The Fonds of Antonio Tajani

Biography

Antonio Tajani was born in Rome on 4 August 1953. He holds a degree in law from La Sapienza University in Rome. Tajani completed his military service as an officer in the Italian Air Force. After attending a specialised air defence course at Borgo Piave di Latina, he joined the NATO Air Defence Ground Environment (NADGE).

Tajani was a professional journalist for more than twenty years. He started out as a presenter of news programmes on Rai Radio 1, the Italian state broadcaster, and was a special correspondent in Lebanon, the Soviet Union and Somalia. He then worked for the newspaper, Il Giornale. A co-founder of Forza Italia, in 1994, he was elected to the European Parliament for the first time.

He was appointed European Commissioner for Transport in 2008 and backed the extension of passenger rights during his tenure. In 2010, he became European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, where he championed ambitious reindustrialisation goals, "green growth" and a particular emphasis on helping SMEs, notably through the Late Payments Directive and the Entrepreneurship 2020 Action plan. He was re-elected to the European Parliament and became a vice-president in 2014. Antonio Tajani was elected President of the European Parliament on 17 January 2017. In 2019 he was re-elected to the European Parliament.

Political Posts held 

• 1994-2008: Member of the European Parliament
• 2002-Present: Vice-Chair of the European People's Party
• 2008-2010: Vice-President of the European Commission, with responsibility for transport
• 2010-2014: Vice-President of the European Commission, with responsibility for industry and entrepreneurship
• 2014-Present: Member of the European Parliament 
• 2014-2017: Vice-President of the European Parliament
• 2014-Present: Member of the executive committee of Forza Italia
• 2017-2019: President of the European Parliament
• 2019-2022: Chair of the Conference of Committee Chairs
• 2019-Present: Chair of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs
• Since 2021: National Coordinator of Forza Italia

What's in the Archives

The fonds of President Tajani’s cabinet focus on protocol activities, official visits, meetings and relations with the President’s media. In terms of the management of Parliament’s internal affairs, a large group of documents deal with the meetings of the Conference of Presidents (communications, notes and agenda). Most of the documents are in electronic format. A collection of photographs is kept in paper format. 

Reflections of Former Presidents of the European Parliament: Antonio Tajani

It must be admitted that the departure of one of the largest Member States reinforces the impression that the Union has not always lived up to expectations.

At the same time, however, Brexit must be seen as a warning to those national leaders who continue to shift all responsibility for failings onto the EU. And it must be seen as a lesson to those media organisations which, to boost their viewing figures or sell a few more newspapers, are always ready to make up stories about supposed wrongdoing by the EU.

If Brexit is to have at least one positive effect, I hope it will be to make everyone aware of how much damage irresponsible behaviour of this kind has done to ordinary Europeans.

Visit of the President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani (L) to London - meeting with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Teresa May (R) at 10 Downing Street © European Union 2017 – European Parliament

We are here today to celebrate Europe Day. Yesterday, in Brussels, we opened the House of European History. In my view, this was the best possible way to commemorate the start of what has been a wonderful period of freedom and peace.

I believe that it is important for Parliament to invest in this museum, which we have decided will be free of charge, not just for students, but for everyone. Finding out about our history allows us to become aware of our European identity, which is what makes us strong and is the main reason for us coming together within the EU.

A desire for freedom, for rights, for human dignity is what led us out of the dark tunnel of war. The freedom to find work, to build a prosperous future for ourselves, to rebuild our houses and our infrastructure, something that we managed to do thanks, in part, to the Marshall Plan.

The freedom that forms the basis of the far-reaching economic area we have built, in which goods, capital, services, and, most important of all, people, including workers, enjoy barrier-free movement.

Sixty-seven years ago, the Schuman Declaration of 9 May marked the start of this great adventure. Together, seated at this very table, we worked hard to escape the snares of nationalism.

The road was not easy. All too often the process ground to a halt in the face of disappointment and crisis. But we never lost heart.

By working together, we did away with obstacles, barriers, borders, national red tape.

We worked together for a more open world in which people had more rights, and in the process helped to bring so many countries on our continent out from under the dark cloud of dictatorship.

This vast area of cultural and economic interaction and exchange has deep roots. From Crete to Ancient Greece, Etruria and Rome, our civilisation grew and developed by looking outwards, across the seas and along rivers, in a constant interchange and blending of ideas, cultures, artistic traditions, scientific knowledge and trade.

We passed on the knowledge we acquired through the abbeys. Then the great universities, the lifeblood of a new humanism, began to be set up. The Renaissance built on that knowledge as Europe once again opened up to the outside world, sending explorers and traders across the seas.

There is an unbreakable thread linking Caravaggio and Rembrandt, Vivaldi and Bach, Shakespeare and Molière.

In rebuilding this area of cultural and economic interaction and exchange, we have entered a new Renaissance centred around freedom and human dignity.

Our identity is based on these shared values. We are much more than just a market or a currency.

The European Union has been a success when it has managed to realise this dream of freedom, prosperity, peace and human rights within and outside its borders.

Nearly 70 years ago, our founding fathers set out together to offer greater protection to the peoples of Europe and brighter prospects to future generations. The best way of paying homage to their courage is to show the same courage ourselves by making the changes required to bring Europe out of the current impasse and continue the journey.

EP President Speech on the State of the Union, European University Institute, Florence, 5 May 2017.