" Europe is the natural context in which solutions for social and economic progress will find their true meaning and true value."

Born on 11 April 1920 in Potenza (Italy).
• In 1946, aged 26, he was elected a Member of the Constituent Assembly that was responsible for drafting Italy's new post-war constitution. He was appointed secretary to the Agriculture Committee.
• In 1948 he was elected a Member of the Italian Parliament, where he sat until 2003, when the President of Italy appointed him a senator for life.
• Between 1950 and 1952 he was a minister in several Italian centre and centre-left governments.
• From August 1970 to February 1972, he was President of the Italian Government's Council of Ministers.
• In 1985 he became President of the European Union of Christian Democrats.
• On 12 July 1990 he was appointed President of the Atlantic Committee.
• Finally, from March 1993 to June 1995, he was President of Christian Democrat International.

◦ In 1976 Mr Colombo became a Member of the European Parliament, where he sat until 1992 in the Christian-Democratic Group which later became the Group of the European People's Party.
◦ In March 1977 he was elected President of the European Parliament and led it towards the first elections by direct universal suffrage.
◦ In May 1979 he received the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen, the third Italian politician to receive this honour after Alcide de Gasperi and Antonio Segni.
◦ From February to May 1992 he was chairman of the temporary committee on the Delors II package (From the Single Act to Maastricht and beyond: the means to match our ambitions), which had a remit concerning achievement of the Maastricht Treaty objectives.