Giorgio Mulé

Giorgio Mulè
Giorgio Mulè
President	Lorenzo Fontana
Vice PM	Mario Draghi
Parliamentary group	XVIII-XIX: Forza Italia - Berlusconi Presidente
Succeeded by	Matteo Perego; Isabella Rauti
Personal details
Born	25 April 1968; Caltanissetta, Italy
Political party	Forza Italia
Alma mater	Università degli Studi di Palermo
Profession	Journalist

Giorgio Mulé (born 25 April 1968) is an Italian politician and journalist. From 1 March 2021 to 19 October 2022 he was Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Defence in the Draghi government. In the 19th legislature he was also vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies.

He was director of Videonews [it] from 2006 to 2007, Studio Aperto from 2007 to 2009 and Panorama from 2009 to 2018. Since 2023 he has been part of the Steering Committee of IAI - Istituto Affari Internazionali.

Career

Born in Caltanissetta; after studying in Mazara del Vallo, he graduated in Communication Sciences at the University of Palermo.^[1]

Journalistic career

He began his journalistic career in 1989, at the Giornale di Sicilia in Palermo as a crime and judicial reporter, with a stint in New York City at Il Progresso Italoamericano; in 1992 he moved to Il Giornale, then directed by Indro Montanelli.^{[citation needed]}

In 1996, the director Vittorio Feltri entrusted him with the responsibility of leading the newly created news of Rome and then the Roman editorial team. He moved to Panorama where in a short time (after having held various positions, from correspondent to editor-in-chief) he became first deputy director and then deputy executive director. After the move of director Carlo Rossella [it] to TG5, there was talk of his possible leadership at Panorama, but in the end Mondadori entrusted the task to fellow countryman Pietro Calabrese. Mulè then moved on to direct Panorama Economy from 25 November 2004.^{[citation needed]}

Since December 2005, at the same time as managing Economy, he has also held the position of deputy director of Videonews [it], he structure that takes care of in-depth journalistic programmes at Mediaset. In May 2006 he was appointed director of Videonews; he left his career in print media. Sergio Luciano succeeds him at the helm of Panorama Economy . His successful program is Tempi Moderni, a program focused on current affairs investigations, broadcast on Rete 4, edited by Fabio Tricoli and Antonello Sette, and hosted by Irene Pivetti (in the first edition) and by Irene Pivetti (in the first edition) and by Ilaria Cavo [it] (in the second).^{[citation needed]}

From 11 October 2007 to 31 August 2009 he directed Studio Aperto, the Italia 1 news programme, succeeding Mario Giordano. In August 2008, he signed up to the Italia 1 programme Tutto in 1 notte, and Studio Aperto weekly program and subsequently also Rewind, Borders and Live.^{[citation needed]}

From 1 September 2009 to 31 January 2018 he was the director of the weekly Panorama (for which he had previously held the position of deputy executive director), succeeding Maurizio Belpietro, and of the weekly Economy.^[2]

In 2014 he was a temporary extraordinary professor of Communication Theories and Techniques at the Università degli Studi Pegaso in Naples.^{[citation needed]}

Awards and recognitions

He has been awarded numerous awards throughout his career: from that for his anti-mafia commitment with the "Ninni Cassarà" award in 2011 to that for his capacity for innovation with the "Biagio Agnes" award in 2017, from the Lex Spoletina for having accomplished a continuous and relevant action aimed at enhancing and promoting the city of Spoleto in 2019 at the Bonifacio VIII International Award "For a culture of Peace", in 2021. On 26 October 2021 he was also awarded the honor of Oficial del Orden de San Carlos by the President of the Republic of Colombia, Iván Duque Márquez, intended for those who help, those who support and those who support Colombian institutions and citizens. In November 2021 he was appointed Patron of the International Forum for Peace, Security and Prosperity as he was recognized as an "ambassador" of the mission and vision of the forum which are based on the ability to guarantee justice, safeguarding democracy and freedom.

In June 2023 he was awarded the title of Grand Officer of the Order of Naval Merit of Brazil - an honour reserved "exceptionally" for foreign personalities - awarded by the President of the Republic Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

He was a promoter and first signatory of the bill AC 2451 (AS 1894) which provides for the establishment of the "National Day in memory of the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic" approved unanimously by the Chamber of Deputies on 23 July 2020 to make the memory alive of all those who have lost their lives due to the health emergency. The proposal was subsequently approved by the Senate and so law no. 35 of 2021 established the National Day in memory of the victims of COVID-19, set on March 18 of each year.^{[citation needed]}

Election to parliament

Mulè on stage with Giovanni Toti during the 2018 Italian general election.

In the runup to the 2018 Italian general election, Mulè joined Forza Italia (FI) and, after resigning from the management of Panorama, he ran for the Chamber of Deputies in the single-member constituency of Sanremo, for the centre-right coalition with supoport from Brothers of Italy, where he was elected deputy with over 46% of the votes against the candidate of the 5 Star Movement Federico Firmian (29.15%) and of the centre-left coalition, Democratic Party share, Anna Russo (17.76%).^[3] Despite his candidacy in the single-member constituency of Sanremo, he was also the lead candidate in the 1st multi-member constituency of Liguria.^[3]

In the 14 February episode of Porta a Porta he stated that his campaign would launch during December 2017, when the well-known journalist met Silvio Berlusconi and they discussed a political commitment. Mulè said he took two days to think about it and subsequently accepted the Forza Italia leader's proposal.^{[citation needed]}

On 10 April he was appointed sole spokesperson of the Chamber and Senate groups for Forza Italia. He is the group leader for Brothers of Italy in the parliamentary commission for the general direction and supervision of radio and television services, as well as being a member of the 9th Transport, Post and Telecommunications Commission.^{[citation needed]}

On 30 June 2019, the Chamber of Deputies approved the text, of which Mulè was the promoter, rapporteur and first signatory, for the adoption and use of defibrillators in non- hospital environments. Law subsequently approved on 28 July 2021 by the Social Affairs Committee of the Chamber in the legislative session and published in the Official Journal on 13 August 2021.^{[citation needed]}

Since 19 December of the same year he has also been responsible for the national departments of Forza Italia in place of Adriano Galliani. On 12 May 2020, Berlusconi appoints a new coordination of 14 people including Mulè.^[4]

In August 2020, a few weeks after the constitutional referendum on the cut in the number of parliamentarians linked to the reform initiated by the First Conte government and concluded by the Second Conte government, Mulè announced, after voting "yes" in the assembly, his vote against, in dissidence with the official line of his party, initially aligned for the "Yes" by the leaders of the parliamentary group, before the leader Silvio Berlusconi positioned himself in an intermediate position granting a free vote.^{[citation needed]}

Appointment to government

On 24 February 2021 he was appointed undersecretary of the Ministry of Defence in the new Draghi Government.^[5]

In the 2022 Italian general election he was nominated for the Chamber of Deputies as the leader in the multi-member constituency of Palermo and was elected.^[6]

On the following 19 October he was elected vice president of the Chamber of Deputies.^[7]