European Parliament President Sassoli has died at the age of 65, according to Reuters

BRUSSELS / ROME (Reuters) – European Parliament President David Sassoli, a former Italian socialist and journalist, died at an Italian hospital on Tuesday, his spokesman and office said. He was 65 years old.

Sassoli died at 1:15 a.m. (0015 GMT), his spokesman Roberto Cuillo said on Twitter (NYSE :).

He was admitted to Sassoli Hospital last month due to a “serious complication” related to his immune system, his office said on Monday https://reut.rs/3K15gyq.

Since July 2019, he has been the Speaker of the 705-seat Parliament. Sassoli, whose term of office was due to end this month in a primarily ceremonial role, said he would not run in the re-election.

Malta’s Roberta Metsola, a member of the European People’s Party (EPP) Conservative Party, is expected to run for office.

European Commission President Ursula van der Ley, the head of the European Union’s executive body, paid tribute to Sassoli and said he was deeply saddened by his death.

“David Sassoli was a compassionate journalist, a prominent President of the European Parliament and, first and foremost, a close friend,” he said on Twitter.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also sent condolences.

“We are saddened to learn of the death of President David Sassoli, a strong voice for democracy and NATO-EU cooperation,” he said in a tweet.

Italian politicians in many quarters paid tribute to Sassoli, and his death was prevalent in the morning news. Prime Minister Mario Draghi has said that Sassoli’s death has been shocking and praised his deep European support.

“Sassoli was a symbol of balance, humanity and generosity. These qualities have always been recognized by all his colleagues, from all political positions and from all European countries,” Draghi’s office said in a statement.

Former Democratic Prime Minister Enrico Letta has described Sassoli as “a man of great generosity, a passionate European … a man of vision and principles”.

COMMITMENT TO EXTREME NATIONALISM

In his opening speech, Sassoli called on Europeans to tackle the “virus” of extreme nationalism and to reform EU rules on migration and political asylum.

Due to illness, he was unable to head the Strasbourg parliament in recent weeks, and in September the European Commission lost its annual union ceremony.

He began his career as a journalist for the newspaper Sassoli before joining the Italian state channel RAI, where he became popular with the main news of the evening.

He joined politics in 2009, joined the center-left Democratic Party and easily won the European Parliament elections.

After failing to become mayor of Rome, he turned his attention to European politics, on his way to becoming president of the EU parliament in 2019.

He contracted pneumonia in September 2021 and was forced to spend several weeks in hospital. He never regained full strength and had to return to the hospital in December after suffering from serious problems with his immune system.