Romano Prodi

President of the European Commission

(Official website, BBC, Jane's Defence, The Guardian)

The European Parliament elected Romano Prodi president of the European Commission in September 1999. He replaced Jacques Santer, whose team resigned en bloc over a corruption scandal.

Prodi was born on 9 August 1939 in Scandiano, Italy. He has a degree in Law from the Catholic University of Milan, and has done postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics.

Most of Prodi's academic career was with the University of Bologna, where he served as Assistant in Political Economics from 1963 to 1971, and then as Professor of Industrial Organisation and Industrial Policy until 1999. Meanwhile he was also a Researcher at the Lombard Institute of Economic and Social Studies (ILSES) from 1963 to 1964, and at Stanford Research Institute in 1968. In 1973-74 he also taught Economics and Industrial Politics at the Free University of Trento, and was a visiting professor at Harvard University in 1974.

Prodi entered politics in 1978, when he was appointed Minister of Industry, an office he left six months later in 1979. He served twice as Chairman of the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (IRI) -- in 1982-89, and in 1993-94. In 1995 became Chairman of the Ulivo ["The Olive Tree"], the centre-left coalition and between April 1996 and November 1998 led its government as Italy's prime minister. Between 1996 and 1999 he was also Member of Parliament.

As prime minister Romano Prodi pursued a policy of fiscal and financial discipline, which helped cut public debt and trim down the country's deficit to the three per cent level required for admission to the European single currency. He also introduced reform policies in the public administration, fiscal planning and corporate governance laws. Prodi's government became the second-longest serving administration since World War II.

In March 1999, Romano Prodi was nominated for the European Commission presidency. Six months later he took the post amid high hopes for sweeping reforms. Stepping into office, he said: "I am determined to transform the Commission into a modern, efficient administration which has learnt the lessons of recent experience and puts it house in order." Some of the main challenges for the new president were EU enlargement, the introduction of the single currency -- the euro, and restoring confidence in the institutions. The 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States imposed a new challenge -- ensuring greater harmonisation and closer cooperation in fighting terrorism and crime.

Romano Prodi is married to Flavia, and has two sons.