| Carlo Donat-Cattin | |
| Order: | Minister of Labour and Social Security |
| Primeminister: | Mariano Rumor Emilio Colombo Giulio Andreotti |
| Term Start: | 5 August 1969 |
| Term End: | 26 June 1972 |
| Predecessor: | Giacomo Brodolini |
| Successor: | Dionigi Coppo |
| Primeminister2: | Giulio Andreotti |
| Term Start2: | 22 July 1989 |
| Term End2: | 17 March 1991 |
| Predecessor2: | Rino Formica |
| Successor2: | Rosa Russo Iervolino |
| Order3: | Minister of Industry, Trade and Crafts |
| Primeminister3: | Aldo Moro Giulio Andreotti |
| Term Start3: | 23 November 1974 |
| Term End3: | 25 November 1978 |
| Predecessor3: | Ciriaco De Mita |
| Successor3: | Romano Prodi |
| Order4: | Minister of Health |
| Primeminister4: | Bettino Craxi Amintore Fanfani Giovanni Goria Ciriaco De Mita |
| Term Start4: | 1 August 1986 |
| Term End4: | 22 July 1989 |
| Predecessor4: | Costante Degan |
| Successor4: | Francesco De Lorenzo |
| Term Start5: | 19 June 1979 |
| Term End5: | 17 March 1991 |
| Term Start6: | 12 June 1958 |
| Term End6: | 19 June 1979 |
| Birth Date: | 1919 6, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Finale Ligure, Italy |
| Death Place: | Monte Carlo, Monaco |
| Party: | Christian Democracy |
| Nationality: | Italian |
| Occupation: | Journalist, trade unionist, politician |
Carlo Donat-Cattin (26 June 1919 – 17 March 1991) was an Italian politician and trade unionist. A member of Christian Democracy, he was several times minister of the Italian Republic. He was leader of the internal left current of the DC Forza Nuove (New Forces).[1]
Donat-Cattin was born at Finale Ligure. His father was from Turin, where Donat-Cattin moved at a young age. During World War II, he fought with the "White faction" (Christian-Democrat) of the Italian resistance movement.
In 1950, Donat-Cattin took part in the foundation of the Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions (Italian: Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori, abbreviated as CISL). In the meantime he entered Christian Democracy (Italian Democrazia Cristiana, shortly DC), for which he was communal counsellor in Turin and, from 1953, provincial counsellor at the province of Turin.
Donat-Cattin was elected for the first time to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1958, a position he held until 1979, when he was elected to the Italian Senate. He was minister several times, first as Minister of Welfare and Health (Rumor II, III, Colombo and Andreotti I Cabinets (1969–1972), then as Minister of Mezzogiorno (Rumor IV, 1973) and, from 1974 to 1978, Minister of Industry and Trade in four consecutive governments (Moro IV and V, Andreotti III and IV). Belonging to the left wing of the party, in 1978 he became vice-secretary of DC. Donat-Cattin was initially in favour of dialogue towards DC's historical rival, the Italian Communist Party (Italian: Partito Comunista Italiano, or PCI), but after 1979 he became a supporter of the preambolo theory, which aimed to exclude PCI from any state charge. In 1980, however, after his son Marco was discovered to be a member of the far-left terrorist formation Prima Linea,[2] he abandoned any public position and left politics for a while.
In 1986 he was chosen as Minister of Health in the second Bettino Craxi-led government. At the time, he became a firm advocate of collaboration between DC and Craxi's party, the Italian Socialist Party. In 1989 he was Minister of Welfare in the Andreotti VI government.
He died at Montecarlo in 1991.[3]