Bellucci Maria Teresa

Maria Teresa Bellucci is Vice Minister of Labor and Social Policies in the Meloni government.

Maria Teresa Bellucci was born in 1972 in Rome. She holds a degree in Clinical and Community Psychology and specialized in Systemic-Relational and Family Psychotherapy. She also obtained a Master’s degree in the Organization and Functioning of Public Administration. Her educational background led her to work as a psychologist and psychotherapist, as well as an adjunct professor of “General Psychology” at the University “La Sapienza” in Rome. Her studies equipped her with the competence and effectiveness to engage in volunteering and social promotion, a commitment she has pursued since her adolescence.

During her university years, she dedicated her volunteer work to children under the care of social services, abused children, families in crisis, homeless individuals, and centers for drug addiction rehabilitation. She served as the national President of MO.D.A.V.I. Onlus (Movement of Italian Volunteer Associations), an organization that operates in Italy and abroad, providing assistance and protection for children, families, women, and combating all forms of pathological addiction.

In 2021, at the request of Under-Secretary Father Fabio Baggio, she was called upon to contribute her expertise in the field of child protection at the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

She has always been against the legalization of drugs and is a staunch advocate for defending and promoting a life free from any form of pathological addiction. She has consistently and intensely engaged in this issue, both inside and outside institutions, through national prevention campaigns, legislative proposals, parliamentary actions, conferences, and continuous dialogue with professionals and citizens. She is the creator of the national event “Against Drugs – Long Live Life,” held every year on June 26th, on the occasion of the World Day Against Drug Abuse. She is also involved in the national campaign of Fratelli d’Italia “Free from Drugs. Never Slaves.”

Currently, she is a Deputy and the Leader of the Fratelli d’Italia party in the Social Affairs Committee. She is also the leader in the Bicameral Commission for Childhood and Adolescence and the Investigative Commission on Foster Homes and Illicit Placements. Her belief and focus are on defending the most vulnerable. For this reason, she has strongly advocated, along with Giorgia Meloni from the very beginning, for the establishment of the investigative commission on foster care and foster homes, following the events in Bibbiano. This commission was established by the entire Parliament to shed light on illicit placements, but it was only formed, following numerous appeals, more than 250 days after the law’s approval.

She is also the National Coordinator of the Dependencies and Third Sector Department for her party, Fratelli d’Italia. With the victory of the center-right coalition in the 2022 elections and the subsequent formation of the government led by Giorgia Meloni, on October 31, 2022, she was appointed by the Council of Ministers as the Vice Minister of Labor and Social Policies in the Meloni government. She assumed office on November 2, alongside Minister Marina Elvira Calderone.