In November 2013, PdL leaderSilvio Berlusconi attempted to withdraw his party's support from the government in order to bring about a change of prime minister; in response, all of the cabinet's centre-right ministers chose to leave the PdL and formed a new party, saying they wished to continue supporting Letta. Despite securing his position, the election in December 2013 ofMatteo Renzi as PD secretary brought significant leadership tensions within the PD to public view. After several weeks of denying that he would seek a change, Renzi publicly challenged Letta for the position of prime minister on 13 February 2014. Letta quickly lost the support of his colleagues and resigned as prime minister on 22 February.[11]
Following his resignation, Letta initially retired from politics, leaving Italy to accept appointment asdean of theSchool of International Affairs atSciences Po inParis.[12] In March 2021, the PD secretaryNicola Zingaretti resigned after growing tensions within the party.[13] Many prominent members of the party asked Letta to become the new leader; after a few days, Letta announced that he would return to Italy to accept the candidacy, and he was elected as new secretary by the national assembly on 14 March 2021.[14][15] On 4 October 2021, Letta waselected to the Chamber of Deputies for theSiena constituency.[16] He resigned on 20 December 2024.[17] to becomeDean ofIE University’s School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs in Madrid, Spain.[18]
During theCiampi Cabinet headed byCarlo Azeglio Ciampi in 1993 and 1994, Letta worked as chief of staff for the minister of foreign affairs,Beniamino Andreatta; Andreatta, a left-leaning Christian Democrat economist with whom Letta had already been collaborating in athink tank known asAgenzia di Ricerche e Legislazione (AREL), played a highly influential role in Letta's political career.[23][28]
Following the collapse of the DC in 1994, Letta joined its immediate successor, theItalian People's Party (PPI); after serving as secretary general of the Euro Committee within theMinistry of Treasury from 1996 to 1997, he became deputy secretary of the party in 1997 and 1998, when it was fully allied with thecentre-left.[30] In 1998, after the fall ofRomano Prodi's first government, Letta was appointedMinister for the Community Policies incabinet ofMassimo D'Alema at the age of 32, becoming the youngest cabinet minister in post-war Italy.[27]
In 1999, Letta becameMinister of Industry, Commerce and Crafts in the second government of D'Alema; a position that he held until 2001, serving also in the cabinet ofGiuliano Amato.[31] During Amato's government he held the role of Minister of Foreign Trade too.[32]
In 2006, Letta wasre-elected to the Chamber of Deputies and was appointedSecretary of the Council of Ministers in thesecond government of Romano Prodi, thereby succeeding his uncleGianni Letta who had held the same position in the outgoingcabinet ofSilvio Berlusconi. In this post, he became the closest advisor of Prime Minister Prodi, becoming one of the most influential politicians within the government. However, Prodi's government fell after only two years following tensions within its majority caused by the resignation of the Minister of Justice,Clemente Mastella.[38][39] Following the2008 Italian general election, which saw a victory of the centre-right, Letta returned the post to his uncle, when theBerlusconi IV Cabinet was sworn in.[28][29]
In 2007, together with other The Daisy's members, Letta joined theDemocratic Party (PD), the new centre-left party, born from the union between The Daisy and theDemocrats of the Left.[40][41] Having been a founding member of the party, Letta run in the firstleadership election, which was held as anopen primary. He announced his candidacy in July 2007 through aYouTube video.[42] A few weeks after the announcement, he compared the PD toWikipedia, stating: "As in Wikipedia, even in the PD each of the hundreds of thousands of members must bring their own contributions, their own skills, which in certain fields are certainly more important than mine and those of the other leaders of the centre-left."[43] In support of his candidacy, Letta founded the360 Association, a centrist and Christian leftist group, mainly composed by former members of The Daisy.[44][45]
Letta's candidacy was supported by prominent members of the Italian centre-left, likeFrancesco Cossiga,Paolo De Castro,Gianni Pittella,Vito De Filippo and many other former members of The Daisy.[46] Moreover, Letta's faction was composed by politicians considered close to Prime MinisterRomano Prodi, a Christian leftist professor and founding father of the Italian centre-left.[47][48] However, Letta had to face the politician who, more than any other, had worked to the formation of the Democratic Party and who was unanimously considered the future leader of the centre-left,Walter Veltroni, the incumbentMayor of Rome.[49] In the primary election, Veltroni won by a landslide with 75.8% of votes, followed by the formerMinister of HealthRosy Bindi with 12.9% and Letta with 11.0%.[50]
