ROME: Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, a widely respected former Italian president who played a crucial role in Italy’s adoption of the euro, has died at 95, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced Friday. Ciampi, who served briefly as prime minister in a 1993-94 caretaker government of technocrats, held the largely ceremonial post of president from 1999 to 2006. He “served Italy with passion,” Renzi wrote on Twitter. Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni hailed “a great Italian statesman,” and other tributes poured in from across the political spectrum. As president, Ciampi was credited with exercising a restraining influence on the authoritarian instincts of Silvio Berlusconi when the controversial media tycoon was prime minister.

Source: Manila Times September 16, 2016 12:33 UTC