Giorgio Napolitano, president who steered Italy through Europe’s debt crisis, dies at 98
- The mild-mannered, bespectacled politician became Italy’s 11th president in 2006 and was re-elected for a then unprecedented second term seven years later
- Some credit Napolitano, affectionately known as ‘King George’, with saving the country from financial ruin, while critics said he overstepped his bounds
Giorgio Napolitano, who died on Friday aged 98, was one of modern Italy’s most important presidents as he steered the country away from the brink of default during Europe’s debt crisis and later out of political paralysis.
A career politician who joined the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1945, the mild-mannered, bespectacled Napolitano was picked by parliament to become Italy’s 11th president in 2006 and re-elected for a then-unprecedented second term seven years later.
He stepped down in 2015, midway through his mandate, saying that, at 89, he was too old to carry on.
Napolitano forged a close relationship with the late Pope Benedict XVI and was one of the few people to have been warned in advance of Benedict’s shock resignation in February 2013.
Italian presidents had mostly been little more than ceremonial figures, ribbon-cutters and authors of patriotic speeches, but some credit Napolitano, affectionately known as “King George”, with saving the country from financial ruin, while critics said he overstepped his bounds.
