Giulio Andreotti Prime Minister , &

Overview  Typical for Italian Governments, while Andreotti was Premier for seven terms, the cabinets were brief and never lasted long  The time he presided over was tumultuous: economically the 70’s brought economic hardship to Italy, and politically saw the “Years of Lead”  While he was not Prime Minister for the all the time in the 70’s he was such a key figure he was essentially seen as such

Early Governments  Through , Andreotti formed two different governments. Both collapsed due to lack of numbers of seats.  Through his domestic policy in the early 70’s governments was weak, Andreotti did have some success with his foreign policy – maintaining his anti-communist relationship with America but simultaneously looking elsewhere for other deals, including the Middle east and U.S.S.R

Alliance with Communist Party  Between he formed a government with support in the legislative body from the Communist Party to gain a majority.  This was more stable than the previous cases, and allowed him to effectively institute a policy of harsh austerity to cope with economic turmoil.  However, he refused to give Communists positions in his cabinet, and when the Communist party demanded he do so 1979, Andreotti refused and the coalition dissolved.

End of Time In Power  As the Christian Democratic party became less and less influential, so do did Andreotti : he went on to serve in various cabinet positions, but never as prime minister after 1992  Probably his most notable later success was pushing Italy as a fore-runner in the Maastricht treaty, advocating for a single currency.

Allegations of Corruption  The focus of Andreotti's last years of his life were on allegations of corruption – he was publically accused many times of working with and employing the services of the mafia.  In 2002, he was found guilty of ordering the death of a journalist, though the case sparked outrage as in the parallel case for the person who was alleged to have carried out the actual murder, the defendant was found not guilty.  Andreotti’s verdict was appealed, reviewed and changed to “not guilty”

Andreotti’s Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths  Has been described as mild mannered and unassuming  Often put himself at the centre of events as mediator  Worked well with the Catholic church while also making Italy more secular  Maintained anti-communist relations with the USA while improving relations with the USSR Weaknesses  Presided over fragile governments  Failed to deal with extreme corruption  Associated with Mafia linked Sicilian politicians and possibly colluded with Cosa Nostra  May have ordered the murder of a journalist

Why He Fell From Power  After resigning from the premiership in 1992, Andreotti was one of the most likely candidates to succeed Cossiga as President of the Italy in 1992  He and his political allies strategised to launch his candidature after effectively quenching all the others  This strategy failed to the allegations made against him, preventing him from becoming president and causing him to fall from power