Vincenzo Amendola Explained

Vincenzo Amendola
Office:Minister for European Affairs
Termstart:5 September 2019
Termend:13 February 2021
Primeminister:Giuseppe Conte
Predecessor:Lorenzo Fontana
Successor:Raffaele Fitto (2022)
Office2:Member of the Chamber of Deputies
Termstart2:13 October 2022
Termstart3:15 March 2013
Termend3:22 March 2018
Birth Date:22 December 1973
Birth Place:Naples, Italy
Party:PCI (1989–1991)
PDS (1991–1998)
DS (1998–2007)
PD (since 2007)

Vincenzo "Enzo" Amendola (born 22 December 1973) is an Italian politician of the Democratic Party (PD). On 5 September 2019, Amendola was appointed Minister for European Affairs in the Conte II Cabinet.[1]

Early life and career

Amendola was born in Naples in 1973. During the 1990s Amendola joined the Left Youth (SG), the youth wing of the Democrats of the Left (DS), the main social democratic party in Italy. In 1998, he was appointed SG's responsible for foreign affairs as well as vice president of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY), of which he was elected secretary general in 2001.[2]

Political career

In 2006, Amendola was appointed in the national secretariat of the Democrats of the Left, and in November 2006, he was elected regional secretary of DS for Campania. Together with the majority of DS members, in 2007 Amendola joined the Democratic Party (PD), the new centre-left party, born from the union between DS and The Daisy.[3] In October 2009 he won the primary election to become regional secretary of the PD for Campania, a position that he held until 2014.[4]

In the 2013 general election Amendola was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the Campania constituency.[5] As a deputy, he was appointed in the Foreign Affairs Commission, where he was elected leader of the PD's group.[6]

In June 2013, PD's acting secretary, Guglielmo Epifani, appointed Amendola in the national secretariat, as coordinator of regional secretaries.[7] In December 2013, Matteo Renzi became the new party's leader and Amendola was not confirmed in the secretariat; however, after only few months, many members of Renzi's board was appointed ministers in his newly formed government, thus Amendola was re-appointed in the secretariat as responsible for Foreign and European Affairs in September 2014. He was also responsible for relations with the Party of European Socialists.[8]

On 29 January 2016, Amendola was appointed undersecretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Renzi's cabinet, a position that he held until 1 June 2018, serving under the premiership of Paolo Gentiloni too.[9] In both governments, he had been responsible for Italians abroad and for environmental and energy policies. During his term he often accompanied the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, on international state visits.

The 2018 general election resulted in a historic defeat for the PD and Amendola, who ran for the Senate of the Republic, did not succeed in being elected.[10]

On 15 June 2019, the new party's leader, Nicola Zingaretti, appointed Amendola party's responsible for Foreign Affairs.[11]

Minister of European Affairs

In August 2019 tensions grew within the populist government, leading to the issuing of a motion of no-confidence on Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte by the League.[12] After Conte's resignation, the national board of the PD officially opened to the possibility of forming a new cabinet in a coalition with the M5S,[13] based on pro-Europeanism, green economy, sustainable development, fight against economic inequality and a new immigration policy.[14] The party also accepted that Conte may continue at the head of a new government,[15] and on 29 August President Sergio Mattarella formally invested Conte to do so.[16] On 5 September, Amendola was appointed new Minister of European Affairs.[17]

From 17 to 21 July 2020, Amendola took part, along with Prime Minister Conte, in one of the longest European Councils in history. After days of harsh confrontations,[18] the European leaders agreed on a new proposal by the President of the Council, Charles Michel, which provided a budget of €750 billion for the so-called Recovery Fund, composed of €390 billion in grants and €360 billion in loans.[19] Italy would benefit from nearly €82 billion in grants and €127 billion in loans.[20] [21]

Other activities

Personal life

On 24 June 2013, Amendola married Karima Moual, an Italian journalist with Moroccan ancestry,[24] with whom he has two children.[25]

Electoral history

width=12%Electionwidth=25%Housewidth=25%Constituencywidth=5% colspan="2"Partywidth=12%Voteswidth=12%Result
2013Chamber of DeputiesCampania 2PD Elected
2018Senate of the RepublicCampaniaPD
2022Chamber of DeputiesBasilicataPD Elected

