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Emma Bonino, one of the most influential figures in Italian and European politics in recent decades, passed away on 11 September in Rome. In her 78 years, Bonino had been a European Commissioner, Member of the European Parliament, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Italian senator, member of the Italian parliament, and an influential leader of the Radical Party. A staunch European, she founded the Più Europa party in 2017 with a mission to defend Europe’s values and accomplishments. The party was affiliated with the liberal group in the European Parliament.
Bonino was among the leading figures in the civil rights struggles that shaped Italy in the 1970s – notably the legalisation of divorce and abortion, as well as the legalisation of soft drugs, and the defense of ethnic minorities. Her battles often involved civil disobedience campaigns and hunger strikes, hallmarks of the Radical Party at the time.
Serving in both right-wing and center-left governments, Bonino’s libertarian, liberal, and anti-communist leanings regularly put her at odds with her “natural” progressive political family, while her outspokenness and ideological independence earned her as much criticism as praise. Although weakened by illness – in 2015, she announced that she had cancer, from which she said she had recovered in 2023 – Bonino never stopped participating in Italian public debate to defend secular and anti-populist positions.
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