He passed away at the age of 74 in Modena, Giulio Santagata, former minister for the implementation of the second program Prodi government. He was a historic collaborator of the Professor among the founders of the Ulivo and deputy for 12 years, initially from the Margherita and then also from the Democratic Party.
Born in Zocca, in the province of Modena, he graduated in Economics and Business from the University of Bologna. Santagata was economic advisor to Romano Prodi in 1996 and then followed the former prime minister to Brussels when he became president of the European Commission.
And Romano Prodi himself defined the loss of Santagata as “a great pain“, speaking of the Dem exponent as a “dearest friend, to whom I was linked by feelings of profound affection.” The former prime minister added “For years, Giulio and I have shared not only a large part of our private lives, but also political battles, successes and defeats. (…) I will miss his lively intelligence, the frankness of his advice and his ability to find the ironic twist in the things of life and politics”.
Romano Prodi and Giulio Santagata