A veteran of Italy’s fight for civil and women’s rights, Bonino played a key role in the campaigns that led to the legalization of divorce and abortion in the country during the 1970s.
In 2017, she co-founded the liberal More Europe party, which paid tribute to her on Friday. “Activist, parliamentarian, minister, European commissioner. Always radically free,” party leader Riccardo Magi wrote on X. “Her life was a long struggle against everything that denies freedoms.”
Carlo Calenda, leader of the liberal Italian Action party, said: “The last great protagonist of the civil battles that led to the modernization of this country,” adding that “a piece of Italian and European political history is passing away.”
Bonino’s endeavors extended beyond Italy. She served as a European commissioner in the 1990s, notably overseeing an increase in humanitarian aid to countries and regions affected by some of the most devastating conflicts of the decade, including the Balkans, Rwanda and Afghanistan.
“Emma Bonino has never waited for the world to be ready. She has always chosen to move forward, showing the way to others,” wrote European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. “The Europe she fought for will miss her.”