| Romano Prodi is an Italian economist and statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of Italy (1996–98 and 2006–08) and as President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004, during which he oversaw the launch of the euro and the EU’s enlargement to ten new member states. Born in Scandiano in 1939, he was a professor of economics at the University of Bologna before founding the economic research society Nomisma in 1981, and later chaired the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction. In his first term as Prime Minister he privatised telecommunications and reduced Italy’s budget deficit to secure entry into the European Monetary Union, and he currently serves as UN Special Envoy for the Sahel. |
