Benedetto DELLA VEDOVA
Undersecretary of State at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation since February 2014, first in the Government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and, since December 29th, 2016 in the Government led by Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. His portfolio includesrelations with Asia-Pacific countries, Canada and Mexico,supporting the internationalization of Italian companies, andeconomic and financial matters related to the G8 and the G20.
Benedetto is a member of the Italian Senate, elected in 2013 with the party founded by former Prime Minister Mario Monti,SceltaCivica. He has a longstanding career as MP both in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, from 2006 to 2013, electedwiththe Party of Freedom, and as a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004, elected with the Emma Bonino List. During his tenure in Strasbourg, Benedetto was a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, and also a member of the Delegation for relations with countries of South Asia and the SAARC.
Benedetto was alsoa government-appointed Counsellor at the National Council on Economy and Labour of Italy, CNEL, in 2005-2006.
As a commentator on political and economic affairs, Benedetto has been a contributor to Italy’smajor economic national newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore and to the Corrieredella Sera. He conducts radio programson Radio Radicale and is a regular commentator for Strade magazine.
A member of the Transnational Radical Party since 1992, he is a staunch advocate of human rights and fundamental freedoms, of the abolition of the capital punishment, of free market and the European Union. He recently promoted a bill in the Italian Parliament on the legalization of cannabis which isco-sponsored by a vast cross-party group of Italian MPs.
He was researcher at the Bocconi Institute for economics of energy sources, IEFE (1987-1990), and at Lombardy’sResearch Institute, IRER (1990-1996), as wellas Assistant professor for Economics and Agricultural Policies atUniversitàCattolica, Milan, from 1990 to 1995.
Benedetto has a degree in Economics at Bocconi University, Milan.