European Parliament President David Sassoli has been struggling with health problems for some time. In September, he contracted severe pneumonia, which was not due to a corona infection. After that, he was seen only occasionally in the European Parliament. He had been in hospital since December 26. Sassoli died Monday night from a complication caused by a disorder of his immune system.
On Monday, his entourage announced that he had been hospitalized since Christmas and that his official activities would be canceled. That was a week before the European Parliament was due to formally vote on his successor, the Maltese lawyer Roberta Metsola (42) of the European People’s Party (EPP), a vote Sassoli would normally have led as president.
Television host
Sassoli’s political career took place entirely in Europe. He was a member of the European Parliament for the Social Democrats for three terms, starting in 2009. He had never been politically active before in his native Italy. He started at a young age as a journalist for smaller newspapers and news agencies, but his career at the Rai, the Italian public broadcaster, made him known in all Italian living rooms. He became a well-known screen face as the presenter of the television news of the first net.
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In 2014, he was elected as one of the Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament, a position that five years later would prove to be a springboard to become President himself. The Social Democrat Sassoli became the Speaker of Parliament, while Ursula von der Leyen (of the European People’s Party) took charge of the Commission and the Liberal Charles Michel became the head of the European Council. The political families then made an agreement that the European People’s Party would be allowed to supply the President of the European Parliament halfway through the term of office.
Lack of language skills
David Sassoli deeply regretted that his presidency was overshadowed by the pandemic for two years. He wanted to stay longer, but the Liberals and Greens weren’t too happy with the way he had led the European Parliament. Sassoli’s handicap turned out to be his lack of language skills. He was not proficient in English and French, so conversations with European leaders always required a translator. Moreover, this forced Sassoli to fill his presidency mainly in terms of protocol, and much less substantively. The agreement made earlier to grant the European People’s Party the presidency from 2022 also played a role. It was only in December that Sassoli made it known that he was not a candidate to remain chairman himself.
From Europe, Sassoli always kept an eye on politics in his homeland. His appointment as President of the European Parliament in 2019 – when Sassoli’s centre-left Partito Democratico (PD) was in opposition in Italy – was seen by some domestically as a signal to the far-right and Eurosceptic Matteo Salvini, then minister of the Interior. Sassoli came from the PD, but was also close to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s Five Star Movement, when he led a coalition government with the PD (from September 2019 to February 2021).
Presidential Ambitions
As a result, his name briefly circulated as mayoral candidate for the capital Rome, which could have been a prelude to Sassoli’s ambitions to move to the Quirinal as the new President of Italy. Not only Sassoli’s health problems threw a spanner in the works. Those career moves had already been brushed aside when the acclaimed Mario Draghi became prime minister, and the political cards in Italy very quickly changed again. Draghi is now the top favorite for the presidency.
David Sassoli was from Florence, but lived in Rome. He remained a supporter of the Florentine city club Fiorentina. He leaves behind a wife, daughter and son.
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