Beniamino Andreatta (August 11, 1928 – March 26, 2007) was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 economist

Economist

An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...

 and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

.

He was a leftish Christian Democrat

Christian Democracy (Italy)

Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....

 and one of the founders of the Italian People's Party

Italian People's Party (1994-2002)

The Italian People's Party was a Christian democratic political party in Italy-History:The party emerged as the successor to Christian Democracy in January 1994...

 in 1994.

Andreatta was born in Trento

Trento

Trento is an Italian city located in the Adige River valley in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. It is the capital of Trentino...

. He was member of Parliament from 1976 to 1992 and from 1994 to 2001 (Senator from 1976 to 1983, Deputy from 1983-87, again Senator from 1987 to 1992 and finally Deputy from 1994 to 2001). He was member of the European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

 from 1984 to 1989 and Vice-President of the European People's Party

European People's Party

The European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...

 from 1984 to 1987.

He was Minister of Budget from 1979 to 1980, of Treasury from 1980 to 1982, of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1994, and of Defense from 1996 to 1998.

His followers included Romano Prodi

Romano Prodi

Romano Prodi is an Italian politician and statesman. He served as the Prime Minister of Italy, from 17 May 1996 to 21 October 1998 and from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008...

 and Enrico Letta

Enrico Letta

Enrico Letta is an Italian politician, and was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in the 2006 General election for the Olive Tree coalition...

. He is considered to be the architect of the Olive Tree

Olive Tree

The Olive Tree was a denomination used for several successive centre-left Italian political coalitions from 1995 to 2007.The historical leader and ideologue of these coalitions was Romano Prodi, Professor of Economics and former leftist Christian Democrat, who invented the name and the symbol of...

 coalition and of the candidacy of Romano Prodi for Prime Minister of Italy

Prime minister of Italy

The Prime Minister of Italy is the head of government of the Italian Republic...

 in 1996.

He had been in a deep coma

Coma

In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...

 since 1999. He died in Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

.