Altiero Spinelli

Altiero Spinelli
Spinelli in 1969
Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship
In office 1 July 1970 – 4 July 1976
President	Franco Maria Malfatti Sicco Mansholt
Preceded by	Guido Colonna di Paliano
Succeeded by	Étienne Davignon
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 5 July 1976 – 10 July 1983
Constituency	Rome
Member of the European Parliament for Central Italy
In office 10 June 1979 – 23 May 1986
Parliamentary group	Communist and Allies Group
Personal details
Born	(1907-08-31)31 August 1907 Rome, Kingdom of Italy
Died	23 May 1986(1986-05-23) (aged 78) Rome, Italy
Political party	Independent Left (1976–1983)
Other political affiliations	PCdI (1924–1937) PdA (1943–1946) CDR (1946)
Spouse	Ursula Hirschmann ​ (m. 1945)​
Children	3, including Barbara
Profession	Writer

Altiero Spinelli (31 August 1907 – 23 May 1986) was an Italian communist politician, political theorist and European federalist, referred to as one of the founding fathers of the European Union. A communist and militant anti-fascist in his youth, Spinelli spent 10 years imprisoned by the Italian fascist regime. Having grown disillusioned with Stalinism, he broke with the Communist Party of Italy in 1937. Interned in Ventotene during World War II, he, along with fellow democratic socialists, drafted the manifesto For a Free and United Europe (most commonly known as the Ventotene Manifesto) in 1941, considered a precursor of the European integration process.

Spinelli had a leading role in the foundation of the European Federalist Movement, and had strong influence on the first few decades of post-World War II European integration. Later, he helped to re-launch the integration process in the 1980s. By the time of his death, he had been a member of the European Commission for six years, and a member of the European Parliament for ten years right up until his death. The main building of the European Parliament in Brussels is named after him. The 1987–1988 academic year at the College of Europe and the 2009–2010 academic year of the European College of Parma were named in his honour.