Giovanni Berlinguer

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Giovanni Berlinguer Template:Post-nominals (Template:IPAc-en; Template:IPA; 9 July 1924 – 6 April 2015) was an Italian politician, humanist, and professor of social medicine.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Life and career

Giovanni Berlinguer was born in Sassari, Sardinia, the son of Mario Berlinguer. A physician and professor of public health, he worked first in social medicine at the University of Sassari (1969–1974) and then in occupational health at the Sapienza University of Rome (1975–1999).Template:Citation needed Like his brother Enrico, he was a major figure in the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1972, 1976, and 1979, and to the Senate of the Republic in 1983 and 1987. He ran for secretary of the Democrats of the Left (DS) in 2001 but was defeated by Piero Fassino 61.8% to 34.1%. From 2004 to 2009, Berlinguer was a member of the European Parliament representing the DS and sat with the Party of European Socialists group. At the convening of the European Parliament on 20 July 2004, he was found to be the oldest member, and as such presided over the parliament during the election of Josep Borrell Fontelles in 2004 and Hans-Gert Pöttering in 2007 as the president of the European Parliament.

Berlinguer was in charge of the first National Health Plan in the context of the Economic Development Program adopted by the Italian Parliament in 1968. He was also a member of the National Health Council between 1994 and 1996, and vice-chairman (1992–1995) and chairman (1999–2001) of the National Bioethics Committee (CNB).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was a member of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee (2001–2007) and of the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> as well as of the World Health Organisation. He was rapporteur on the first project, held in 2003,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> of the UNESCO "Universal Declaration on Bioethics".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In the years of his chairmanship, the CNB strategy underwent some noteworthy changes. Priority was no longer given to frontier bioethics but to its link with everyday bioethics, which Berlinguer articulated in his 2000 book Bioetica quotidiana (Everyday Bioethics).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> This change implied that the CNB opinions were open to contributions not only of specialists but also of lay people, and new channels of communication were established with the public at large. The democratic guidance had comments and a significant impact at the local, national, and international level.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Berlinguer died in Rome at the age of 90.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Electoral history

Election	House	Constituency	Party		Votes	Result
1972	Chamber of Deputies	Cagliari–Sassari–Nuoro–Oristano	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |	PCI	42,233	Template:Tick Elected
1976	Chamber of Deputies	Cagliari–Sassari–Nuoro–Oristano	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |	PCI	62,057	Template:Tick Elected
1979	Chamber of Deputies	Cagliari–Sassari–Nuoro–Oristano	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |	PCI	78,803	Template:Tick Elected
1983	Senate of the Republic	Sardinia – Iglesias	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |	PCI	44,202	Template:Tick Elected
1987	Senate of the Republic	Tuscany – Livorno	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |	PCI	105,142	Template:Tick Elected
2004	European Parliament	North-East Italy	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |	DS	149,431	Template:Tick Elected

Honors

• Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI, 1999.<ref name=":0" />
• Medaglia d'oro ai benemeriti della cultura e dell'arte, 2001.
• Doctorat honoris causa, Université de Montréal, 1996; and University of Brasília, 1999.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

See also

• 2004 European Parliament election in Italy
• Father of the House in the European Union

External links

• Template:MEP
• Template:Declaration of financial interests of the 6th term