Minister of Economy and Finance since September 2019. He is an Associate Professor of Contemporary History at La Sapienza University in Rome and was vice-Director of the Fondazione Istituto Gramsci from 2001 to 2016.
From 2001 to 2006 he was a member of the Secretariat of the Democratici di Sinistra (Left Democrats) in Rome; in 2007 he was part of the Commission that drafted the Manifesto of the Democratic Party. Since 2008 (except for the 2017-18 period) he has been a member of the National Board of Directors of the PD.
From 2009 to 2014 member of the European Parliament, he was coordinating the S&D group of the Security and Defense Subcommittee and subsequently the Commission for Constitutional Affairs.
President of the Commission for Economic and Monetary Affairs and of the Bankin Union Working Group of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019.