ROMA \u2013 The marines are going back to India, but the storm continues to rage over the Farnesina. Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi is convinced, however, that it\u2019s all to the best. \u201cThe situation is returning to normal and we\u2019re not sending our military personnel into danger or an unknown fate. They\u2019re not at risk of the death penalty\u201d. <\/P>
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Minister, was it worth raising the tension with India, to the point of a deep and serious diplomatic split, when we\u2019ve now been forced to send them back?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cI think it most definitely was worth it. Without that split we wouldn\u2019t have been able to negotiate the current conditions with the Indian Government. Better conditions for their everyday life in India, and a guarantee that the death penalty \u2013 the maximum punishment for the crimes they\u2019re accused of \u2013 won\u2019t be applied. We have no more concerns on that point\u201d. <\/P> Attilius Regolus [Roman general and consul who fought in the Punic wars] returned to Carthage, and met a very bad end. Don\u2019t you feel responsible for making them go back? <\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cNo, not at all. Conditions were different in the case you cite. Roman Law was in force and Carthage didn\u2019t apply it. We\u2019re acting in a framework of international laws that must be respected. We are confident that that will happen\u201d.<\/P> What\u2019s changed with respect to two weeks ago?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cThe tension ramped up, concerns were expressed over the safety of our Ambassador, the case took on an international dimension, with the UN and the EU also involved. We continued to take every possible action and that enabled us to verify certain aspects of the case with the Indians. I believe that bringing our marines back to Italy and announcing that they wouldn\u2019t be going back had the effect we expected, outcry excepted. Moreover, the steps taken by the military and civil lawyers also demonstrated that, from the point of view of the Italian justice system, Rome isn\u2019t just standing idly by\u201d. <\/P> That may be so, but the fact remains that the two marines are now returning to a country that wants to try them for murder. A crime for which, in extreme cases, the penalty is death. How did you break the news to them? <\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cI personally didn\u2019t speak to them, the Prime Minister did. I spoke to their families. I think we spoke about it at home. They know they have the support of the Italian Government and Italy\u2019s commitment to ensure that the situation is resolved in the best possible manner. We want to bring our two riflemen home. It must be clear that our efforts don\u2019t end here. We\u2019ve now opened a channel for diplomatic and judicial communication with India. Communication that can now get off to fresh start based on the principle of mutual respect between our two countries, as the UN asked on more than once occasion\u201d. <\/P> Do you think that\u2019s enough to put their minds at rest?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cI repeat, we need to view things in a different light now. In our opinion, our previous concerns no longer apply. The agreement with India envisages that, by its nature, this case is no longer classed as one that could attract the maximum penalty envisaged by their legal system\u201d. <\/P> The decision was taken today at a cabinet meeting that, according to some sources, was somewhat heated<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cI can tell you that the ministers at today\u2019s meeting had different feelings on the matter. But everyone worked hard to find a just solution that would also restore normal diplomatic relations with India and give us clear guarantees on the fate of our riflemen. I think everyone played their part\u201d. <\/P> Many commentators have been calling for your resignation, especially today, when the decision to make a U-turn came out<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cI don\u2019t see any reason for that. We\u2019ve been working hard in recent months to find diplomatic and judicial means to resolve the question. Resign? I\u2019m part of an out-going government. And if we\u2019re talking about resigning, then some people have been calling for my resignation since the Enrica Lexie [the ship the marines were serving on] docked at Kochi. Exploiting the situation with argumentation that I find utterly unjustified\u201d. <\/STRONG><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROMA \u2013 The marines are going back to India, but the storm continues to rage over the Farnesina. Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi is convinced, however, that it\u2019s all to the best. \u201cThe situation is returning to normal and we\u2019re not sending our military personnel into danger or an unknown fate. They\u2019re not at risk of […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[45,76],"class_list":["post-24273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviste","tag-asia-e-oceania","tag-ministri-precedenti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24273","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=24273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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