After the primary election, Veltroni appointed Letta as the national responsible for labour. In May 2008, after the defeat in the2008 election, Letta was appointed Shadow Minister of Labour and Social Policies in the second and lastShadow Cabinet formed in Italy.[51]
In June 2010, Letta organized a three-day meeting inVerona, during which he met, within its association, entrepreneurs and key leaders ofLega Nord, the largest party inVeneto and easternLombardy.[53][54] An opinion poll among northern Democrats, released during the "Nord Camp", showed that they were keener on an alliance with Lega Nord than Berlusconi'sThe People of Freedom.[55] Letta was praised both byRoberto Maroni andUmberto Bossi.[56]
In the2013 Italian general election, the centre-left allianceItaly Common Good led by Bersani won a clear majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies, thanks to a majority bonus that has effectively trebled the number of seats assigned to the winning party, while in the popular vote, it narrowly defeated the centre-right alliance of former prime minister Berlusconi. Close behind, the new anti-establishmentFive Star Movement of comedianBeppe Grillo became the third-strongest force, clearly ahead of the centrist coalition of outgoing Prime MinisterMario Monti. In theSenate, no political group or party won an outright majority, resulting in ahung parliament.[57][58]
On 20 April 2013, when Bersani resigned asSecretary after the candidates for President of the RepublicFranco Marini andRomano Prodi were defeated in thepresidential election, the whole leadership of the PD, including Deputy Secretary Letta, resigned their positions.
Following five inconclusive ballots for the2013 Italian presidential election, incumbent presidentGiorgio Napolitano accepted to be re-elected at theQuirinal Palace.[59] Eventually, Napolitano reluctantly agreed to serve for another term in order to safeguard the continuity of the country's institutions.[60][61] Napolitano was easily re-elected on 20 April 2013, receiving 738 of the 1007 possible votes, and was sworn in on 22 April 2013 after a speech when he asked for constitutional and electoral reforms.[62]
After his re-election, Napolitano immediately began consultations with the chairmen of theChamber of Deputies,Senate and political forces, after the failure of the previous attempt with Bersani, and the establishment of a panel of experts by the President himself (dubbed aswise men by the press), in order to outline priorities and formulate an agenda to deal with the persistent economic hardship and growing unemployment. On 24 April 2013, Enrico Letta was invited to form a government by President Napolitano, following weeks of political deadlock.[63]
On 27 April, Letta formally accepted the task of leading agrand coalition government, with support from the centre-left Democratic Party, the centre-rightPeople of Freedom (PdL) of Silvio Berlusconi and the centristCivic Choice of outgoing PMMario Monti. The government he formed became the first in thehistory of the Italian Republic to include representatives of all the major coalitions that had run in the latest election. His close relationship with his uncle, Gianni Letta, one of Berlusconi's most trusted advisors, was perceived as a way of overcoming the bitter hostility between the two opposing factions.[21][64] Letta appointedAngelino Alfano, secretary of the People of Freedom, as hisDeputy Prime Minister. The new government was formally sworn-in as on 28 April.[65] During the swearing ceremony, a man fired gunshots outsideChigi Palace and wounded twoCarabinieri.[66] The attacker, Luigi Preiti, was stopped and arrested; he declared that he wanted to kill politicians or at least to hit a "symbol of politics" and that he was forced by despair being unemployed and recently divorced.[67]
On 29 April, Letta's government won the confidence vote in the Chamber with 453 votes in favour, 152 against and 17 abstentions.[68] On the following day, he won the confidence vote in Senate too, with 233 votes in favour, 59 against 18 abstentions.[69] In his first speech in front of the Parliament, Letta stressed "necessity to restore decency, sobriety and a sense of honour"; he also advocated for a reduction of politics' costs.[70]
