{"id":1104873,"date":"2022-01-17T20:22:23","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T19:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eldigitaldeasturias.com\/noticias\/?p=1104873"},"modified":"2022-01-17T20:22:23","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T19:22:23","slug":"sassolis-rare-benevolence-praised-at-eu-parliament-memorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eldigitaldeasturias.com\/noticias\/sassolis-rare-benevolence-praised-at-eu-parliament-memorial\/","title":{"rendered":"Sassoli’s ‘rare benevolence’ praised at EU parliament memorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels (dpa) – The European Parliament honoured the memory of the late David Sassoli at a plenary session in the French city Strasbourg on Monday.<\/p>\n

\"UE\"<\/p>\n

The former president of the EU legislature died unexpectedly on January 11 after several months of poor health. He was 65.<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron, present at this week’s plenary for the start of his country’s term holding the EU presidency, described Sassoli as \u00aba man of rare benevolence\u00bb whose \u00abideas and vision were large enough for a continent.\u00bb<\/p>\n

European Council President Charles Michel, and former prime minister of Italy Enrico Letta also spoke at the ceremony, along with the leaders of the different political factions.<\/p>\n

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had to pull out last minute on Monday after her driver tested positive for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

In the past week, various EU leaders and dignitaries paid warm tributes to Sassoli. His fellow EU parliamentarians held a minute’s silence in his memory. Italy honoured the late Social Democrat with a state funeral in Rome.<\/p>\n

Born in Florence on May 30, 1956, Sassoli had been a member of the EU assembly for more than 10 years, after a switch from journalism to politics.<\/p>\n

He began his career working for smaller newspapers, eventually joining the Rome daily Il Giornio in 1985 and later moving to the public broadcaster RAI.<\/p>\n

As president, Sassoli managed the European Parliament’s transition to remote working during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

He helped EU leaders steer the bloc’s unprecedented pandemic recovery package to adoption and also reached an agreement with the EU governments on the bloc’s long-term budget in 2020.<\/p>\n

During the pandemic Sassoli opened the EU assembly’s premises as a woman’s shelter for victims of violence and to provide meals to charities.<\/p>\n

He was critical of many EU members’ migration policies and repeatedly advocated on behalf of migrants.<\/p>\n

Sassoli was due to step down in 2022 under a power-sharing agreement with the European Parliament’s centre right group. His successor is to be elected on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

By Ciar\u00e1n Sunderland and Ella Joyner, dpa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brussels (dpa) – The European Parliament honoured the memory of the late David Sassoli at a plenary session in the French city Strasbourg on Monday. The former president of the EU legislature died unexpectedly on January 11 after several months of poor health. He was 65. French President Emmanuel Macron, present at this week’s plenary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1080788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1104873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualidad"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t