Giuseppe Conte's announcement has shaken the left. The leader of the Five Star Movement declared that his party will leave the majority governing in Puglia under the leadership of Michele Emiliano, and consequently, the positions in the regional council. Who is Michele Emiliano, President of the Puglia region and former mayor of Bari?
Puglia, Conte says goodbye to Emiliano's PD council: «To make a clean sweep»
Who is
Michele Emiliano, born in Bari under the sign of Leo, on July 23, 1959 (64 years old). Son of Franca Lattarulo (1934-2023) and Giovanni Emiliano (1929-2013), a small entrepreneur and founder of one of the main Bari companies specialized in logistics and design, with a past as a footballer, Michele Emiliano moved with his family to Bologna, where he lived from 1962 to 1968 before returning to Bari, where as a boy he dedicated himself mainly to basketball and graduated from the classical lyceum Quinto Orazio Flacco. He graduated in law in 1983 and for a period worked as a trainee in a lawyer's office.
Judiciary activities
At the age of 26, he left his practice as a lawyer and passed the competition in the judiciary; during that period in the morning he was an apprentice magistrate auditor and in the afternoon he worked as a jack-of-all-trades for his father. He then moved to Agrigento, where he worked in the Prosecutor's Office and met Giovanni Falcone and Rosario Livatino. From 1990 to 1995, he worked at the Prosecutor's Office in Brindisi and dealt with the fight against the mafia. In 1995 he returned to Bari, as deputy prosecutor of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate (DDA): he held this position until 2003, when he agreed to run for mayor of Bari for the center-left coalition.
President of the Puglia region
In February 2014, he was elected regional secretary of the Democratic Party of Puglia. After winning the Democratic Party's primaries in Puglia, he also won the regional elections on May 31, 2015, with the support of the PD, the Communist Party of Italy, the Popolari for Italy, and the civic lists Emiliano Mayor of Puglia (SC - IdV - Partito del Sud), We on the Left for Puglia (SEL - La Puglia in Più), Popolari (UdC - CD - Realtà Italia), Puglia with Emiliano (Democratic Initiative for Puglia) and Pensioners and Disabled Young People Together, managing to be elected President of the Puglia Region with 47% of the votes.
Mayor of Bari
At the administrative elections of June 12 and 13, 2004, Emiliano was elected, surprisingly, mayor of Bari in the first round, supported by the center-left coalition, defeating the center-right candidate, Luigi Lobuono, with 53.8% of the votes. His civic list, the Emiliano List for Bari, achieved a significant success and the highest number of elected members in the city council. Since January 2005, he has been appointed delegate of the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI) for policies for the South and, since March 29, 2007, coordinator of the mayors of the metropolitan cities. Since April 2007, he has also been president of the Consortium for the industrial development area of Bari.
Clashes with Renzi
Initially, there was good blood between Michele Emiliano and Matteo Renzi. After the 2015 appointment as President of the Puglia Region, he began to publicly criticize his party leader, also implementing regional policies against him. The definitive break between the two was reached in correspondence with the referendum on concessions for hydrocarbon extraction in sea areas promoted, supported by Emiliano and opposed by Renzi. During the campaign, Emiliano repeatedly accused the Government of having introduced the rule in question solely as a favor to the oil companies, and Renzi, on the other hand, accused the governor of having promoted the referendum only for personal purposes.
Emiliano once again clashed with Renzi in the last days of his government over the failure to allocate about 50 million euros in the budget law intended for Taranto's health care to cope with the increase in pathologies due to environmental pollution from the Ilva plants.
Judicial proceedings
On October 16, 2019, his registration in the register of suspects by the Prosecutor's Office of Foggia was made known. The governor of Puglia was accused of having received pressures from a regional councilor for an appointment concerning an Asp (Company for Personal Services). Along with him, Salvatore Ruggeri, regional Welfare councilor, was also under investigation. The proceeding was then archived against Emiliano and Ruggieri because the fact does not exist at the request of the same prosecutor's office of Foggia that had accused him.
Private life
Michele Emiliano got married in 1988, during his marriage he had 3 children: Giovanni (26 years old), Francesca (19 years old), and Pietro (16 years old). He is currently engaged to Elena Laterza, who since 2004 has also become his press officer.
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