EU Parliament President David Sassoli has died: Spokesman

European Parliament President David Sassoli died on Tuesday in hospital in Italy where he was admitted on December 26, his spokesperson and office said.

Sassoli died at 1:15 am (0015 GMT) at the age of 65, his spokesperson, Roberto Cuillo, said on Twitter.

Sassoli, an Italian socialist and former journalist from Florence, had been hospitalized last month due to a serious complication related to his immune system, his office had said on Monday.

He had been president of the 705-seat parliament since 2019.

Due to illness, he had been unable to chair the Strasbourg-based parliament in recent weeks and had missed the European Commission’s annual state of the union event in September.

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