Federica Mogherini is an Italian politician and diplomat who will take position of a High
Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in the Juncker
Commission on 1 November 2014.
Mogherini currently serves as a Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
since 21 February 2014 in the centre-left Cabinet of Matteo Renzi.
She is a member of Italian Democratic Party and Progressive Alliance of Socialists and
Democrats.
Biography Early life
Federica Mogherini was born on 16 June 1973 at Rome, Italy to the family of the celebrated
film director and set designer Flavio Mogherini.
Private life Mogherini married Matteo Rebesani, son of
Colonel Domenico Rebesani, by whom she has two daughters: Caterina and Marta.
Education Mogherini attended the Sapienza University
of Rome where she studied Political Science graduating with a Diploma in Political Philosophy
with a thesis entitled "Relationship between religion and politics in Islam", which she
wrote whilst on the Erasmus programme at Aix-en-Provence, France.
Political activity
A member of the Italian Communist Youth Federation from 1988, in 1996 Mogherini joined the Youth
Left after the dissolution of the Italian Communist Party before its transformation
into a Social Democrat Party.
In 2001 she became a member of the National Council of the Democrats of the Left, later
serving on its National Executive Board and Political Committee.
In 2003 she started working at the DS's Foreign Affairs Section, where she was given responsibility
for relations with international movements and parties, later becoming the team's coordinator;
after that she was given responsibility for Foreign Affairs and International Relations
on the DS Party Chairman's staff: Piero Fassino.
In this role, she oversaw relations with Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the Middle East peace
process.
Mogherini was in charge of maintaining relations with the Party of European Socialists, the
Socialist International and other Left-wing parties, including with the US Democratic
Party.
After the formation of the Italian Democratic Party, on 4 November 2007, Mogherini was appointed
to the staff of its founding chairman Walter Veltroni.
In 2008 Mogherini was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, representing the constituency
of Veneto.
Serving in the 16th legislature, she became Secretary of its Defence Committee, a member
of the Italian Parliamentary Delegation to the Council of Europe, and of the Italy's
Parliamentary Delegation to the Western European Union.
On 24 February 2009, she was appointed to the staff of the incoming chairman of the
PD Dario Franceschini, with responsibility for Equal Opportunities.
Since then she has been notable as a member of Franceschini's faction.
She has also served as Vice-President of the Italy-USA Foundation.
In February 2013 Mogherini was returned to parliament for the Emilia-Romagna constituency.
During the 17th Italian legislature she served again on the Defence Committee, on the Committee
on Foreign Affairs and on the Italian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO, and
later its President from April 2013.
On 1 August 2013 she was elected as head of the Italian delegation to the parliamentary
assembly of NATO.
On 9 December 2013, the new chairman of the PD Matteo Renzi appointed Mogherini to his
staff, with the responsibility of European Relations.
Mogherini is a Fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Italian Government Minister Mogherini joined the Renzi Cabinet as Minister
of Foreign Affairs, the third woman to hold this post following Susanna Agnelli and Emma
Bonino, and the youngest so far.
Her first public engagement following her appointment was to meet, along with Italy's
Defence Minister, the wives of Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, the two Italian
marines detained in India after the Enrica Lexie incident.
Under her direction, the Foreign Ministry has worked for the release of Mariam Ibrahim.
Italy's good relations with the Sudan can be attributed to the release of this Sudanese
woman who was finally permitted to fly to Italy on a government plane.
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
In July 2014, given the large number of Italian MEPs belonging to the S&D group following
the European election, 2014, the European Council gave consideration to her name as
a candidate for the position of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy, in Jean-Claude Juncker's new Commission.
On the 13th July 2014, the Financial Times among other European newspapers reported that
her nomination proposal had been opposed by some eastern European countries, including
Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland, where her stance towards Russia concerning the Ukrainian
crisis was considered to be too soft.
Nonetheless, on 2 August 2014, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi formally nominated her
by letter to EC President-elect Juncker, as Italy's official candidate for EU Commissioner.
On 30 August, Europe's socialist Prime Ministers met prior to the convening of the European
Council, at which she received the approval of the Party of European Socialists.
On the same day the President Herman Van Rompuy announced that the European Council has decided
to appoint the Italian Minister as its new High Representative, effective from 1 November
2014.
At her first press conference she declared her efforts will be devoted to establishing
discussions between Russia and Ukraine to solve the crisis between the two countries.
Grand Officer, Order of Merit Criticism
Criticism of Mogherini ranges from claims of her being pro-Russian and too close to
the Kremlin, to not taking the threat of Russia seriously during the 2014 Russian military
intervention in Ukraine.
The President of Lithuania has publicly called her pro-Kremlin.
Her first nomination as EU foreign policy chief was blocked by Eastern European EU member
states.
On the other hand, some deemed Mogherini's approach to Russia as no different than the
one taken by Germany or France.
In addition, though she has since removed pictures of her 2002 visit with Yasser Arafat
from her blog, there remains speculation that Mogherini's sympathies may not be entirely
neutral, and possibly anti the state of Israel.
The pictures of the pair together remain widely available.
Honours Grand Officer, Order of Merit
Cross, Order of Friendship References
External links Quotations related to Federica Mogherini at
Wikiquote Media related to Federica Mogherini at Wikimedia
Commons (Italian) Official Blog of Federica Mogherini
(Italian) Page in the Chamber Web Site