Prodi, Romano, << PROH dee, roh MAH noh >> (1939-…), an Italian politician and economics professor, served as prime minister of Italy from 1996 to 1998 and from 2006 to 2008. Prodi was president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004.
Prodi was born on Aug. 9, 1939, in Scandiano, Italy, near Modena. He graduated from the Catholic University of Milan in 1961. He then studied economics at the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom and Harvard University in the United States. He worked as a researcher and economics professor at universities in those two countries, as well as the University of Bologna in Italy. He then became the head of a state-owned industrial conglomerate (group of companies) and later entered politics.
Prodi served as Italy’s minister of industry in 1978 and 1979. From 1982 to 1989, and again in 1993 and 1994, he was chairman of the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction, once Italy’s largest state-owned holding company.
In 1995, Prodi became the leader of a new Italian political group called the Olive Tree alliance. The alliance won Italy’s 1996 general elections, and Prodi became prime minister. He held the post until 1998. As prime minister, he received praise for cutting public spending to make Italy eligible to join the European Economic and Monetary Union in 1999.
Prodi became president of the European Commission in 1999 and served until 2004. The commission is the executive body of the European Union, an organization of European countries that promotes economic and political cooperation among its members. While Prodi was president, the European Union expanded from 15 to 25 members and underwent a number of reforms.
In general elections in Italy in April 2006, a coalition led by Prodi narrowly defeated the coalition of Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. Prodi became Italy’s prime minister once again.
In February 2007, Prodi’s coalition government lost an important vote in the Senate regarding foreign policy, and Prodi resigned as prime minister. Key decisions that Prodi’s coalition opposed included sending more Italian troops to Afghanistan and expanding a U.S. military base in northern Italy. Italian President Giorgio Napolitano asked Prodi to remain in office until a confidence vote could be held in both houses of Parliament. In March 2007, Prodi secured a confidence vote, which reconfirmed him as prime minister. In January 2008, Prodi resigned as prime minister after losing a confidence vote in the Senate.
