Giuseppe Pella | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Prime Minister of Italy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 17 August 1953 – 19 January 1954 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Luigi Einaudi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Alcide De Gasperi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Amintore Fanfani | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy Prime Minister of Italy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 20 May 1957 – 2 July 1958 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Adone Zoli | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Giuseppe Saragat | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Antonio Segni | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President of the Common Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 29 November 1954 – 27 November 1956 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Alcide De Gasperi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Hans Furler | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1902-04-18)18 April 1902 Valdengo, Piedmont,Kingdom of Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 31 May 1981(1981-05-31) (aged 79) Rome, Lazio, Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Christian Democracy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Tax advisor,politician | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Giuseppe Pella (Italian:[dʒuˈzɛppeˈpɛlla]; 18 April 1902 – 31 May 1981) was an ItalianChristian Democratic politician and statesman who served as the 31stprime minister of Italy from 1953 to 1954. He was alsoMinister of Treasury,Budget and ofForeign Affairs during the 1950s and early 1960s. Pella served asPresident of the European Parliament from 1954 to 1956 after the death ofAlcide De Gasperi.[1]
Pella is widely considered one of the most important politicians in Italy's post-war history. Hislaissez-faire economic and monetary policies strongly influenced the Italian reconstruction and the subsequenteconomic miracle.[2]
Giuseppe Pella was born inValdengo, Piedmont. He was the second son of Luigi Pella and Viglielmina Bona,sharecroppers in a small farm. After having obtained his elementary school certificate privately, he attended the three-year period of technical schools inBiella and then anaccounting Institute inTurin. After graduating in Economy and Commerce at the Royal Superior Institute of Turin in 1924, he became a professor of accounting at theSapienza University of Rome andUniversity of Turin. He also started working astax advisor andauditor.[3]
Under the regime ofBenito Mussolini, Pella was forced to join theNational Fascist Party (PNF), to continue his occupation as tax advisor and professor. As a fascist, he was appointed member of the Governing Council of the Fascist Culture Provincial Institute of Biella and consultant of the municipality of Biella. In the late 1930s he was appointment deputypodestà of Biella, with the task of reorganizing city's financial system.[4]
In 1934, Pella married Ines Maria Cardolle, from whom he had a daughter, Wanda, born in 1938.[5]
During theItalian Civil War, Pella started cooperating with theNational Liberation Committee (CLN), a politicalumbrella organization and the main representative of theItalian resistance movement fighting against the German occupation ofItaly in the aftermath of thearmistice of Cassibile.[6] After the end of theWorld War II, he joined theChristian Democracy (DC), led byAlcide De Gasperi, becoming one of the main members of the party's right wing. After the1946 general election, he became a member of theConstituent Assembly of Italy.[7] In July 1946, he was appointed under-secretary of Finances in thesecond andthird governments of De Gasperi. On 6 June 1947, De Gasperi appointed himMinister of Finance in hisfourth cabinet.[8]
From May 1948 until January 1954 Pella served asMinister of Budget under the premiership of Alcide De Gasperi. Moreover, from May 1948 until July 1951 and again from February 1952 to August 1953, he also served asMinister of Treasury.[9][10] As minister he implementedliberist andmonetarist policies, characterized by a stronglaissez-faire capitalism, which gained him the enmity of theItalian Communist Party (PCI) andItalian Socialist Party (PSI), as well as harsh criticism from members of Christian Democracy's left-wing, likeGiuseppe Dossetti andGiorgio La Pira.[11] The American experts of theMarshall Plan, who arrived inRome to check the use of Plan's funds, were disconcerted that not a dollar had been spent on aRoosevelt-like public spending policy: the funds had in fact been used exclusively to bring order to the public finance and to stabilize the state budget following the thought ofLuigi Einaudi.[12]
The1953 general election was characterised by changes in the electoral law. Even if the general structure remained uncorrupted, the government introduced asuperbonus of two thirds of seats in theHouse for the coalition which would obtainat-large theabsolute majority of votes. The change was strongly opposed by the opposition parties as well as DC's smaller coalition partners, who had no realistic chance of success under this system. The new law was called theScam Law by its detractors,[13] including some dissidents of minor government parties who founded special opposition groups to deny the artificiallandslide to Christian Democracy.
In the 7 June election, the government coalition won 49.9% of national vote, just a few thousand votes of the threshold for a supermajority, resulting in an ordinary proportional distribution of the seats. Technically, the government won the election, winning a clear workingmajority of seats in both houses, but frustration with the failure to win a supermajority caused significant tensions in the leading coalition, which ended on 2 August, when De Gasperi was forced to resign by theParliament. On 17 August, President Einaudi appointed Pella as newPrime Minister.[14]Pella Cabinet was immediately labeled as "administrative government", with the only aim of approving the budget law.[15] As premier, he also served asad interimMinister of Budget andForeign Affairs.
