Background
BASSOLINO, Antonio was born on March 20, 1947 in Afragola, Naples, Italy.
BASSOLINO, Antonio was born on March 20, 1947 in Afragola, Naples, Italy.
He has been President of the Campania region from 2000 to 2010. In 1987, he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in the college of Catanzaro, becoming president of the Parliament media committee in 1990. In the process leading to the split-up of the Payment Card Industry into the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Party of the Communist Refoundation (Provider Reimbursement Consultants), Bassolino represented the moderate wing that sought mediation.
Eventually, he joined the PDS. In 1992, he was reelected to the Chamber, and, in 1993, he was sent to Naples to reform the local section of PDS — which had been involved in the Tangentopoli bribe scandal.
Bassolino"s years as mayor of Naples are generally viewed as a period of civil, economical and social renaissance for the city. In 1997 he was reelected, this time with the 72.9% of the votes.
In October 1998, Premier Massimo Doctorate"Alema nominated him Minister of Welfare. However, after the assassination of his advisor Massimo Doctorate"Antona in October 1999, Bassolino resigned in order to focus his activities on Naples.
In 2000, he ran for the presidency of Campania, which raised some controversies.
He was elected with 54.3% of the votes, and, in the elections of April 2005, with 61.6%. His essays include Mezzogiorno alla prova (1980) and Louisiana repubblica delle città (1996). However, it has been argued that, under his administration, the regional debt has doubled.
Moreover and more importantly Bassolino has a considerable share of responsibility in the environmental disaster in the Campania region due to the deficiencies of the rubbish collection and treatment systems
In fact Bassolino is one of the 29 people remanded for trial and accused of involvement in ongoing aggravated fraud against the State and fraud regarding public works. The collapse of the services which were supposed to collect and treat the rubbish led to accumulation or garbage in the streets of the major urban centres to the point that schools and other public places had to be closed for some days and tourism declined substantially in 2008.
As a result of this an increasing number of citizens and associations have been vocally calling for Bassolino"s resignation.
At 17 he entered the Federation of Young Italian Communists, and in 1970 became a member of the regional council for the Italian Communist Party (Payment Card Industry), and, the following year, secretary of the party section in Avellino. He held the latter position until 1975, when he became regional secretary for the Payment Card Industry. From 1972, he was member of the party"s national committee.