The news came in the middle of the night: The President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, is dead. He died on Tuesday at 1:15 a.m. in the Centro di Riferimento Oncologico in Aviano, a clinic in the northeastern Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, said EU Parliament speaker Roberto Cuillo of the German Press Agency.
The native of Florence was 65 years old. Early in the morning, the first politicians expressed their condolences.
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen ruled in dismay at Sassoli’s death. “I am deeply saddened by the terrible loss of a great European and a proud Italian,” wrote the German politician on Twitter. “David Sassoli was a sensitive journalist, an excellent President of the European Parliament and, first and foremost, a good friend.” Her thoughts were with Sassoli’s family. In Italian she added: “Rest in peace, dear David!”
EU Climate Commissioner Frans Timmermans expressed his condolences to the Italian’s family. “His warmth was an inspiration to everyone who knew him. My sincere condolences go to his family and loved ones, ”wrote the Dutchman on Twitter. “I’m lost for words.”
“Ciao David, lifelong friend,” wrote Italy’s Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini also on Twitter.
Sassoli had already been in the hospital for a longer time, as it became known on Monday. A spokesman for the EU Parliament in Brussels had said that the Italian was staying in a clinic in his home country and was being treated there. The stay had become necessary “because of a serious complication due to a dysfunction of the immune system”. According to the EU Parliament, the President of the Parliament had been in treatment since December 26th. All of his appointments were canceled at the time.
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Sassoli, who was about to end his term as President of the EU Parliament, was recently in poor health. In October, Sassoli missed a session of parliament with a fever. He was previously hospitalized for pneumonia. In mid-December, Sassoli declared that he did not want to run for re-election as President of Parliament.
A successor is scheduled to be elected in Strasbourg next week. The Maltese Roberta Metsola from the Christian Democratic EPP group, who has a good chance of the post, wrote on Twitter that she was heartbroken. “Europe has lost a leader, I have lost a friend, democracy has lost a champion.”
Sassoli belonged to the social democratic party Partito Democratico (PD). PD boss Enrico Letta described Sassoli on Tuesday as a “unique friend” and a “passionate European”.
On Monday morning, Sassoli had condoled on the death of the Italian journalist Silvia Tortora via his private Twitter account. On December 31, he praised the words of the Italian head of state, Sergio Mattarella, in his New Years address.
First a journalist, later a politician
Sassoli belonged to the social democratic party Partito Democratico (PD). He had been President of the European Parliament since July 2019. The social democrat replaced his compatriot Antonio Tajani from the conservative Forza Italia. Before that, he held the post of Vice President in the EU institution from 2014 to 2019 and thus worked for around three years (2014 to 2017) as a representative of the then European Parliament President Martin Schulz (SPD).
Before his political career, Sassoli worked as a journalist. The career of the studied political scientist started with smaller daily newspapers. In 1985 he made it to the editorial office of the Roman newspaper “Il Giorno” (The Day). He later ended up on television and even hosted the main news show TG1 on the public broadcaster Rai 1.
Sassoli was, among other things, a critic of the migration policy of many member states. Again and again he advocated the concerns of people on the run. In Italy, migration is a subject of dispute, especially between left and right-wing parties, as a large number of migrants arrive in the Mediterranean country in boats on their flight to get to the EU. He was also considered a progressive Catholic. According to his party, he was a boy scout and was involved in Catholic youth groups. (dpa)