European Commission President Ursula
von der Leyen on Monday paid tribute to late European Parliament
President David Sassoli at the presentation in Rome of a
collection of his speeches entitled The Wisdom and The Audacity,
calling him a "kind and courageous man".
Speaking alongside former Italian premier and ex-EC chief Romano
Prodi, she said of Sassoli, who led the EP from July 2019 until
his death aged 65 on January 11 last year: "David was a great
speaker and also a great politician, who did politics out of
passion and not for power.
"He was a kind and courageous man, wise and daring, and was
called by some 'the good president'.
"When he said goodbye to me he was wont to say in French 'bon
courage'
"That's why I want to say the same, today, so that all in the EU
should have his courage, the courage to fight for our values".
The Florence-born journalist-turned-politician died a year ago
after being hospitalized on December 26, 2021 with serious
complications related to an immune-system dysfunction.
Von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel,
Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Premier Mario Draghi and
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez were among the officials
attending the funeral.
Sassoli's coffin was carried into the church draped in the flag
of the EU.
"It will be hard, really hard, but over the years you have shown
us that nothing is impossible," Sassoli's wife Alessandra
Vittorini said in a message to him at the funeral.
"We always shared you with others - family and work, family and
politics, family and passions - other places and commitments
with which you constructed your way of being, your values with
tenacity.
"We were your fixed point. But sharing you with others produced
this immense thing that we have been experiencing, as we saw
with the flowers and cards left in the street yesterday".
Sassoli also left behind two children.
A political science graduate from Rome University, Sassoli
worked for several newspapers before joining RAI in 1992.
He worked his way up the State broadcaster and became a news
reader for its flagship TG1 news show.
He entered the political fray in 2009, getting elected as an MEP
for the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).
He was elected president of the European Parliament on July 3,
2019.
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