David Maria Sassoli is an Italian politician and journalist, a member of the Democratic Party. An MEP since 2009, he was elected its President on 3 July 2019.
Journalistic career
David Sassoli was born in Florence in 1956. During the 1970s, he graduated in political science at the University of Florence. He began his journalistic career by collaborating with small local newspapers and news agencies, before moving on to the Roman editorial office of the newspaper Il Giorno. He enrolled in the register of professional journalists on 3 July 1986. In 1992 he became news reporter for TG3 and in the same period he collaborated with Michele Santoro for some tv programs such as "Il rosso e il nero" and "Tempo reale". In 1996, he hosted the program "Cronaca in diretta". After a few years, he was appointed as anchorman of the TG1, where he became one of the most notable and popular journalists in the country. In 2007, when Gianni Riotta was appointed new director of TG1, Sassoli became his deputy director.
Political career
In 2009, Sassoli left his journalistic career to enter politics, becoming a member of the centre-left Democratic Party and running in the 2009 European Parliament election, for the Central Italy district. On 7 June, he was elected member of the EP with 412,502 personal preferences, becoming the most-voted candidate in his constituency. From 2009 to 2014, he served as PD's delegation leader in the Parliament. On 9 October 2012, Sassoli announced his candidacy in the primaries for the centre-left's candidate as new mayor of Rome in the 2013 municipal election. He ended up in second place with 26% of votes, behind Senator Ignazio Marino, who got 55%, and ahead of former Minister of CommunicationsPaolo Gentiloni. Marino would be later elected mayor, defeating the right-wing incumbent, Gianni Alemanno. In the European Parliament election of 2014, Sassoli was re-elected to the European Parliament, with 206,170 preferences. The election was characterized by a strong showing of his Democratic Party, which gained 41% of votes. On 1 July 2014 Sassoli was elected Vice-President of the European Parliament with 393 votes, making him the second most voted Socialist candidate. In addition to his committee assignments, he is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights.
In the 2019 European Parliament election in Italy, Sassoli was re-elected to the European Parliament, with 128,533 votes. On 2 July 2019, he was proposed by the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats as the new President of the European Parliament. On the following day, Sassoli was elected President by the assembly with 345 votes in favor, succeeding Antonio Tajani. He is the seventh Italian to hold the office. In his acceptance speech, Sassoli talked about the European project as a dream of peace and democracy. He said European citizens showed that they still believed in the project and talked about being proud of European diversity. He also added that "Europe will be stronger only with a Parliament which plays a more important role". Moreover, in his first public act as newly elected President, Sassoli decided to pay tribute to all the victims of terrorism in Europe, attending one of the sites of the 2016 Brussels bombings to commemorate the victims at Maalbeek/Maelbeek metro station. He said: "We must pay tribute to the victims in the capital of Europe. We must commemorate the European citizens who were victims of these attacks. This is a tribute to all the victims of terrorism. I wanted to start my time as President with this symbolic act." On 19 December 2019 Sassoli asked for the liberation of Oriol Junqueras, former vice president of Catalonia and recently elected MEP, who was imprisoned after the 2017 Spanish constitutional crisis. As a member of the European Parliament, Junqueras benefits from parliamentary immunity. Sassoli urged the Spanish authorities to comply with the European Parliament ruling. In June 2020, he signed the international appeal in favour of the purple economy, published in the Corriere della Sera, El País and Le Monde.
Personal life
David Sassoli is married to Alessandra Vittorini, with whom he had two children, Giulio and Livia. He is a fan of ACF Fiorentina, the football team of his hometown. Moreover, he is an active member of Articolo 21, liberi di..., an Italian association, founded on 27 February 2001, which included journalists, writers, directors and lawyers, with the aim of promoting the Constitutional principle of freedom of expression.
