European Parliament President David Sassoli died at the age of 65 at dawn today, Tuesday, in a hospital in his native Italy, where he was receiving treatment, his spokesman announced.
And spokesman Roberto Coelho said in a tweet on Twitter that Sassoli died at dawn today at the oncology reference center in Aviano, Italy, where he had been receiving treatment since the end of last December.
On Monday, the European Parliament confirmed that Sassoli had been in hospital for two weeks “due to serious complications caused by a defect in the immune system.”
The Italian center-left politician had spent several days in hospital last September with pneumonia. Illness also forced him to miss the opening plenary session of Parliament, which was held last October.
Sassoli was born in Florence, Italy, on May 30, 1956, and served as a member of the European Parliament for more than 10 years, after switching from journalism to politics.
Next Tuesday, the European Parliament is scheduled to hold a session to elect a new president to succeed Sassoli.
