Roberto Speranza (born 4 January 1979) is an Italian politician of the Chamber of Deputies who served as national secretary of Article One. From 5 September 2019 until 22 October 2022, he has been serving as Minister of Health in the government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and was later confirmed by Prime Minister Mario Draghi. During his tenure, he had to face the COVID-19 pandemic, which deeply affected Italy.
Early life and education
Roberto Speranza was born in Potenza, Basilicata, in 1979. During the 2000s, he graduated in political science at the Luiss Guido Carli of Rome.
Political career
Early political career
In 2005 Speranza was elected to the national executive of the Left Youth (SG), a youth wing of the Democrats of the Left (DS), the main social-democratic party in Italy. At the age of 25, Speranza was elected city councilor with the DS in Potenza, a position he held from 2004 to 2009. In March 2007 he was elected national president of the Left Youth. While in October of the same year he was appointed in the national constituent of the Democratic Party (PD), the new centre-left party, born from the union between DS and The Daisy.
In February 2008 Speranza was appointed by PD's secretary Walter Veltroni to the national committee of Young Democrats, with the task of creating the new youth organization of the Democratic Party. On 9 November 2009 he was elected regional secretary of the PD for Basilicata.
After supporting Pier Luigi Bersani in the 2012 primary election for the choice of the centre-left candidate for Prime Minister in the 2013 general election, he was selected by Bersani to coordinate his 2013 electoral campaign. The centre-left alliance Italy Common Good obtained a clear majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies, thanks to a majority bonus that has effectively trebled the number of seats assigned to the winning force, while in the popular vote it narrowly defeated the centre-right alliance of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Close behind, the new anti-establishment Five Star Movement of comedian Beppe Grillo became the third force, clearly ahead of the centrist coalition of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti. In the Senate, no political group or party won an outright majority, resulting in a hung parliament. Speranza was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in Basilicata's electoral constituency.
On 19 March 2013 Speranza was elected leader of the PD in the Chamber of Deputies. Speranza obtained 200 votes among the democratic deputies, the nil have been about thirty and the white ones 53. He later announced his resignation on 15 April 2015, in disagreement with PD's new leader and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, after government's decision to put approve with a confidence vote the new electoral law, the so-called Italicum.
Article One's leader
On 20 February 2017 he left the Democratic Party along with other representatives, including former secretary Pier Luigi Bersani, due to a heated debate with the pro-Renzi majority. Five days later, together with Arturo Scotto, Enrico Rossi, Vasco Errani and Pier Luigi Bersani, he created a new party called Article One – Democratic and Progressive Movement, made up of parliamentarians who had exited from the Democratic Party and the Italian Left (SI). In April 2017 he became national coordinator of Article One – MDP.
In the run-up of the 2018 general election, Article One joined a left-wing alliance with SI and other minor leftist parties, named Free and Equal (LeU), under the leadership of Pietro Grasso, incumbent President of the Senate and former anti-mafia magistrate. In the election, LeU obtained only 3.4% of votes, but Speranza succeeding in being re-elected deputy in the Tuscany constituency. On 6 April 2019 Speranza was elected Secretary of Article One.
Minister of Health
In August 2019 tensions grew within the populist government, leading to the issuing of a motion of no-confidence on Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte by the League. After Conte's resignation, the national board of the PD officially opened to the possibility of forming a new cabinet in a coalition with the M5S, based on pro-Europeanism, green economy, sustainable development, fight against economic inequality and a new immigration policy. The party also accepted that Conte may continue at the head of a new government, and on 29 August President Sergio Mattarella formally invested Conte to do so. Free and Equal decided to support the new government and Speranza was appointed new Minister of Health. He was labeled as the most left-leaning Health Minister in Italian history.