During his premiership, Letta had to face a serious socio-economic crisis caused by theGreat Recession and the subsequentEuropean debt crisis. In 2013, one of the major problems of the country was the hugeyouth unemployment, which was valued around 40%.[71] To face this issue, on 14 June 2013, Letta scheduled a summit atChigi Palace with the ministers of the economy, finance and labour of Italy,Germany,France andSpain, to agree on common EU policies for reducing unemployment.[8] After a few weeks, during a press conference at the conclusion of theCouncil of the European Union inBrussels, Letta announced that Italy would receive 1.5 billion euros in EU funds to fight youth unemployment.[9]
On 15 June, the government approved the so-called "Action Decree" on hiring policies enabling economic recovery.[73] The decree was later approved by the Parliament between July and August 2013 with aconfidence vote. The reform was harshly criticized by the anti-establishmentFive Star Movement.[74] On 29 August, the government abolished IMU, the Italian tax onreal estate introduced by the technocratic government ofMario Monti, for primary homes and for farm buildings .[75]
On 3 October 2013, a boat carrying migrants fromLibya toItalysank off the Italian island ofLampedusa. It was reported that the boat had sailed fromMisrata, Libya, but that many of the migrants were originally fromEritrea,Somalia andGhana.[77][78][79] An emergency response involving theItalian Coast Guard resulted in the rescue of 155 survivors.[78] On 12 October it was reported that the confirmed death toll after searching the boat was 359, but that further bodies were still missing;[80] a figure of "more than 360" deaths was later reported, becoming the deadliest shipwreck occurred in theMediterranean Sea.[81]
After the Lampedusa tragedy, Prime Minister Letta decided to strengthen the national patrolling ofSicilian channel by authorizingOperation Mare Nostrum, a military and humanitarian operation whose purpose was to patrol the maritime border and provide relief to migrants. This operation had two main purposes: to safeguard life at sea and to combat the illegal smuggling of migrants.[82] The operation brought at least 150,000 migrants to Europe, mainly fromAfrica and theMiddle East.[83] The operation ended a few months after the end of his premiership, on 31 October 2014.[84]
A strongpro-Europeanist politician, Letta built up close relations with other prominent European leaders likeAngela Merkel, who was the first foreign leader he met, just a few days after his sworn in, on 30 April.[85] Letta also built a warm relationship with the French PresidentFrançois Hollande, with whom he shared a common view onausterity policies, considered outdated to face the economic crisis; Letta and Hollande often stressed the necessity to increase the public expenditures in investments.[86]
On 28 September 2013, five ministers of The People of Freedom resigned on the orders of their leader, Silvio Berlusconi, pointing to the decision to postpone the decree that prevented the increase of theVAT from 21 to 22%, thus opening a government crisis.[91] On the following day, Letta had a meeting with President Napolitano to discuss the possible alternatives to solve the crisis. The head of State stressed that he would dissolveparliament only if there were no other possible alternatives.[92]
In the following days, dozens of members of PdL prepared to defy Berlusconi and vote in favour of the government, prompting him to announce that he would back the Prime Minister.[93][94][95] On 2 October, the government received 235 votes in favor and 70 against in theSenate, and 435 in favor and 162 against in the Chamber of Deputies.[96][97] Letta could thus continue his grand coalition government.[98]
On 23 November, the Senate had to vote about the expulsion of Berlusconi from the Parliament, due to aconviction of tax fraud by thecourt of final instance and theCourt of Cassation, which occurred a few months before.[99] Because he had been sentenced to a gross imprisonment for more than two years, the Senate voted to expel him from the Parliament, barring him from serving in any legislative office for six years.[100][101]
After his expulsion from the Parliament, Berlusconi, who disbanded the PdL a few days before re-foundingForza Italia party, withdrew his support to the government. However, the interior ministerAngelino Alfano did not follow his former leader, founding, along with other ministers and many members of the parliament, theNew Centre-Right party, remaining in government.[102] The government later won key confidence votes in December 2013, with 173 votes in favour in the Senate and 350 in the Chamber.[103]
On 26 January 2014, theMinister of Agriculture,Nunzia De Girolamo, resigned from her post due to claims of improper conduct linked to a scandal in the local healthcare system of her hometown,Benevento.[104][105] Her resignation was accepted by Letta on the following day, who took the ministerial rolead interim.[106]
