Nicola Danti
Nicola Danti (Pelago, September 6, 1966) is an Italian politician. Since 2014 he has served as a Member of the European Parliament. He is a member of the Italian Democratic Party (Pd).
Early life and career
Born in 1966 in Pelago, Danti graduated in Political Science at Florence’s University in 1993. He managed a consulting company until 2000. In his youth, he was a scout in the Association of Catholic Guides and Scouts of Italy (AGESCI). He has three children. He described his first 500 days as a member of the European Parliament in a book titled “La strada da percorrere” (“The way to go”), published in December 2015.
Political career
Danti's political career started in 1990, aged 24, when he was elected in Pontassieve municipal council. He later became deputy-mayor of Pontassieve, from 1995 to 1999. In 2002, he was also elected president of Florentine Mountain Community, an office that he keeps until 2008. He has been a member of several local authorities’ associations.
From 2004 to February 2007 he was coordinator of Italian party La Margherita for the area of Florence, succeeding Matteo Renzi.
He becomes a member of the regional council of Tuscany on July 24, 2007, with responsibility for agriculture and housing policies. He is re-elected in March 2010, within Florence electoral district. From 2010 to 2014 he was the president of the regional council’s committee for education and culture. He was the first signatory of the regional law 70/09 “Interventions in support of the couples engaged in international adoption”.
During the national center-left coalition primary of November–December 2012, he was the coordinator of Renzi committees in Tuscany. Currently, he is a member of the National directorate of the Democratic Party (Pd) and is the spokesman of the regional secretaryship of the party.
Member of the European Parliament, 2014–present
In April 2014, Danti was among the candidates of the Democratic Party for the upcoming European elections, within Central Italy district. With 80,100 votes, he ended fifth of his list and was elected member of the European Parliament.
Danti is a member of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D). Currently, he is Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), and substitute member of the Committee on International Trade (INTA). He is also member of the parliament's delegations for relations with Brazil, Mercosur and the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly. Since 2016, he has been a substitute member of the European Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector (EMIS).
Within the IMCO Committee, Danti was shadow-rapporteur on the Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive; shadow-rapporteur of the opinion on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament on the European Fund for Strategic Investment; rapporteur of the opinion on the possible extension of EU geographical indication protection to non-agricultural products.
In addition to his committee assignments, Danti is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime)[1] He has also been committed in the protection of the “Made in” productions and in favour of the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) resolution.