Former Italian prime minister Andreotti dies aged 94

Seven times prime minister of Italy Giulio Andreotti, one of the country's most influential postwar politicians, died yesterday in Rome at the age of 94. If a modern-day Italian politician could be portrayed as a worthy inheritor of the Machiavellian tradition it was Christian Democrat Andreotti, who served in 24 Italian governments from 1947 to 1992.

Not only was he an important player in Italy’s international rehabilitation in the wake of Benito Mussolini’s fascist dictatorship but he was also a key element in Italy’s remarkable postwar economic revival. As a member of Italy’s 1946-1948 constitutional assembly, the so-called Costituente, he can reasonably be called a founding father of the modern Italian state.

Embodied the First Republic
The ingenious Andreotti was much more than that, however. Involved in more than 20 different public inquiries or court cases, he embodied, more than anyone else, the postwar First Republic in all its controversies, scandals and mysteries. Charged with Mafia collusion, Andreotti was accused (but not convicted) of direct or indirect involvement in the murders of journalist Carmine Pecorelli, Sicilian regional president Piersanti Mattarella, Palermo prefect Gen Carlo Alberto dalla Chiesa and banker Michele Sindona.

One of the most controversial moments in his career came in 1978 when senior Christian Democrat Aldo Moro was kidnapped and subsequently assassinated by the Red Brigades. As prime minister at the time, Andreotti was accused of not having done enough to "negotiate" the release of his party rival.

In an interview some years ago Andreotti defended his handling of the kidnapping, saying the line of non-negotiation had been the only viable option, even if he admitted his government and police authorities had greatly overestimated the military size and effectiveness of the Red Brigades.

'Concrete collaboration'
His most painful judicial experience came in the so-called trial of the century in Palermo, between 1995 and 2003, in which he was accused of systematic Mafia collusion. In its judgment in 2003, Italy's court of cassation ruled he had been guilty of "concrete collaboration" with the Mafia until 1980 but acquitted him because of the statute of limitations.

A practising Catholic who remarked that “sometimes the Holy Spirit takes a sabbatical when it comes to conclaves”, Andreotti will be remembered for his political longevity which, as he put it, enabled him to “see Harry Truman out of office and Bill Clinton in”.