The president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, has died this morning in hospital in Italy.
The 65-year-old Italian had been seriously ill in hospital for more than two weeks due to a dysfunction of his immune system.
"David Sassoli passed away at 1.15 am on 11 January at the CRO in Aviano, Italy, where he was hospitalised," his spokesman Roberto Cuillo tweeted.
"The date and place of the funeral will be communicated in the next few hours."
The former television newsreader had been in hospital since 26 December due to "a serious complication due to a dysfunction of the immune system," Mr Cuillo had said on Monday, announcing the cancellation of Mr Sassoli's official activities.
Mr Sassoli was previously admitted with pneumonia for several weeks last September.
The European Parliament sits for a five-year term between elections, but the president of the body serves for half that time.
Mr Sassoli had already indicated that he would not seek re-election.
He was born on 30 May, 1956, in Florence, Italy.
After a three-decade career as an Italian journalist, starting out in newspapers then moving to television and becoming a nationally known anchor, Mr Sassoli became a member of the European Parliament in 2009, and speaker in 2019.
He was a member of the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the second-biggest grouping in the parliament after the centre-right European People's Party.
Although his role was that of speaker, he had the title of president of the European legislature. His arrival in the chamber was traditionally announced in Italian as "Il Presidente".
Unlike some EU officials, who speak in English and French in public appearances, Mr Sassoli had made a point of using Italian.
President Michael D Higgins has said Mr Sassoli made a "valuable contribution in highlighting the importance of the European Union being closer to the people of Europe."
In a statement, President Higgins extended his sympathies to Mr Sassoli's family and friends, as well as members of the European Parliament.
The European Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and the Capital Markets Union said Mr Sassoli's death has "come as a real shock".
Mairead McGuinness described him as a "humble, kind and generous human being" and said she wanted to pay tribute to the work he did.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, the commissioner said: "We were working remotely when I was still a member of parliament and he was president, and today the parliament has survived Covid because of his hard work."
Ms McGuinness said there will be a "real sense of sadness" in Strasbourg next week when the European Parliament meets to elect his successor.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs has said he is "deeply saddened" to learn of the death of David Sassoli,
In a statement Simon Coveney said described Mr Sassoli as "an accomplished journalist who covered major events both in his native Italy and internationally".
"He was also an outstanding representative and a committed European, who contributed greatly as Vice-President, and subsequently as President, to the development of the European Parliament.
"He will be remembered for his warmth and humanity, traits which served him well especially over the last two years as he effectively oversaw significant changes necessitated to the Parliament's operations as a result of the pandemic," Minister Coveney said.
