Fitto Raffaele

Raffaele Fitto, born in Maglie on August 28, 1969, is an Italian politician with over thirty years of institutional experience and currently serves as Executive Vice-President of the Commissione europea for Cohesion and Reforms since December 1, 2024, with responsibility for EU cohesion policy, regional development, and reforms. He graduated in Law from the Università di Bari in 1994.
The son of Christian Democrat politician Salvatore Fitto, former President of the Regione Puglia, he began his political career at the age of 20, being elected Regional Councillor of Apulia for the Democrazia Cristiana in 1990. Following the dissolution of the party, he joined the Partito Popolare Italiano and later the Cristiani Democratici Uniti. He also served on the Regional Council of Apulia as Councillor for Tourism (1994–1995) and as Vice-President in charge of the budget (1995–1999).
In 1999, he was elected Member of the European Parliament with Forza Italia, serving on committees including the Committee on Budgetary Control, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, and the Committee on Regional Development. From 2019 to 2022, he co-chaired the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) in the Parlamento europeo. In 2000, he became President of the Regione Puglia, the youngest in the history of the Italian Republic.
Fitto was elected to the Camera dei Deputati with Forza Italia in 2006, served as Minister for Regional Affairs in 2008, and as Minister for Territorial Cohesion in 2010. In 2014, he founded the political movement Conservatori e Riformisti, which federated with Fratelli d’Italia in 2018. In the 2022 general elections, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies with Fratelli d’Italia and was appointed Minister for European Affairs, the South, Cohesion Policies and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan in the Governo Meloni.