On 8 December 2013, theMayor of Florence,Matteo Renzi, won theDemocratic Party leadership election by a landslide, immediately starting rumours about the possibility of becoming the new prime minister.[107] On 17 January 2014, while on air atLe invasioni barbariche onLa7 TV channel, interviewed about tensions between him and Prime Minister Letta, Renzi tweeted thehashtag #enricostaisereno ("Enrico don't worry") to reassure his party colleague that he was not plotting anything against him.[108]
Letta withMatteo Renzi and President Napolitano in October 2013
The growing criticism of the slow pace of Italian economic reform left Letta increasingly isolated within his own party.[109] At a PD's meeting on 13 February 2014, the Democratic Party leadership voted heavily in favour of Renzi's motion for "a new government, a new phase and a radical programme of reforms". Minutes after the party backed Renzi's proposal by 136 votes to 16, with two abstentions, Letta went to the Quirinal Palace, for a bilateral meeting with President Napolitano.[11]
In an earlier speech, Renzi had paid tribute to Letta, saying that he did not intend to put him "on trial". But, without directly proposing himself as the next prime minister, he said theEurozone's third-largest economy urgently needed "a new phase" and "radical programme" to push through badly needed reforms. The motion he put forward made clear "the necessity and urgency of opening a new phase with a new executive". Speaking privately to party leaders, Renzi said that Italy was "at a crossroads" and faced either holding fresh elections or a new government without a return to the polls.[110]
On 14 February, Letta resigned from the office of prime minister.[111] Following Letta's resignation, Renzi received the task of forming a new government from President Napolitano on 17 February,[112] and was formally sworn in as prime minister on 22 February.[113]
In 2015, Letta resigned as a member of the Chamber of Deputies, after having voted against thenew electoral law proposed by Prime Minister Renzi; at the same time, he announced that he would not renew the PD's membership.[114]
In April 2015, Letta moved toParis to teach at theSciences Po, a higher education institute ofpolitical science. Since 1 September, he becamedean of the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) of the same institute.[115] Along with his commitment to Sciences Po, he also had teaching periods at theUniversity of Technology Sydney and the School of Global Policy and Strategy at theUniversity of California, San Diego. In the same year, Letta launchedScuola di Politiche (School of Politics), a course of political science for young Italians.[116]
In 2016, Letta supported theconstitutional reform proposed by Renzi to reduce the powers of the Senate.[117] In the same year, along with theJacques Delors Institute, he launched a school of political science focused on European issues, known asAcadémie Notre Europe.[118] In October 2017, he joined the newComitè Action Publique 2022, a public commission for the reform of state andpublic administration inFrance which was strongly supported by PresidentEmmanuel Macron.[119]
Following his retirement from politics, Letta became advisor of many corporations and international organizations likeAbertis, where he became member of the Board of Directors in 2016,[123][124]Amundi, in which he served as member of the Global Advisory Board since 2016,[125] theEurasia Group, of which he has been Senior Advisor since 2016,[126]Publicis, where he served within the International Advisory Board since 2019[127] and Tikehau Capital, of which he became member of the International Advisory Board.[128]
Letta was appointed Dean of IE School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs. Letta will replace Manuel Muñiz, the current Provost of IE University and Charmain of the Board of IE New York College. He will join IE University on November 20.[135]
In January 2021, after thegovernment crisis which forced Prime MinisterGiuseppe Conte to resign, anational unity government led byMario Draghi was formed.[136] In the midst of the formation of Draghi's government, Zingaretti was heavily criticized by the party's minority for his management of the crisis and strenuous support to Conte. On 4 March, after weeks of internal turmoil, Zingaretti announced his resignation as secretary, stating that he was "ashamed of the power struggles" within the party.[137]
