EU High Representative Catherine Ashton “has committed to undertaking any possible further step toward a positive solution” to the affair involving two Italian servicemen in India. This was the message of Premier Mario Monti in a note issued in Brussels after a meeting with the High Representative, during which she supplied the Italian Premier with the latest news on contacts between the EU delegation and the Delhi authorities.
Ashton, the premier’s note reads, “underscored the need for the Delhi authorities to view this incident within the context of international cooperation efforts to combat piracy”. And to give “further impetus to the discussion under way for the drafting of international rules on the presence of armed forces personnel on board mercantile ships”. Monti and the High Representative said they would maintain “close contact” as they monitored developments in the situation.
The EU delegation’s contacts in India are the result of the intervention by Italian Premier Mario Monti and Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi, beginning with the European Council’s in early March. On the recent occasion of the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers’ in Copenhagen, the head of Italian diplomacy had a face-to-face meeting with Mrs. Ashton herself. This is a step-by-step undertaking that must be viewed within the context of Italy’s broader efforts at raising international awareness of the incident regarding two Italian servicemen detained in India. Efforts aimed, Minister Terzi underscored, at explaining how it is “fundamental not only for Italy, but for all the EU members, that the principle of free navigation be protected and that there be protection and recognition of the bodies of any State acting legitimately within the framework of UN resolutions, as well as for ships waving national flags”. From Copenhagen, Mrs. Ashton’s spokesperson Michael Mann asserted that the European Union intended to “ensure its support” for Italy in seeking a positive solution to the incident, specifying that Ashton and Terzi had agreed to maintain “close contact”.
MARINES: Monti in Brussels to meet Ashton. De Mistura speaks with the two servicemen in India
La vicenda dei due maro’ italiani detenuti in India e’ stata al centro di un incontro a Bruxelles del premier Mario Monti con l’Alto rappresentante degli Esteri Ue Catherine Ashton, mentre in India il Sottosegretario agli Esteri Staffan De Mistura ha di nuovo incontrato nel carcere centrale di Trivandrum i due militari italiani, Massimiliano Latorre e Salvatore Girone. “Abbiamo parlato della strategia da applicare per uscire da questa situazione – ha spiegato De Mistura – e ho precisato che considero loro non semplicemente parte, ma protagonisti di questa azione”. Il Sottosegretario partirà domattina per rientrare a Roma via Dubai, sostituito sul campo dal Direttore Centrale per l’Asia della Farnesina e dall’Ambasciatore a New Delhi, Giacomo Sanfelice.
