The President of the European Parliament, the Italian Social Democrat David Sassoli, died on the night of Monday 10 to Tuesday 11 January in Italy, at the age of 65, his spokesman said.
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"David Sassoli died on January 11 at 1:15 am at the CRO
(oncology reference center)
in Aviano, Italy, where he had been hospitalized"
since the end of December, announced on Twitter Roberto Cuillo, David's spokesperson. Sassoli.
He had been hospitalized in Strasbourg since Wednesday for pneumonia, but his condition was described as
"good"
.
His Covid-19 tests came back negative.
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Former journalist and TV news anchor in Italy, David Sassoli was first elected MEP in 2009 under the colors of the center-left.
In 2019, he succeeded as President of the European Parliament to another Italian, Antonio Tajani, a close friend of Silvio Berlusconi from the EPP (right), for a term of two and a half years.
The election of the new President of the European Parliament is due to take place in January.
The leader of the EPP group, the German Manfred Weber, has given up standing but still claims the presidency of Parliament for his family, in the name of an agreement reached between political groups in 2019.