Pella gained further critics when, by issuing nationalistic declarations, he created strife withJosip Broz Tito regarding theFree Territory of Trieste. The Yugoslav president declared he would have invaded Trieste if the Americans had assigned it to Italy.[16] Then, Pella threatened to send troops to the Eastern border in response to Tito's provocation. The crisis that could result in a military confrontation was brought back after many diplomatic efforts by the Western powers.[17] His interventionism provoked opposite reactions in Parliament and in the press:Monarchist National Party (PNM) and the neo-fascistItalian Social Movement (MSI) strongly supported him, while the leftist parties, and especially the communists, accused him of nationalism andanti-communism.[18] Much of his own party remained neutral, partly because the governments ofUnited States andUnited Kingdom wanted to keep good relations with Yugoslavia even at the cost of penalizing Italy. The media, however, described Pella as a patriot and as a courageous statesman. Much of the public opinion appreciated his policies.[19]
On 12 January 1954, after only 5 months in power, a strong confrontation with many members of DC, regarding the appointment ofSalvatore Aldisio as new Minister of Agriculture, forced Pella to resign.[20][21]
After the end of his government, in November 1954, Pella was electedPresident of the Common Assembly, the plenary assembly ofEuropean Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which had been considered as the prototype of theEuropean Parliament. He hold the office until November 1956.[22] His pro-European vision was clearly outlined already in the inauguration speech as president, where he sustained the need to create a Europe "inspired by the concept of supernationality, built not against nations but with the sincere collaboration of nations."[23] Few years later, discussing about his years at the head of the European institution, he stated that he always held his office "with the determination to pursue the strategic plan of a progressive transfer of sovereignty from the member States to the European institutions."[24]
In 1954, he founded, along withGiulio Andreotti, a right-wing faction of Christian Democracy, known as "Concentration".[25] In 1955 he was one of the kingmakers ofGiovanni Gronchi'selection to the Presidency of the Republic, againstCesare Merzagora, who was the candidate proposed by the Christian Democratic secretary,Amintore Fanfani. Pella and Andreotti's move gained the surprising support of communist and socialist parties, as well as the one monarchist and neo-fascist movements.[26] After Gronchi's sworn in, Pella was considered the natural candidate for the premiership, however the new President of the Republic appointedAntonio Segni.
In May 1957, Pella served asMinister of Foreign Affairs in the government ofAdone Zoli, of whom he served also asDeputy Prime Minister.[27] He became Foreign Affairs Minister again under Segni, from February 1959 until March 1960,[28] andMinister of Budget inFanfani III Cabinet from July 1960 to February 1962.[29]
A strong opponent of Fanfani's alliance with the Socialist Party, from 1962 he decided to keep aside. In the later years, he became president of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee from 18 July 1968 to 23 February 1972 and briefly returned to the government as Finance Minister in thefirst government of Giulio Andreotti from February to June 1972, which however failed to gain confidence by the Parliament.[30]
After leaving politics in 1976, he continued his role of President of "National Association of Insurance Institutes" and of the "Association of Tax Advisors and Accountants". He also led "Piemonte Italia", a promotional institute of studies on the regional economy, which he founded in the 1960s.
Pella died on 31 May 1981 inRome, at the age of 79.[31]
| Election | House | Constituency | Party | Votes | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | Constituent Assembly | Turin–Novara–Vercelli | DC | 25,632 |  YElected | |
| 1948 | Chamber of Deputies | Turin–Novara–Vercelli | DC | 50,814 | YElected | |
| 1953 | Chamber of Deputies | Turin–Novara–Vercelli | DC | 68,864 | YElected | |
| 1958 | Chamber of Deputies | Turin–Novara–Vercelli | DC | 112,759 | YElected | |
| 1963 | Chamber of Deputies | Turin–Novara–Vercelli | DC | 95,739 | YElected | |
| 1968 | Senate of the Republic | Mondovì | DC | 51,250 | YElected | |
| 1972 | Senate of the Republic | Mondovì | DC | 52,141 | YElected | |
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance 1947–1948 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Treasury 1948–1951 | |
| Preceded by | Minister of Budget 1948–1954 | |
| Preceded by | Minister of Treasury 1952–1953 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Italy 1953–1954 | Succeeded by |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs 1953–1954 | Succeeded by | |
| President of the Common Assembly 1954–1956 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Deputy Prime Minister of Italy 1957–1958 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1957–1958 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1959–1960 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Budget 1960–1962 | Succeeded by |
| Common Assembly: 1952–1958 | |
|---|---|
| Parliamentary Assembly: 1958–1962 | |
| European Parliament (appointed): 1962–1979 | |
| European Parliament (elected): 1979–present | |
Andreotti I Cabinet (February–June 1972) | ||
|---|---|---|
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