ROME - Giampiero Massolo is expected to become the next Foreign Minister in the Five Star Movement-League coalition government, according to media speculation.

 Mr. Massolo has had a long career as a great advisor to both Italian and European institutions.

 He is the current president of Fincantieri, the Italian shipbuilding company, as well as president of the Institute of International Politics of Milan (ISPI). He has also directed the Farnesina, worked as a councillor for the ex-Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti in 1990, served a diplomatic advisor to Lamberto Dini in 1993 and worked in Italy’s secret services.

 He has undisputed skills and experience, and a strong political profile, although of a “bipartisan, if not tripartisan” nature. The former Prime Minister, Francesco Cossiga, has called him a “fascio-comunista”, but respects him nonetheless.

 He is also a figure that offers strong knowledge on European affairs and mechanisms. However, his curriculum appears far from the values supported by the Five Star Movement, including their campaign against war investments.

 Massolo was named president of Fincantieri in May 2016. Before this appointment, he was director of the DIS, Department of Information and Security, which coordinates all the activities of the Italian secret service.

 Within the secret service there are two agencies for external and internal security: AISE and AISI. As a great diplomat, Massolo decided to interpret the role of “coordinator” between these two agencies, becoming the international voice of the Italian security system worldwide.

 In this way, he strengthened and innovated a network of contacts and knowledge that was already very strong.

 Massolo, who was born in Warsaw in 1956, has received diplomatic training in Eastern Europe, Russia and the United States. He speaks English, French, Russian, Polish, Italian and a bit of German.

 From 1982-1985, he was First Secretary for Economic and Commercial Affairs at the Italian Embassy of Moscow. He then served as First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the Community in Brussels between 1985-1988.

 On August 4, 1988, Massolo returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome, where he served at the Office of the Secretary General. He has held a position in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ever since.

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