Altiero Spinelli, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetAltiero Spinelli
Italian politician
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Rome, Lazio, Italy
About Altiero Spinelli
- Altiero Spinelli (31 August 1907 – 23 May 1986) was an Italian politician, political theorist and European federalist, referred to as one of the founding fathers of the European Union. A communist and anti-fascist militant in his youth, he spent 10 years imprisoned by the Fascist regime.
- Having grown disillusioned with stalinism, he broke with the Italian Communist Party in 1937.
- Interned in Ventotene during World War II, he drafted along fellow democratic socialists the Manifesto for a free and united Europe (most commonly known as the Ventotene Manifesto) in 1941, considered a precursor of the european integration process. He had a leading role in the foundation of the European federalist movement, and had strong influence on the first few decades of post-World War II European integration.
- Later, he helped to re-launch the integration process in the 1980s.
- By the time of his death, he had been a member of the European Commission for six years, a member of the European Parliament for ten years right up until his death.
- The main building of the European Parliament in Brussels is named after him.
- The 1987–1988 academic year at the College of Europe and the 2009–2010 academic year of the European College of Parma were named in his honour.
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