page_title: Francesco Cossiga
section_title: Prime Minister of Italy
hierarchical_section_title: Francesco Cossiga / Prime Minister of Italy
caption_attribution_description: English: Francesco Cossiga in 1979
context_page_description: Francesco Cossiga OMRI was an Italian politician. A member of the Christian Democratic Party of Italy, he was Prime Minister of Italy from 1979 to 1980 and the eighth President of Italy from 1985 to 1992. Cossiga is widely considered one of the most prominent and influential politicians of the First Republic.
  Cossiga also served as minister on several occasions, most notably as Italian Minister of the Interior. In that position he re-structured the Italian police, civil protection and secret services. Due to his repressive approach to public protests, he has been described as a strongman and labeled "iron minister". He was in office at the time of the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro by Red Brigades, and resigned as Minister of the Interior when Moro was found dead in 1978. Cossiga was Prime Minister during the Bologna station bombing in 1980.
  Before his political career, Cossiga was a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sassari.
context_section_description: One year after Moro's death and the subsequent Cossiga's resignation as Interior Minister, he was appointed Prime Minister of Italy. He led a government's coalition composed by Christian Democrats, Socialists, Democratic Socialists, Republicans and Liberals.
caption: Francesco Cossiga in 1979.
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