Berlusconi Resigns". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 November 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  14. ↑ Di Matteo Tonelli (8 November 2011). "Governo, la maggioranza non c'è più Berlusconi si arrende: "Mi dimetto"". Repubblica.it. Archived from the original on 10 December 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  15. ↑ "Profile of Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati". The official website of the High Council of the Judiciary of the Italian Republic. Archived from the original on 2019-11-17. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  16. ↑ "senato.it - Presidente". www.senato.it.
  17. ↑ "Governo Italiano - Biografia del sottosegretario Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati". Archived from the original on 2010-10-26. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
  18. ↑ "Italienische Wahlsieger einigen sich auf Parlamentspräsidenten". Der Spiegel. 24 March 2018.
  19. ↑ "Italienische Wahlsieger einigen sich auf Parlamentspräsidenten [1:10]". Südtirol News. 25 March 2018. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  20. ↑ "Casellati set for 'exploratory' mandate". ANSA. 2018-04-18.
  21. ↑ "Italy president taps Berlusconi ally to try to break impasse". AP NEWS. April 18, 2018.
  22. ↑ "Casellati: "Ci sono spunti". Ma l'ultimo tentativo fallisce". ilGiornale.it. April 21, 2018.
  23. ↑ "Ddl Zan si ferma in Senato: ok alla "tagliola" di Lega e FdI" (in Italian). 2021-10-27. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
  24. ↑ "Casellati al lavoro sul presidenzialismo, proseguono le 'consultazioni': ora tocca alle opposizioni. Obiettivo: ddl entro giugno". la Repubblica (in Italian). 13 January 2023. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  25. ↑ Il Cdm approva il premierato. Meloni: “Madre di tutte le riforme, basta ribaltoni e governi tecnici”. la Repubblica
  26. ↑ Online, Redazione (April 18, 2018). "Fedelissima di Berlusconi e cattolica: chi è Maria Elisabetta Casellati Foto". Corriere della Sera.
  27. ↑ "Chi è Elisabetta Casellati, la forzista incaricata da Mattarella".
  28. ↑ "Pillola abortiva, l'ira del Vaticano: "E' un delitto da scomunica"". July 31, 2009.
  29. ↑ CAVRIANI, CARLO. "Rovigo, chi è Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati". il Resto del Carlino.
  30. ↑ Unioni civili: Casellati (Csm), la famiglia “non è estensibile”
  31. ↑ "La "Cirinnà" parte male "È anticostituzionale e discrimina gli etero"". ilGiornale.it. May 13, 2016.
  32. ↑ ""Lo Stato non può equiparare matrimonio e unioni civili". Il Casellati-pensiero sulla famiglia". L'HuffPost. March 24, 2018.
  33. ↑ "Elisabetta Casellati presidente del Senato: Era contraria alle unioni civili e alla stepchild adoption - Gay.it". www.gay.it.
  34. ↑ "senato.it - notizie - Giornata Mondiale contro l'Omofobia. Presidente Casellati: intollerabile qualunque discriminazione di natura sessuale". www.senato.it. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  35. ↑ "Castrazione chimica è scontro tra i partiti - la Repubblica.it". Archivio - la Repubblica.it. 20 February 2008.
  36. ↑ "Immigrati: Casellati, sinistra invoca accoglienza ma non la governa". Archived from the original on 2018-05-04. Retrieved 2018-05-19.
  37. ↑ "IMMIGRATI: ALBERTI CASELLATI, FASSINO NON HA PIU' SENSO PUDORE". www1.adnkronos.com. 20 June 2003.
  38. ↑ "Scheda su disegno di legge S. 191 Modifiche al decreto-legge 6 dicembre 2011, n. 201, convertito, con modificazioni, dalla legge 22 dicembre 2011, n. 214, in materia di imposta municipale propria - OpenParlamento". parlamento17.openpolis.it.
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