Arturo Parisi

Arturo Mario Luigi Parisi


Minister of Defence
In office 17 May 2006 – 8 May 2008
Prime Minister	Romano Prodi
Preceded by	Antonio Martino
Succeeded by	Ignazio La Russa
Personal details
Born	(1940-09-13) 13 September 1940 (age 76) San Mango Piemonte, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Political party	Democratic Party

Arturo Parisi (born 13 September 1940) is an Italian politician, leader of the Ulivist faction of the Democratic Party and four-time member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. He was also minister of defence in the cabinet of Prime Minister Romano Prodi from 2006 to 2008.

Parisi was born in San Mango Piemonte, Salerno, Campania on 13 September 1940. He moved soon with his family in Sassari, Sardinia. A strong supporter of Romano Prodi, in 1995 he founded with him the Olive Tree coalition, and on 30 November 1999 he won a by-election to replace him in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. He also succeeded Prodi as president of The Democrats from 1999 to 2002, when the party was dissolved. He then became president of the Federal Assembly of the new Daisy party, and was re-elected to the Chamber in the 2001 general election.

After being re-elected Deputy in the 2006 general election, he was appointed Minister of Defence in the cabinet of Prime Minister Romano Prodi, a position he retained until 2008 when the governing Union coalition crumbled and new elections were called. Meanwhile, Parisi joined the new Democratic Party, formed in 2007 from the merger of the Daisy and the Democrats of the Left, as leader of the Ulivist faction. On 22 April 2008 he was elected deputy for the fourth time.