Massimo D’Alema is an Italian politician.He served as Prime Minister from 1998 to 2000, and then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008.
In 1975 he was elected General Secretary of the Italian Young Communists’ Federation (FGCI), a post he held until 1980. In 1986, Massimo D’Alema became a member of the Secretariat of the Italian Communist Party, and in 1987 was elected member of the Italian Parliament (Camera dei deputati). In 1989, he was actively engaged in the process which transformed the Italian Communist Party into the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS).
In 1992 Mr D’Alema became President of the PDS parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies. He was re-elected MP both in 1994 and 1996. In July 1994 he was elected General Secretary of the PDS. On 5 February 1997 Massimo D’Alema was elected Chair of the parliamentary Committee on Constitutional reform; on 4 November 1997 the Committee submitted to the two Houses of Parliament a draft reform of Part II of the Italian Constitution.
In December 2000 he was elected President of the Democrats of the Left. In June 2004, Mr D’Alema became a Member of the European Parliament, where he held the position of Chair of the EP Delegation for relations between the EU and the Mercosur. On 9 April 2006 he was elected MP for Apulia representing the Olive Tree coalition. On 17 May 2006 he was appointed deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary in the Prodi government. On 22 April 2008 he was elected MP for Apulia representing the Democratic Party.
From January 2010 to March 2013 he was the Chairman of COPASIR (Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic), which is responsible for the Parliamentary control on intelligence services. He has also been the President of a political Foundation called “Fondazione di cultura politica Italianieuropei” since 2000, and was elected as the first President of the Foundation of European Progressive Studies (FEPS) on 30th June 2010.