Who was Emma Bonino, the champion of democracy?

In the 2008 general election, she stood as a candidate on the Democratic Party’s lists and went on to become Vice-President of the Senate. From 28 April 2013 to 22 February 2014, however, she served as Foreign Secretary in the Letta government. Finally, ahead of the 2018 general election, Bonino founded and championed +Europa, of which she remained president until her death.

In addition to her institutional roles, during her long political career the Radical Party leader was also able to take time out and ‘sabbatical’ periods, such as when she decided, in the early 2000s, at the height of the terrorism crisis, to spend a considerable amount of time in Egypt, where she became a Visiting Professor at the American University in Cairo. In January 2004, she led the political process that would lead to the Sana’a Regional Intergovernmental Conference on democracy, human rights and the role of the International Criminal Court (since 1993, he had been campaigning for the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for post-genocide Rwanda).

Although the true common thread running through her political activism was her long partnership with Marco Pannella. A life spent in close partnership, cemented in 1976 when Bonino, the Radical Party’s lead candidate in many constituencies, was elected to the Chamber of Deputies at the age of just 28, alongside Pannella, Mauro Mellini and Adele Faccio. A thousand battles, struggles, protests and hunger strikes would follow. There was frequent talk of a romance between them – which they always denied – alternating with misunderstandings and, at times, rivalry. Pannella’s coldness was well known when Bonino stood as a candidate for the Quirinale in 2013, or when Marco, in 2015, ‘excommunicated’ his friend Emma on Radio Radicale: ‘Tunisia, Morocco... Emma Bonino is rushing from one place to another. She’s behaving as if she had nothing to do with the Radicals...”.

The truth is that, between two strong personalities who were at the centre of such an intense political experience, things could not have been all plain sailing. As *Il Foglio* rightly wrote some time ago: “The difference between the two Radical leaders stems from their differing approaches to politics and power. Pannella always viewed the role of the Radicals as that of a catalyst destined to bring about change through the influence it exerted on existing political formations. Bonino has also focused on operational and managerial capabilities within institutions.” And, as such, she is also capable of changing her mind, showing greater flexibility and less dogmatism, as happened in 1998 when, on the occasion of the 90th birthday of the former President of the Republic, Giovanni Leone, Bonino wished to meet him to hand him a letter of apology (in 1978, the Radical Party leader had been one of the main driving forces behind the media, political and journalistic campaign that led to the resignation of the then President, who was suspected of corruption in the so-called Lockheed scandal).

More generally, with her passing, Emma Bonino leaves the country a legacy of at least two important lessons. The first: the ability to wage unconventional and often anti-establishment battles, but never from anti-Western or violent positions; on the contrary, always in the spirit of the finest radical and libertarian tradition. She was convinced, as she said on the occasion of Pannella’s death, “that the significance of institutions, rules and the rule of law serves the weakest and most vulnerable best, because the powerful often regard them as an obstacle to their interests.”

Secondly: Bonino realised much earlier than others the importance of the European dimension in order to pursue a truly effective political career (as already mentioned, as well as being a long-serving Member of the European Parliament, she was a highly regarded European Commissioner, not only by her colleague at the time, Mario Monti, but also by the entire European establishment).

Emma Bonino’s key radical campaigns from the 1970s onwards are documented in the interview-based book *i* *I doveri della libertà* , published in 2011 and edited by Giovanna Casadio.

Farewell, Bonino; may the earth rest lightly upon you.