Roberto Fico (Italian pronunciation: [roˈbɛrto ˈfiːko]; born 10 October 1974) is an Italian politician and member of the Five Star Movement. He served as the Chairman of the RAI Supervision Commission from 2013 to 2018[1] and President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 2018 to 2022.[2]

Roberto Fico
Fico in 2018
President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
24 March 2018 – 12 October 2022
Preceded byLaura Boldrini
Succeeded byLorenzo Fontana
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
15 March 2013 – 12 October 2022
ConstituencyCampania 1 (2013–2018)
NaplesFuorigrotta (2018–2022)
Personal details
Born (1974-10-10) 10 October 1974 (age 50)
Naples, Campania, Italy
Political partyFive Star Movement
Alma materUniversity of Trieste
ProfessionCommunication and marketing manager

Early life

edit

Fico was born in Naples in 1974 to a middle-class family.[3] He studied communication studies at the University of Trieste and did an Erasmus exchange at the University of Helsinki, graduating in 2001 with a thesis regarding the social and linguistic identity of Neapolitan neomelodic music.[4] After the university he worked for some press offices, in a hotel, as tour operator manager, in a call-center, in a butcher's shop and as a small importer of fabrics from Morocco.[5][6][7]

Political career

edit

On 18 July 2005, he founded one of the forty "Friends of Beppe Grillo" meetups in Naples, which led to the formation of the Five Star Movement was born.[8] In 2010, he ran as President of Campania region, but only received 1.35% of the votes in the election.[9] In 2011, he was the M5S candidate for Mayor of Naples, getting only 1.38% of votes, not exceeding the first round.[10][11]

In December 2012, Fico arrived first, with 228 preferences obtained on the web, in the parliamentary primary election of the M5S, and thus he was nominated for the first position on the M5S list of the constituency Campania 1.[12] In February 2013, he was elected to the 17th Italian Parliament.[13]

In 2013, Fico was voted by his parliamentary group to the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies without being elected.[14] On 6 June 2013, he was elected Chairman of the RAI Supervision Commission.[15] Fico has renounced the function allowance to which he would have been entitled as Chairman of the RAI Supervision Commission and the personal car.[16] As president of the RAI Supervision Commission, during his presidency, he introduced the live streaming broadcast on the web TV of the Chamber of Deputies of all the auditions, the publication on the Parliament website of the questions addressed by the commissioners to RAI and the related answers and the determination of a maximum of 15 days for the answers to the questions by the public radio and television company.[17] Among the acts approved by the Commission, there was a resolution aimed at resolving and avoiding possible conflicts of interest.[18]

As a deputy, he also presented a draft law on the governance of RAI; one of the points, the plan for corporate transparency, has merged into the RAI reform approved in 2015 by the Parliament. Following the implementation of this plan, the company had to make public the remuneration of senior managers, editorial departments and journalistic publications.[19][20]

President of the Chamber of Deputies

edit
 
Fico with President Sergio Mattarella in March 2018.

In March 2018, he was re-elected in the constituency of NapoliFuorigrotta with 57.6% of votes.[21] On 24 March 2018, Fico was elected as President of the Chamber of Deputies, supported by his own party, the League, Forza Italia and Brothers of Italy.[22][23]

On 23 April 2018, after the failure of the mandate to President of the Senate, Elisabetta Casellati, to start a government between the M5S and the centre-right coalition, he was given an exploratory mandate by President Sergio Mattarella to try and reconcile the issues between the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party, in order to break the post-election political deadlock and form a fully functional new government.[24][25]

His first year as President was characterized by a strong opposition to the policies promoted by Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, which were particularly severe on immigration and security.[26]

Political views

edit

Fico often stated that he was in favor of extending the right to marriage and adoption by same-sex couples. He also supports euthanasia for the terminally ill and the so-called jus soli, which is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship.[27][28] Fico is considered the leader of the left-wing faction of the Five Star Movement, often in opposition to Luigi Di Maio.[29]

Electoral history

edit
Election House Constituency Party Votes Result
2013 Chamber of Deputies Campania 1 M5S [a]  Y Elected
2018 Chamber of Deputies NaplesFuorigrotta M5S 61,819  Y Elected
  1. ^ Elected in a closed list proportional representation system.

First-past-the-post elections

edit
2018 general election (C): NaplesFuorigrotta
Candidate Coalition or Party Votes %
Roberto Fico Five Star Movement 61,819 57.6
Marta Schifone Centre-right coalition 21,651 20.2
Daniela Iaconis Centre-left coalition 15,779 14.7
Others 8,120 7.5
Total 107,369 100.0

References

edit
  1. ^ Intesa sulle commission: Fico alla Vigilanza Rai Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Parlamento, accordo M5s-Centrodestra: Fico eletto presidente della Camera, al Senato c'è Casellati
  3. ^ "Profile of Roberto Fico". The official website of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic.
  4. ^ Identità sociale e linguistica della musica neomelodica napoletana
  5. ^ Chi è Roberto Fico, il nuovo Presidente della Camera
  6. ^ Storia breve di Roberto Fico, nuovo presidente della Camera
  7. ^ Roberto Fico, dal call center alla presidenza della Camera dei Deputati
  8. ^ Movimento 5 Stelle – I candidati
  9. ^ COmunicato stampa del 30/03/2010
  10. ^ Roberto Fico candidato del Movimento 5 Stelle a Napoli
  11. ^ Napoli – Elezioni COmunali 15–16 Maggio 2011
  12. ^ Risultati parlamentarie Campania
  13. ^ Candidati elezioni 2011
  14. ^ M5S: Fico alla Camera, Orellana al Senato
  15. ^ Roberto Fico: conferenze stampa su "Presidenza Commissione vigilanza Rai"
  16. ^ M5S, Fico: “Rinunciato all’indennità della Vigilanza. Risparmio da 133mila euro”
  17. ^ Risoluzione relativa all'esercizio della potestà di vigilanza della Commissione sulla società concessionaria del servizio pubblico radiotelevisivo
  18. ^ Risoluzione sull’adozione da parte della Rai di procedure aziendali volte a evitare possibili conflitti di interesse da parte degli agenti di spettacolo
  19. ^ Atto Camera 2922
  20. ^ Rai, Grillo presenta la sua riforma: Cda a 5 e consiglieri sorteggiati dall'Agcom
  21. ^ Risultati Camera dei Deputati – Collegio Napoli−Fuorigrotta
  22. ^ "Italienische Wahlsieger einigen sich auf Parlamentspräsidenten". Der Spiegel. 24 March 2018.
  23. ^ "Italienische Wahlsieger einigen sich auf Parlamentspräsidenten [1:10]". Südtirol News. 25 March 2018.
  24. ^ Mandato a Fico per governo Pd-M5s. Di Maio scarica Salvini: "Ci ho provato". Martina: "Dialogo se finiscono ambiguità"
  25. ^ Fico da Mattarella: M5S-PD, governo possibile?
  26. ^ "Il 2 giugno è festa anche di migranti e rom", è scontro tra Fico e Salvini
  27. ^ Il comunicatore a favore di eutanasia e nozze gay che votò Bassolino
  28. ^ us Soli, Fico: “Io sono favorevole, lo voterei”. CasaPound fa un’altra marcia
  29. ^ Perrone, Manuela (2018-03-24). "Fico, il grillino di sinistra, alla guida di Montecitorio grazie a Salvini". Il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian).
edit
Political offices
Preceded by President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies
2018–2022
Succeeded by