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Romano Prodi (Scandiano, Reggio Emilia August 9, 1939) is an Italian politician and a former President of the European Commission. He earned a degree in law from the Catholic University of Milan and later studied at the London School of Economics. This began a career in Italy's academia as a professor and researcher in Economics, which included brief visiting appointments at Stanford and Harvard universities in the United States.
 An election stand for the Olive Tree coalition, during campaigning for the European Parliament election, 2004, seen in Como, Italy. Note that the poster shows Romano Prodi and roundels (party electoral/ballot logos) for each of the constituent parties in the coalition. During the mid-1970s, he began to enter Italian politics, and was appointed Minister of Industry in 1978; he held posts on various commissions through the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1995 he became Chairman of the centre-left Ulivo coalition, and in 1996 Prime Minister, a position he held until 1998.
From September 1999 until November 1, 2004 he was the President of the European Commission. He actually remained in office a further two weeks because his successor, José Manuel Durão Barroso of Portugal encountered difficulties in the ratification of his council of ministers.
As leader of Italy's Ulivo coalition, Prodi currently leads the opposition to Silvio Berlusconi's House of Freedoms right-wing government. Prodi is expected to lead the Ulivo coalition in the 2006 general election campaign.
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