Senator for life Francesco Cossiga OMRI |
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8th President of Italy | |
In office 3 July 1985 – 28 April 1992 |
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Prime Minister |
Bettino Craxi Amintore Fanfani Giovanni Goria Ciriaco De Mita Giulio Andreotti |
Preceded by | Sandro Pertini |
Succeeded by | Oscar Luigi Scalfaro |
42nd Prime Minister of Italy | |
In office 4 August 1979 – 18 October 1980 |
|
President | Alessandro Pertini |
Preceded by | Giulio Andreotti |
Succeeded by | Arnaldo Forlani |
President of the Italian Senate | |
In office 12 July 1983 – 3 July 1985 |
|
Preceded by | Vittorino Colombo |
Succeeded by | Amintore Fanfani |
Minister of the Interior | |
In office 12 February 1976 – 11 May 1978 |
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Prime Minister |
Aldo Moro Giulio Andreotti |
Preceded by | Luigi Gui |
Succeeded by | Virginio Rognoni |
Minister for the Public Administration Organization and the Regions | |
In office 23 November 1974 – 12 February 1976 |
|
Prime Minister | Aldo Moro |
Preceded by | Luigi Gui |
Succeeded by | Tommaso Morlino |
Personal details | |
Born |
Sassari, Sardinia, Kingdom of Italy |
26 July 1928
Died | 17 August 2010 Rome, Latium, Italy |
(aged 82)
Political party |
DC (1945–1994) PPI (1994–1998) UDR (1998–1999) UDEUR (1999–2002) UDC (2002–2010) |
Spouse(s) | Giuseppa Sigurani (m. 1960; div. 1998) |
Children | Anna Maria Giuseppe |
Alma mater | University of Sassari |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Francesco Cossiga, OMRI (Italian pronunciation: [franˈtʃesko kosˈsiːɡa]; 26 July 1928 – 17 August 2010) was an Italian politician of the Christian Democracy party. He was the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1979 to 1980 and the eighth President of Italy from 1985 to 1992. He was also a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sassari.
Cossiga was born in Sassari in northern Sardinia. He started his political career during World War II. His name is now usually pronounced [kosˈsiːɡa], but it was originally pronounced [ˈkɔssiɡa], with the stress on the first syllable, meaning "Corsica" in Sardinian and Sassarese. He was the cousin of Enrico Berlinguer.
He was a minister several times for the Democrazia Cristiana party (Democratic Christian, abbreviated as DC), notably during his stay at Viminale (Ministry for internal affairs) where he re-structured the Italian police, civil protection and secret services.