Foti, who is Fitto's successor: from Social Movement to Melonian doc

Tommaso Foti is Raffaele Fitto's successor at the Ministry of European Affairs. A native of Piacenza, a true Melonian, he began his political activity at a very young age, joining the Fronte della Gioventù, the youth organisation of the Italian Social Movement-National Right, where he later served as provincial secretary, as a member of the National Executive, and in 1983 as a member of the National Executive.

Born in Piacenza on 28 April 1960, 'Masino', a diminutive by which he is still called by 'his most affectionate friends', graduated from the Liceo Respighi high school in July 1978. "My first gymnasium of confrontation, not infrequently, even of clash, politics," he writes in his biography in which he recalls that "family reasons" soon led him to the world of work, "where I took my first steps by representing, as a 'son of art', one of the most important Italian companies in the agri-food sector". "My Nerazzurri faith is and remains unwavering," Foti says of himself in reference to his passion for Inter. 'I am loyal and believe in friendship,' he then adds, recalling that '2 May 1992 is one of the most beautiful days of my life, as my daughter Alessandra was born'.

In the 1980 local elections, he was elected municipal councillor in Piacenza for the Italian Social Movement, at the age of just 20, and was subsequently confirmed in each consultation, also for Alleanza Nazionale, for a further six mandates, remaining in office until 2005.

In 1995, he joined Gianfranco Fini's Fiuggi turning point that led to the dissolution of the MSI-DN and the founding of Alleanza Nazionale. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time in the 1996 political elections for the Polo per le Libertà (in the National Alliance quota) in the Piacenza constituency, where he obtained 41.32% and narrowly defeated Gianfranco Pasquino of the Ulivo (40.97%) and Giorgio Alessandrini of the Northern League (17.71%), and became a member of the AN executive council in the Chamber for the 13th Legislature. In 1998, he was also appointed deputy mayor of Piacenza with responsibility for the budget, the treasury and taxes within the centre-right municipal council led by Gianguido Guidotti. He held this office until 2001, when he had to resign due to incompatibility between national appointments (i.e. the presidency of the Bicameral) and local administrative appointments. In the 2001 general election, he was re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the same constituency for the Casa delle Libertà (in the AN quota), and was re-elected in the 2006 and 2008 general elections.

Dissenting from the PdL's support for Monti's government, in December 2012 he took part in the PdL split led by Giorgia Meloni, Ignazio La Russa and Guido Crosetto, which led to the birth of Fratelli d'Italia (FdI), in whose ranks he was re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the Emilia-Romagna constituency in the 2013 general election: however, due to the low results obtained by the list in the Region and the defeat at national level of the centre-right coalition, he was not re-elected as an MP, despite the fact that the sixth best national result obtained at provincial level by FdI was in Piacenza.