Altiero Spinelli

Altiero Spinelli (31 August 1907 – 23 May 1986) was an Italian political theorist and European federalist. Spinelli is referred to as one of the founding fathers of the European Union due to his co-authorship of the Ventotene Manifesto, his founding role in the European federalist movement, his strong influence on the first few decades of post-World War II European integration and, later, his role in re-launching the integration process in the 1980s.