In the next days, many prominent members of the PD, including Zingaretti himself, but also former prime ministerPaolo Gentiloni, former party secretaryDario Franceschini and President of Emilia-RomagnaStefano Bonaccini, publicly asked former Letta to become the new leader of the party.[138][139] Following an initial reluctance, Letta stated that he needed a few days to evaluate the option.[140] On 12 March, he officially accepted his candidacy as new party's leader.[141][142] On 14 March, the national assembly of the PD elected Letta secretary with 860 votes in favour, 2 against and 4 abstentions.[143][144]
On 17 March, Letta appointedPeppe Provenzano andIrene Tinagli as his deputy secretaries.[145] On the following day, he appointed the party's new executive, composed of eight men and eight women.[146] Later that month, Letta forced the two Democratic leaders in Parliament,Graziano Delrio andAndrea Marcucci, to resign and proposed the election of two female leaders.[147] On 25 and 30 March, senators and deputies elected Simona Malpezzi andDebora Serracchiani as their leaders in the Senate and in the Chamber.[148][149]
In July 2021, Letta announced his intention to run for the Chamber of Deputies in theSiena constituency, which remained vacant after the resignation ofPier Carlo Padoan. On 4 October, Letta won theby-election with 49.9% of votes, returning to the Parliament after six years.[150] In the concurrentlocal elections, the PD and its allies won municipal elections inMilan,Bologna,Naples,Rome,Turin and many other major cities across the country.[151]
As leader of the third political force in theparliament, Letta played an important role in there-election of incumbent presidentSergio Mattarella. On 23 January 2022, duringFabio Fazio's talk showChe tempo che fa, Letta stated that his favourable candidates for the presidency were Mario Draghi and Sergio Mattarella.[152] On the morning of 29 January, after the fall of all other possible candidacies, Letta asked the other leaders to follow "the Parliament's wisdom", referring to the massive support that Mattarella had received in the previous ballots.[153] On the same day, all the main parties asked Mattarella to serve for a second term. Despite his initial firm denial, Mattarella accepted the nomination[154] and was re-elected with 759 votes.[155]
In July 2022, tensions arose within the governing majority, especially between Giuseppe Conte, leader of the Five Star Movement, and Prime Minister Draghi. Letta, who was trying to form a broad centre-left coalition with the M5S in the following election, was particularly critical of the possibility of a government crisis.[156] On 13 July, Conte announced that the M5S would revoke its support to thenational unity government regarding the so-calleddecreto aiuti (English:aid decree), concerning economic stimulus to contrast the ongoing energy crisis, opening apolitical crisis within the majority.[157] On the following day, the M5S abstained and Prime Minister Draghi, despite having won the confidence vote, resigned.[158] However, the resignation was rejected by President Mattarella.[159] On the same day, Letta stressed that a government crisis needed to be officially opened in the Parliament, adding that "Italy deserved to stand with a strong personality like that of PM Draghi and the team that was around him."[160] However, on 21 July, Draghi resigned again after a new confidence vote in the Senate failed to pass with an absolute majority, following the defections of M5S,Lega, andForza Italia;[161][162] Asnap election was called for 25 September 2022.[163]
After the 2022 general election, Enrico Letta conceded defeat and announced that he would not stand at the congress to elect the new party secretary.[164][165][166][167] He was succeeded byElly Schlein, following theelection on 26 February 2023.[168]
Letta is married to Gianna Fregonara, an Italianjournalist, with whom he had three children, Giacomo, Lorenzo and Francesco.[169]
Letta is known to be fond of listening toDire Straits and playingSubbuteo;[170] he is also an avid supporter ofA.C. Milan.[171] In addition to his native Italian, Letta speaks French, English, and Spanish fluently.[29]
^The critical findings on electoral law echoed in the words that the head of state gave 22 April 2013 before the Electoral College that had re-elected him for a second term:Buonomo, Giampiero (2013)."Porcellum, premio di maggioranza a rischio".Golem Informazione. Archived fromthe original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved11 March 2021.
^Parks, Tim (24 August 2013)."Holding Italy Hostage".The New York Review of Books.Archived from the original on 25 October 2013. Retrieved6 September 2013.
^It is not altogether clear whether the Doctorate degree was obtained ininternational law in 1997 as reported in his curriculum vitae,[22] or in political science in 1999 as reported byANSA.[24]
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