Foreign Minister Emma Bonino says that \u201call options are on the table\u201d in the case of Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre, the two Navy riflemen accused of murder and detained in India. Especially if the law on which the accusation is based envisages the death penalty. The options include an offensive to prevent New Delhi from obtaining a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council: a promotion to \u201cpower\u201d status that is close to Indian government hearts. <\/P>
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In this interview, Bonino also describes the choice of the port of Gioia Tauro for the ship-to-ship transfer of the material from Syria\u2019s chemical weapons arsenal. A choice that has provoked strong protest. \u201cThe Mayor of Gioia Tauro\u201d, observes Minister Bonino, \u201cdoes not, perhaps, have all of the information at his disposal. In 2013, the port handled 29,802 tons, in 1,508 containers, of category 6.1 toxic substances. The same category as the material arriving from Syria, which involves 560 tons that is simply to be transferred\u201d. <\/P>
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Let\u2019s start with the two marines. Has Italy\u2019s petition to the Indian Supreme Court to unblock the trial changed anything?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cWe\u2019ve asked the Supreme Court to clarify why the NIA [ed.\u2019s note: India\u2019s counter-terrorism agency, the National Investigation Agency] has not acted on the recommendations of the Court itself, which on 18 January 2013 set July of that year as the date for the trial to start. The fact is that India\u2019s attitude has now changed: the Foreign Minister has expressed his embarrassment and the difference of opinion between the Foreign Ministry and the Home Affairs Ministry has emerged publicly\u201d. <\/P> How might the Court respond?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cIt could reiterate that the Sua Act [ed\u2019s note: the law envisaging the death penalty for terrorists] does not apply to the riflemen\u201d. <\/P> And if the Indians decide to proceed on the basis of the Sua Act, is Italy ready to respond?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cIf that happens, all of the options are on the table. Tomorrow [17 January] the government will hold a new meeting of the \u2018marines team\u2019, with Enrico Letta, Staffan de Mistura, the state legal advisers and representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Home Affairs and Justice. The team was set up with the precise aim of avoiding inertia and preventing anyone from taking a \u2018prima donna\u2019 role. A method with which I fully agree\u201d. <\/P> But is the government ready to \u201cinternationalise\u201d the issue?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cAt the diplomatic level it\u2019s already internationalised. If anything, we need to step it up, but the issue is no longer purely an Italian one. The European Union is involved \u2013 the EU Foreign Ministers\u2019 Council has been engaged for some time \u2013 and the Americans are involved. I\u2019ve written a letter to Navanethem Pillay [ed.\u2019s note: the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights] to explore the situation. And other roads remain to be explored, in addition to that of halting the free trade talks between the EU and India: more political roads\u201d. <\/P> For example? Do the options include possible initiatives on the UN reform? <\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cWe hope it doesn\u2019t get to that stage. But India\u2019s conduct in the marines\u2019 case certainly doesn\u2019t facilitate the situation in the eyes of the international community. Certain international questions are not making much progress: we can slow them down even more\u201d. <\/P> A parliamentary delegation is set to leave for Delhi. A positive step? <\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cIf they go as a team, led by the chairpersons of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees, it\u2019s positive. If we\u2019re back to a \u2018prima donna\u2019 situation, then it\u2019s not\u201d. <\/P> In Italy, some people plan to boycott the celebrations for [India\u2019s] Republic Day on 24 [sic] January. <\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cThere\u2019s nothing wrong with expressing your deep dissatisfaction. The things that annoy me are the insults and crass comments voiced against me by people and parties whose responsibilities in this affair are far greater than mine\u201d. <\/P> Let\u2019s move on to Gioia Tauro. The mayor says he\u2019ll oppose the decision.<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cI didn\u2019t make this choice, but it seems to me that as far as the requirements are concerned, Gioia Tauro fits the bill. It\u2019s a port with excellent facilities and Minister Lupi\u2019s reasons for the choice seem convincing\u201d. <\/P> But what about the dangers?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cSafety and security will be our utmost concern throughout the operation. But just to be clear: we\u2019re talking here about toxic materials, not chemical weapons. In the containers, the chemical agents and trigger mechanisms are obviously stored separately. They are transformed into weapons only if they\u2019re placed together, usually in the rocket warhead. The transfer, which will entail moving the material from one dock to another, with no storage involved, will take about 48 hours\u201d. <\/P> When?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cThe operations have already been delayed, because of problems in Syria. The transfer to the US ship, the Cape Ray, should take place in late January\u2013early February, in Gioia Tauro. The Cape Ray will then destroy the material in international waters, using hydrolysis. The residual material will be taken to Germany and Great Britain for conversion into substances that can be used in industry\u201d. <\/P> But did we really need to agree for the weapons to pass through an Italian port?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cFrom the outset, we\u2019ve adopted a line envisaging an international effort for the biggest chemical weapons destruction operation we\u2019ve seen in ten years. Having achieved that, countries with a sense of responsibility need to take part. Just as Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway and other countries are taking part\u201d. <\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Foreign Minister Emma Bonino says that \u201call options are on the table\u201d in the case of Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre, the two Navy riflemen accused of murder and detained in India. Especially if the law on which the accusation is based envisages the death penalty. The options include an offensive to prevent New Delhi […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[45,6,76],"class_list":["post-23972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviste","tag-asia-e-oceania","tag-mediterraneo-e-medio-oriente","tag-ministri-precedenti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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