Italian Prime Minister Francesco Cossiga endorsed the deal, despite political and auto-industry opposition, because he hoped to bolster the fortunes of the state-owned manufacturer, which had a cult following but was losing money.
Lawyer, publicist and member of the Christian Democracy political party, he was appointed Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister office in 1979, during the presidency of Francesco Cossiga.
In 1980 he was awarded by the former President of the Council of Ministers, Francesco Cossiga, with the title of Commendatore della Repubblica and different times by the AGIS Association with several medals of honors for his loyalty, fidelity and positive results.
Francesco Rosi | Francesco Clemente | Francesco Bartolozzi | Francesco Guardi | Francesco Guccini | Francesco Marino Mannoia | Francesco Severi | Francesco Cossiga | Francesco Moser | Francesco Mondada | Gian Francesco Malipiero | Giovanni Francesco Fara | Francesco Redi | Francesco Quinn | Francesco Graziani | Francesco De Gregori | Francesco Crispi | Francesco Conconi | Francesco Barberini | Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini | Francesco Sartori | Francesco Ruggieri | Francesco Paolo Bontade | Francesco I da Carrara | Francesco Grimaldi | Francesco Coppola | Francesco Cavalli | Francesco Bonami | Francesco Alberoni | Pier Francesco Sacchi |
The Minister of The Interior Francesco Cossiga banned all demonstrations in Rome, but the ban was broken by the Radical Party and their demonstration ended in serious clashes between Autonomists and police for a whole day on March 12 and a high school student, Giorgiana Masi, was killed.
The vote of the Senators for life was not decisive, as three (Gianni Agnelli, Francesco Cossiga and Giovanni Leone) voted in favour of the government, three were absent (Carlo Bo, Norberto Bobbio and Amintore Fanfani) and five voted against (Giulio Andreotti, Francesco De Martino, Giovanni Spadolini and Paolo Emilio Taviani and Leo Valiani).
On June 24, 1985, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy Nilde Iotti, in agreement with Senate Speaker Francesco Cossiga, convened the two houses of the Italian Parliament, integrated with a number of representatives appointed by the twenty Italian regions, in a common session in order to commence voting for the election of the new President of the Italian Republic.
In June 1998, Buttiglione led the party into the Democratic Union for the Republic (UDR), a new Christian democratic outfit launched by Francesco Cossiga and Clemente Mastella, who had left CCD to form the Christian Democrats for the Republic (CDR).