Notes and References

  1. Web site: La guardia della troika Pd sull'ortodossia europeista. 5 October 2019. InsideOver. it-IT. 2 January 2020.
  2. https://www.esteri.it/mae/it/ministero/viceministri_sottosegretari/vincenzo-amendola Segretario Vincenzo Amendola
  3. Book: Vespa, Bruno . Il Cuore e la Spada: Storia politica e romantica dell'Italia unita, 1861–2011 . Mondadori . 2010 . 650 . 9788852017285 .
  4. https://quifinanza.it/finanza/vincenzo-amendola-chi-e-nuovo-ministro-degli-affari-europei/306247/ Enzo Amendola: chi è il nuovo Ministro degli Affari Europei
  5. https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/candidati.php?tpel=C&dtel=24/02/2013&tpa=I&tpe=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&lev1=20&levsut1=1&ne1=20&es0=S&es1=S&ms=S&ne=20&nlg=21&ccp=3456&ts=C Elezioni del 2013: Circoscrizione Campania 2
  6. https://www.camera.it/leg17/29?tipoAttivita=attivita&idLegislatura=17&tipoVisAtt=&shadow_deputato=305931 Vincenzo Amendola
  7. https://formiche.net/gallerie/amendola-ministro-affari-europei/ Chi è Vincenzo Amendola, nuovo ministro per gli Affari europei
  8. https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2014/09/16/news/pd_al_via_la_direzione_per_una_segreteria_unitaria-95908371/ Renzi nomina la nuova 'segreteria unitaria' del Pd: 8 donne e 7 uomini. Minoranza dentro
  9. http://www.governo.it/it/governo-gentiloni-dal-12122016/6290 Governo Gentiloni
  10. https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=S&dtel=04/03/2018&tpa=I&tpe=M&lev0=0&levsut0=0&lev1=15&levsut1=1&lev2=3&levsut2=2&ne1=15&ne2=153&es0=S&es1=S&es2=S&ms=S Elezioni del 2018: Circoscrizione Campania 3
  11. https://www.democratica.com/focus/membri-segreteria-zingaretti/ Ecco chi sono i membri della segreteria di Zingaretti
  12. Web site: Italy's Government Collapses, Turning Chaos Into Crisis. Jason. Horowitz. 20 August 2019. NYTimes.com.
  13. Web site: Italian PM resigns with attack on 'opportunist' Salvini. Angela. Giuffrida. 20 August 2019. www.theguardian.com.
  14. Web site: Governo, Zingaretti: "I 5 punti per trattare con il M5S. No accordicchi, governo di svolta". 21 August 2019. Repubblica.it.
  15. Web site: Conte wins crucial support for new Italian govt coalition. Washington Post.
  16. Web site: Il Presidente Mattarella ha conferito l'incarico al Prof. Conte di formare il Governo . Quirinale . 29 August 2019 . it.
  17. http://www.governo.it/it/governo/conte-ii/ministro/enzo-amendola Vincenzo Amendola – Ministro per gli Affari Europei
  18. https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2020/07/19/news/vertice_ue_consiglio_europeo_coronavirus_governo_conte_recovery_fund_merkel_macron_rutte_kurz-262340536/ Fondi Ue, Conte a Rutte: "Se crolla mercato ne risponderai". La bozza di Michel: 400 miliardi di aiuti e 350 di prestiti
  19. https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-leaders-reach-deal-on-coronavirus-recovery-fund/ EU leaders agree on €1.82T budget and coronavirus recovery package
  20. https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2020/07/21/recovery-fund-intesa-raggiunta-su-750-miliardi-allitalia-36-in-piu-82-a-fondo-perduto-e-127-di-prestiti-conte-momento-storico-ora-ripartire-con-forza/5874746/ Recovery fund, intesa raggiunta su 750 miliardi. All’Italia 36 in più: 82 a fondo perduto e 127 di prestiti. Conte: “Momento storico, ora ripartire con forza”
  21. https://www.ilmessaggero.it/video/politica/conte_soddisfatti_giornata_storica_ue_italia-5359004.html Conte: «Soddisfatti dell'accordo, giornata storica per Ue e Italia»
  22. https://ecfr.eu/council/ Members
  23. https://www.iai.it/en/iai/boards Board
  24. https://www.affaritaliani.it/politica/epifani-e-orlando-al-matrimonio240613.html Epifani e Orlando al matrimonio di Enzo Amendola
  25. https://www.corriere.it/sette/politica/19_novembre_22/ministro-vincenzo-amendola-nel-pd-tante-vittime-renzi-24da0ea8-0900-11ea-b74a-83e463a73bb9_preview.shtml?reason=unauthenticated&cat=1&cid=yatLZY4D&pids=FR&credits=1&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.corriere.it%2Fsette%2Fpolitica%2F19_novembre_22%2Fministro-vincenzo-amendola-nel-pd-tante-vittime-renzi-24da0ea8-0900-11ea-b74a-83e463a73bb9.shtml Il ministro Vincenzo Amendola: "Nel Pd tante vittime di Renzi"