Paolo Savona

Paolo Savona (born 6 October 1936) is an Italian economist, professor, and politician. He was the Italian Minister of European Affairs from 1 June 2018 until 8 March 2019, his second stint in government after 1993–1994. During the 2010s, Savona became one of the most fervent Eurosceptic economists in Italy. Savona was born in Cagliari, Sardinia, on 6 October 1936. After obtaining a degree in economics from the University of Cagliari in 1961, his career started at the Servizio Studi (internal research service) of the Bank of Italy. In that context, he worked together with Guido Carli (Governor, 1960–1975) and Paolo Baffi (Governor, 1975–1979), he attended classes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he came to work with Franco Modigliani. Together with Michele Fratianni, he studied international money creation. He also specialised at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, D.C. In 1976, Carli became the President of General Confederation of Italian Industry (Confindustria) and asked Savona to follow him as Director-General, a post that he kept until 1980. In the following years, he became President of Credito Industriale Sardo (1980–1989), Secretary-General for Economic Planning at the Ministry of Budget (1980–1982), Chief Executive Officer and then Managing Director of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (1989–1990), President of the Fondo Interbancario di Tutela dei Depositi (1990–1999), Impregilo, Gemina, Aeroporti di Roma and Consorzio Venezia Nuova (2000–2010). After having been vice president of Capitalia, at the moment of the merging with UniCredit, he was named president of Banca di Roma. Between 2000 and 2010, he was also a Board Member of RCS MediaGroup and Telecom Italia. Politically, Savona was inspired by Ugo La Malfa and thus involved in the Italian Republican Party (PRI), where he was close to Giorgio La Malfa, until the early 1990s.