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Walter Veltroni (born July 3, 1955) is an Italian writer, journalist and politician, leader of the Democratic Party and thus leader of the centre-left opposition. He was Mayor of Rome from 2001 to 2008.
[edit] BiographyWalter Veltroni was born in Rome. His father, Vittorio Veltroni, an eminent RAI manager in the 1950s, died only one year later.[1] His mother, Ivanka Kotnik, was the daughter of Ciril Kotnik, the Slovenian ambassador of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia at the Holy See who helped numerous Jews and antifascists to escape Nazi persecution after 1943.[2] Veltroni joined the Federazione Giovanile Comunista Italiana (Italian Youth Communist Federation) at the age of 15, and was elected Rome city councilor in 1976 as member of the Italian Communist Party, serving until 1981. He was then elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1987. As a member of the Italian Communist Party's national secretariat in 1988, he played a leading role in the transformation into the Social-democratic Party it is today. Veltroni, a professional journalist, was editor-in-chief of the newspaper of the Democratic Party of the Left (later the DS) L'Unità from 1992 to 1996. He then successfully ran as vice-premier candidate, together with Romano Prodi, for the 1996 national election in Italy. In 1996 he joined the Bilderberg Group meeting, and was from 1996 to 1998 Minister for Cultural Assets and Activities. In 1998 he resigned, subsequent to his election as National Secretary of the Democrats of the Left. Despite his background as a journalist, he has been involved in controversial episodes related to freedom of expression. For example in 2001, after the late night show Satyricon aired an interview that discussed indictments on links between the right-wing leader and the mafia, Marco Travaglio reported that Veltroni dispatched a messenger menacing the closure of the show.[3] In 2001 Veltroni resigned as leader of the party after being elected Mayor of Rome. In May 2006 Veltroni was confirmed Mayor of Rome, easily defeating former Minister of Agriculture Gianni Alemanno, of National Alliance, obtaining an unprecedented 61.4% of the valid votes against the 37.1% achieved by his main opponent. The percentage of votes that supported Veltroni's second term in office was a record in local elections in Rome. Shortly before this confirmation, Veltroni had declared that he was going to leave politics at the end of his second term as Mayor. In 2005, as mayor of Rome, he met in Washington, during a visit to the United States, Illinois Senator Barack Obama,[4] being one of his earliest supporters overseas.[5] He also wrote the preface to the Italian edition of The Audacity of Hope in 2007[6] and has been referred to as "Obama's European counterpart".[7] Veltroni is widely considered one of the most popular centre-left politicians in Italy and he has often been singled out for the leadership of the Democratic Party. In June 2007 DS leader Piero Fassino publicly asked Veltroni to run for the party leadership, offering support from all of his party. Several other Democratic Party leading members publicly stated their support for a possible candidacy of Veltroni. Furthermore, the strongest of his possible contenders, Pier Luigi Bersani, which polls showed as having a 50% support in center-north regions,[8] withdrew to avoid a 'confusing candidacy'.[9] Veltroni officially presented his candidacy for the leadership of the Democratic Party at a rally in Turin on 27 June 2007. At this occasion he introduced the four key issues his programme would address: environment, generational pact, education, and public security.[10] 
Veltroni was elected as the first leader of the newly-founded Democratic Party on October 14, 2007, winning an open primary with around 2.6 millions of votes, or 75.8%.[11] Following the defeat of Prodi's government in a January 2008 Senate vote,[12] Veltroni led the Democratic Party into the April 2008 general election. Veltroni resigned as Mayor of Rome on February 13, 2008 to concentrate on the campaign.[13] In 2003 he received a honoris causa degree in Public Services by the John Cabot University of Rome. In 2006 Veltroni received the title of Cavaliere di Gran Croce (Knight of the Great Cross) from President of the Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. He has been criticised for his over-frequentation of Rome socialites and advised to focus on more practical problems.[14] [edit] WorksVeltroni has written a number of books on various topics, such as music, social issues, fiction, biographies and politics.
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