Italian lawyer and politician born in 1938. He studied Law and graduated from the University of Pisa in 1960.
He obtained the Master degree in Comparative Law at Columbia University of New York in 1962 and qualified as University teacher in Constitutional Law in 1964.
He taught in the Universities of Modena, Perugia and Florence and was full Professor of Italian and Comparative Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Political Sciences of “Sapienza” University of Rome from 1975 to 1997.
He is now Professor emeritus at the European University Institute in Fiesole, where he has taught for many years. He has held seminars at Columbia University School of Law and at New York University School of Law and, in 2009, at LUISS University in Rome.
He has been member of the Italian Parliament for 18 years (1983-94 / 2001-08). He was active in the Socialist Party and then in the Democratic Party. Former Under Secretary to the Office of the Prime Minister (1983-87); Minister of the Treasury (1987-89/1999-2000); Minister for Constitutional Reforms (1998-99); Minister of the Interior (2006-08); Deputy Prime Minister (1987-88); twice Prime Minister (1992-93 / 2000-01).
He was President of the Italian Competition Authority from 1994 to 1997 and Vice President of the Convention on the Future of Europe in 2002/2003. He was also President of the International Commission on the Balkans organized in 2005 by “Bosch Stiftung”, “German Marshal Fund”, “King Baudouin Foundation” and “C.S. Mott Foundation”.
In 2002 he was appointed Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Today he is President of the “Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana”, President of the Center for American Studies and President of the Advisory Board of the Foundation “ItalianiEuropei”. He also is a member of the Board of the Center for European Reform in London.
He has been columnist for “Panorama” and “L’Espresso” and has written for several newspapers. At present he writes for “Il Sole 24 Ore”. He is director of the Italian journal “Mercato, Concorrenza e Regole”, published by Il Mulino, and co-director of “ItalianiEuropei”, published by the same Foundation. In
In his books and essays he deals with topics concerning liberty, forms of state and government, economic law and competition, European integration policies and political culture.
Among his books: Rapporti fra norme primarie e secondarie, 1962; Il sindacato di costituzionalità sulle competenze dello Stato e della regione alla luce dell’esperienza statunitense, 1964; Autorità e libertà nella disciplina della libertà personale, 1968; L’ispezione politica del Parlamento, 1969; Il governo dell’industria in Italia, 1972; Economia, politica e istituzioni in Italia, 1976; Commentario della Costituzione. Rapporti Civili (artt. 13-20), 1977; Una Repubblica da riformare, 1981; Duello a sinistra (in collaboration with L. Cafagna), 1982; Democrazia e redistribuzione, 1983; Due anni al tesoro, 1990; Manuale di Diritto Pubblico (in collaboration with A. Barbera), prima edizione 1996; Antitrust and the Bounds Of Power, 1997; Il gusto della libertà. L’Italia e l’antitrust, 1998; The anticompetitive Impact of Regulations (in collaboration with L. Laudati), 2001; Le pensioni. Il pilastro mancante (in collaboration with M. Marè), 2001; Tornare al futuro. La sinistra e il mondo che ci aspetta (in collaboration with F. Forquet), 2002; Noi in bilico. Inquietudini e speranze di un cittadino europeo (in collaboration with F. Forquet), 2005; Forme di Stato e forme di governo, 2006; Un altro mondo è possibile (in collaboration with L. Pozzi), 2006; Dialoghi post-secolari (in collaboration with V. Paglia), 2006; Costituzione Europea, in S.Cassese, Dizionario di Diritto Pubblico, 2006; Constitutional Developments in Europe, in The Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies, 2006; Unione: le tentazioni sbagliate, in Il Mulino 2007; The European Constitution. Cases and Materials in EU and Member States Law (in collaboration with J. Ziller), first edition 2007; Il gioco delle pensioni: rien ne va plus? (in collaboration with M. Marè), 2007; Per i sessanta anni della Costituzione, in Riv. trim. dir. pubbl. 2008/1; La Costituzione italiana fra le Costituzioni del dopoguerra, in Riv. trim. dir. pubbl. 2008/4.