Italy's New Minister for Universities and Research Speaks Out. (June 9, 2006)

Fabio Mussi -  Credit: Pier Paolo Cito/AP

 Italy's newly elected Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, has named Fabio Mussi, an eminent member of the Democrats of the Left and senior vice-president of the Italian  Chamber of Deputies, as his Minister for the Universities and Research.

Mussi (58) joined the Italian Communist Party (PCI) at the age of eighteen, and in 1979 became a member of the party's Central Committee. When the PCI disbanded in 1991 he joined the Democratic Party of the Left (now the Democrats of the Left), the direct successor of the PCI and led its most left-wing faction.

According to Science, Mussi has begun reversing some of the initiatives of the Berlusconi government. He has "shelved new criteria for academic assessment, guidelines for shaping curriculum and research priorities at universities, and plans for a private university."

Mussi has promised to increase funding for research and he intends to introduce fresh measures to tackle controversial areas such as university appointments.

So far university administrators have voiced their support for the new minister's stated objectives.

However, matters promise to become heated in the near future. Science reports, "Mussi has also withdrawn Italy from a six-nation declaration signed last year that opposes embryonic stem cell research. The move could allow such research to fit in the E.U.'s Framework VII program, currently under debate. Former minister and architect of the six-nation declaration, Rocco Buttiglione, has opposed Mussi's decision and threatened a vote to remove him from the new government of Romano Prodi.

In October 2004 Rocco Buttiglione was the surprise choice of Silvio Berlusconi to be the European Union's new commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security. However Buttiglione's remarks on homosexuality and the role of women during a confirmation hearing sparked an institutional crisis which led him to withdraw his candidacy.