Nicola Danti

Nicola Danti (born 6 September 1966) is an Italian politician who served – with a brief interruption – as a Member of the European Parliament from the 2014 elections until the 2024 elections. He is a member of Italia Viva (IV) and was the vice-president of Renew Europe in the European Parliament. He has been active in the politics of Tuscany since the 1990s. He has three children.

Early life and career Born in 1966 in Pelago, Danti graduated in Political Science at the University of Florence in 1993. He managed a consulting company until 2000. In his youth, he was a scout in the Association of Catholic Guides and Scouts of Italy (AGESCI). He has three children. He described his first 500 days as a member of the European Parliament in a book titled La strada da percorrere ("The way to go"), published in December 2015.

Political career Danti's political career started in 1990, aged 24, when he was elected to the Pontassieve municipal council as member of the Christian Democracy party, and later of the Italian People's Party. He soon became deputy-mayor of Pontassieve, from 1995 to 1999. From 1999 to 2004, he was again member of the municipal council. In 2002, he joined the Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy party and was also elected president of the Florentine Mountain Community, an office that he kept until 2008. He has been a member of several local authorities' associations. From 2004 to 2009, he served as municipal councilor for Pelago.

During the center-left coalition primary election of November–December 2012, he was the coordinator of Renzi's committees in Tuscany. He was a member of the National directorate of the Democratic Party and the spokesman of the regional secretaryship of the party. and the European Parliament Intergroup on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime) He has also been committed to the protection of the "Made in" productions and in favour of the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) resolution.

In October 2019, Danti announced he would leave the Democratic Party in favor of Italia Viva. Shortly after, in February 2020, he announced that he would move to the group of Renew Europe in the European Parliament. In December, he joined the European Democratic Party, which makes up a part of Renew. In October 2021, Danti was elected vice-president of the Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament.

In May 2024, he announced that he would not stand in the 2024 European Parliament election in Italy, stating that he had no chance of being elected due to IV's own leader, Matteo Renzi, running to become an MEP and becoming the main candidate of IV.