Italy with open a “consultation process” with Germany to resolve the question of the failure to pay compensation for the Italian victims of the Nazi massacres. The pledge was made by Minister Giulio Terzi, speaking at the end of a meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Rome with the associations of victims’ families.
Just a few days ago, the International Court of Justice at The Hague had ruled in Berlin’s favour, on the grounds that Italy had failed to respect the immunity granted to Germany under international law. In Terzi’s view, this ruling did indeed confirm “a principle of international law”. At the same time, however, “The Court’s decision encourages the two countries to examine more closely the route through which certain key facts and categories need to be respected in terms of reparation and above all of remembrance”.
Minister Terzi gave an assurance of the Government’s intention to help the associations of victims’ families in any way possible. He reiterated the spirit of great solidarity felt by all the Italian institutions and authorities for the suffering experienced by these groups. So many individuals, citizens and victims paid with their lives for the wave of barbarism that swept through Italy and Europe during the Second World War.
