Raffaele Fitto

Raffaele Fitto (born 28 August 1969) is an Italian politician and a former member of the European Parliament. He is serving as the Minister for European Affairs in the Meloni Cabinet since 2022.

Career
Born in Maglie, Apulia, Fitto began his political career during the 1990s in Christian Democracy (DC), the ruling party of post-war Italy. When the DC was dissolved and with the birth of the Second Italian Republic, he joined the DC's successor political parties and Christian democratic parties, such as Italian People's Party (PPI), the United Christian Democrats (CDU), and the Christian Democrats for Freedom (CDL). In 1999, he was elected at European Parliament within the electoral list of Forza Italia (FI), of which he was a member from 2001 to 2009, when he joined The People of Freedom (PdL), the new party of Silvio Berlusconi. On 17 May 2015, Fitto left the new Forza Italia, which had joined when it was re-founded in 2013, and the European People's Party Group to join the European Conservatives and Reformists. From 2015 to 2017, Fitto was a member of Conservatives and Reformists (CoR). In 2017, he joined Direction Italy (DI), which left in 2019 to join the Brothers of Italy party led by Giorgia Meloni. In 2022, he was appointed to Giorgia Meloni's government. He was replaced in the European Parliament by Denis Nesci.

Bribery towards the Italian public health care system
In 2006, Fitto was investigated by the Bari prosecutor in connection with a donation to his regional party La Puglia Prima di Tutto of €500,000 by Tosinvest, a company owned by Antonio Angelucci, ahead of the 2005 Apulian regional election. According to the prosecution, this amount was suspected of being a bribe to secure for the Apulia region the management of eleven nursing homes. A request to arrest Fitto, who in the meantime had become a member of the Italian Parliament, was rejected by the Chamber of Deputies. In December 2009, he was found guilty of abuse of office, corruption, and illegal financing of political parties; Fitto was acquitted of some other charges in June 2012.

In February 2013, Fitto was sentenced by the Court of first instance (Tribunale di Primo Grado) to four years in prison and five years' disqualification from public office; the sentence was commuted to 1 year. In September 2015, Fitto was acquitted of all charges by the Court of second instance (Corte d'Appello). In June 2017, he was acquitted of all charges by the Supreme Court of Cassation (Corte di Cassazione).

Bankruptcy of Cedis
In February 2009, Fitto was accused of conspiring, during his time as president of Apulia (2000–2005) to short-sell the trading company Cedis at that time (2004–2006) in administration. The charges were filed in April 2009. In March 2017, Fitto was acquitted of all charges by the Court of second instance.