Antonio Maccanico

Antonio Maccanico
Minister of Institutional Reforms
In office 21 June 1999 – 11 June 2001
Prime Minister	Massimo D'Alema, Giuliano Amato
Preceded by	Giuliano Amato
Succeeded by	Umberto Bossi
Minister of Posts and Communications
In office 17 May 1996 – 21 October 1998
Prime Minister	Romano Prodi
Preceded by	Giovanni Motzo
Succeeded by	Salvatore Cardinale
Minister of Regional Affairs
In office 13 April 1988 – 13 April 1991
Prime Minister	Ciriaco De Mita, Giulio Andreotti
Preceded by	Aristide Gunnella
Succeeded by	Francesco D'Onofrio
Personal details
Born	Antonio Maccanico (1924-08-04)4 August 1924 Avellino, Kingdom of Italy
Died	Rome, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Political party	Action Party 1942-1947 Italian Communist Party 1947-1956 Italian Republican Party 1956-1994 Independent 1994-1996 Democratic Union 1996-1999 The Democrats 1999-2002 Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy 2002-2007
Alma mater	Pisa University

Antonio Maccanico (4 August 1924 – 23 April 2013) was an Italian constitutional specialist and social liberal politician, who served in various capacities in the parliament and federal administrations of Italy.

Early life and education

Maccanico was born on 4 August 1924 in Avellino. He received a law degree from Pisa University in 1946.

Career

Maccanico began his career at the house of deputies as a referendary in June 1947. He worked in different commissions in the house. He also served as the general secretary in the office of the Italian president Sandro Pertini for nine years. He was the president of Italian investment bank Mediobanca from 1987 to 1988 during the bank was privatised. He succeeded Enrico Cuccia in the aforementioned post.

He was appointed minister of regional affairs and institutional problems on 13 April 1988 and was in office until 13 April 1991. However, no significant institutional reforms were developed during his tenure. He was elected senator on 6 April 1992 for the Italian Republican Party and was in office until 1994. He served as undersecretary of state of the presidency of the cabinet in the Ciampi Government from 29 April 1993 to 9 May 1994.

Following the resignation of prime minister Lamberto Dini in January 1996, Maccanico was tasked with forming a government on 1 February 1996. Maccanico strongly argued that all parties should agree on the required reforms before the formation of the government. However, he was unable to form a majority, renouncing the mandate on 14 February, and thus, Italian president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro dissolved parliament on 16 February. He was elected deputy on 21 April 1996, being part of Romano Prodi's list, from the constituency of Campania 2.

On 18 May 1996, Maccanico was appointed minister of posts and communications to the cabinet led by prime minister Romano Prodi. In the cabinet, he was part of the Democratic Union to which he had joined early in 1996. He was the father of law no. 249 dated 31 July 1997 that was the basis of Italy's communications authority. The law is also called the Maccanico law. His tenure lasted until 1998. He was named as the minister of institutional reforms in June 2000, replacing Giuliano Amato in the post in the first D'Alema government and kept the post in the successive governments until 2001. In 2001, Maccanico was elected to the chamber of deputies. In 2006, he was elected for the fourth time to the parliament in the list of the Daisy group from Campania.

Death

Maccanico died in a clinic in Rome on 23 April 2013 at the age of 88.