Early political career Bersani joined the
Italian Communist Party and subsequently the
Democratic Party of the Left. As member of the National Secretariat of the Democrats of the Left, he was responsible for the economic sector. As a young man, he became Vice-President of the Mountain Community of
Piacenza, then elected in the
Regional Council of
Emilia-Romagna region and Vice-President of Emilia-Romagna in 1990; he was President of Emilia-Romagna from 1993 to 1996.
Centre-left cabinets (1996–2001) After the
general election of 1996 he was
Minister of Industry, Commerce and Craftmanship (1996–1999) and
Minister of Transports (1999–2001) in the centre-left cabinets of
Prodi,
D'Alema,
Amato.
European Parliament (2004–2006) In 2004, he was elected to the
European Parliament representing the
North-West region for the
Democrats of the Left, part of the
Socialist Group, and sat on the
European Parliament's
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. He was a substitute for the
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, a member of the Delegation to the
European Union-
Kazakhstan, EU-
Kyrgyzstan and EU-
Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for relations with
Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and
Mongolia, and a substitute for the Delegation for relations with
Belarus. He left the European Parliament on his re-election to the Chamber of Deputies in 2006, and he was appointed as Minister of Economic Development in the government of Prime Minister
Romano Prodi on 17 May 2006.
Prodi II Cabinet (2006–2008) , the official festival of the
Democratic Party The
Prodi II Cabinet assigned Bersani, as the Minister of Economic Development, the task of introducing reforms aimed at achieving increased market liberalization and competition. The minister responded with Decree Law 223 of 30 June 2006, later converted into Law 248/2006, popularly known as the "Bersani 1" decree on taxi drivers and pharmacies, although it also addressed other sectors. In 2021, Bersani said that
economic liberalization does not mean entrusting everything to the market, which he describes as
liberismo, right-wing, and distinct. In his view, liberalization means defending the common citizen from the market and ensuring that there are no dominant positions. The government's policy of competition and liberalization would not to stop there. "Bersani 1" was followed by "Bersani 2" (decree 7 of 31 January 2007, converted into Law 40 of 2 April 2007), and then by a series of bills for the liberalization of the professions and television broadcasting, local public services, and energy, as well as the reduction and simplification of times and procedures for the start up of new businesses. Another bill proposed to rationalize the jurisdictions of the regulatory authorities, modifying and reinforcing their powers, particularly with regard to competition. Still another bill would introduce and regulate the judicial procedures for class action lawsuits.
Secretary of the Democratic Party of Italy (2009–2013) On 25 October 2009, Bersani defeated incumbents
Dario Franceschini and
Ignazio Marino in the Democratic Party
leadership election, thus becoming Italy's main opposition leader, scoring 55.1% among party members. Since 7 November 2009, as decided by the National Assembly, Pier Luigi Bersani officially took office as Secretary of the Democratic Party of Italy. He defeated the mayor of Florence
Matteo Renzi in the 2012 primary election. ==2013 elections==