Francesco Musotto is an Italian

Politics of Italy

The politics of Italy is conducted through a parliamentary, democratic republic with a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised collectively by the Council of Ministers, which is led by the President of the Council of Ministers, referred to as "Presidente del Consiglio" in Italian...

 politician

Politician

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

 and Member of the European Parliament

Member of the European Parliament

A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...

 for the Islands (elected for the first time in 1999

European Parliament election, 1999 (Italy)

The European Parliament election of 1999 in Italy was the election of the delegation from Italy to the European Parliament in 1999.-References:...

). He is the son of Giovanni Musotto, a notable professor in criminal law at the University of Palermo

University of Palermo

The University of Palermo is a university located in Palermo, Italy, and founded in 1806. It is organized in 12 Faculties.-History:The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although its earliest roots date back to 1498 when medicine and law were taught there...

 and member Italian Socialist Party

Italian Socialist Party

The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...

 (Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

: Partito Socialista Italiano, PSI).

Francesco Musotto, a former member of the PSI like his father, is currently with Forza Italia

Forza Italia

Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....

 (part 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...

), sits on 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...

's Committee on Regional Development

Committee on Regional Development

The Committee on Regional Development is a committee within the European Parliament.-External links:*...

, is a substitute for the Committee on Fisheries

Committee on Fisheries

The Committee on Fisheries is a committee of the European Parliament. is the Chairman.-Members 2009 -:-Members 2004-2009:-External links:* *...

, and of the Committee on Transport and Tourism

Committee on Transport and Tourism

The Committee on Transport and Tourism is a committee within the European Parliament.-External links:* Present Chairman is British Labour MEP Brian Simpson...

. He is also the current President of the Province of Palermo

Province of Palermo

The Province of Palermo is a province in the autonomous region of Sicily, a major island in Southern Italy. Its capital is the city of Palermo. The Province of Palermo has 82 comuni , 1,239,272 inhabitants, and is 4,992 km² .-External links:...

.

Career

He graduated

Academic degree

An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...

 in law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

 in 1969, worked as a lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 from 1974, and as a farmer from 1996. Musotto earned a second diploma

Diploma

A diploma is a certificate or deed issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that testifies that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study or confers an academic degree. In countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, the word diploma refers to...

 in agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 in 1998.

Between 1972 and 1975, he served as Municipal Councillor

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

 for Cefalù

Cefalù

Cefalù is a city and comune in the province of Palermo, located on the northern coast of Sicily, Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea about 70 km east from the provincial capital and 185 km west of Messina...

, and is Chairman of the Palermo Provincial Council

Province of Palermo

The Province of Palermo is a province in the autonomous region of Sicily, a major island in Southern Italy. Its capital is the city of Palermo. The Province of Palermo has 82 comuni , 1,239,272 inhabitants, and is 4,992 km² .-External links:...

 since 1998. He was a member of the Sicilian Regional Assembly in 1983-1986.

Francesco Musotto was arrested on November 8, 1995, for collusion with the Mafia

Mafia

The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...

. He was accused of providing housing to the mafioso Leoluca Bagarella

Leoluca Bagarella

Leoluca Bagarella is an Italian criminal and member of the Sicilian Mafia. He is from the town of Corleone and was a member of the Corleonesi.-Biography:...

 and passing on confidential information from the police. He was forced to resign as president of the province of Palermo, but he was immediately re-elected after his acquittal in April 1998. Musotto said he knew mafiosi because he had been their lawyer and claimed he never had asked for votes from Cosa Nostra.

According to Francesco Di Carlo

Francesco Di Carlo

Francesco Di Carlo is a member of the Mafia who turned state witness in 1996...

, a Mafia pentito

Pentito

Pentito designates people in Italy who, formerly part of criminal or terrorist organizations, following their arrests decide to "repent" and collaborate with the judicial system to help investigations...

, his father had been a "men of honour" – a member of Cosa Nostra.

External links

• European Parliament biography of Francesco Musotto (incl. Speeches, Questions and Motions)