Category Archives: Economic and Social Cooperation

The Italian Position on the Ratification and the Implementation Prospects of the Protocol of the 1991 Alpine Convention in the Field of Transport

CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, XVII LEGISLATURE, 173rd MEETING, 13 FEBRUARY 2014.

Italy was the last among the countries concerned to ratify the Protocol on the Implementation of the 1991 Alpine Convention in the Field of Transport (Law no. 196 of 2012, deposited in Vienna on 7 February 2013) but it contextually adopted and filed an interpretative declaration which prompted the apprehension of the Austrian and German authorities as to whether this amounted to a formal reservation by Italy, and cast doubts on Italy’s real intention to implement the Protocol. Following up on the objections raised by Austria and Germany, the Undersecretary of State for infrastructures and transport, Mr. Rocco Girlanda, clarifies the Italian position on this issue in the following terms:

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A Statement by the Undersecretary of State for Defence on the Application of the Hamburg Convention on Maritime Search And Rescue (SAR)

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CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, XVII LEGISLATURE, 149th MEETING, 10 JANUARY 2014.

On 10 January 2014, the Undersecretary of State for Defence, Mr. Gioacchino Alfano, reported before the Chamber of Deputies on the sinking of a fishing vessel that took place on 11 October 2013, 113 km away from Lampedusa and 218 from Malta. The sinking caused the death of hundreds of Syrian refugees, including many children. A member of the Parliament called into question the proper management of the rescue operations, namely as to the lack of coordination between the Italian and Maltese authorities, that resulted in a late intervention. He also contested the effectiveness of the rules provided for by the Hamburg Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) in so far as they allow a SAR area to be put under the jurisdiction of an authority which is not necessarily the best placed to intervene, as in the case at issue, where the competent authority was the Maltese one. In response to the parliamentary question, Mr. Alfano said:

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A Statement by the President of the Council of Ministers, Mr. Enrico Letta, on the Datagate

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CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, XVII LEGISLATURE, 122nd MEETING, 20 DECEMBER 2013.

On 20 November 2013, the President of the Council of Ministers, Mr. Enrico Letta, gave an urgent report before the Chamber of Deputies on the so-called Datagate, the scandal initiated by the declarations of Edward Snowden. Mr Letta described how the US National Security Agency (NSA) could monitor the flow of metadata of Internet communications at a global level (PRISM Programme). Another surveillance programme (Tempora) would have been established by the British intelligence to monitor communications in submarine fibre-optic cables. In light of this background, he stated:

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The Debate in the Sixth Committee on the Scope and Application of Universal Jurisdiction

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UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY, SIXTH COMMITTEE (LXVIII Session, XIV Meeting), THE SCOPE AND APPLICATION OF UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION, 18 October 2013.

On 18 October 2013, during the debate in the Sixth Committee of the UN General Assembly on the Scope and Application of Universal Jurisdiction, the Legal Adviser of the Permanent Mission of Italy, Mr Salvatore Zappalà, submitted the comments of his delegation supporting a more thorough analysis of the topic by the Committee, and also the possible involvement of the International Law Commission. After expressing satisfaction for the unanimous recognition of the principle of universal jurisdiction as a fundamental tool in ensuring that perpetrators of heinous crimes are brought to justice, he stated that:

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A Statement by the Minister for Home Affairs on the Management of Migratory Flows to Italy and the Amendment of the Dublin Regulation

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CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, XVII LEGISLATURE, 36th MEETING, 19 JUNE 2013.

On 19 June 2013, the Minister for Home Affairs Angelino Alfano reported at the Chamber of Deputies on recent landings of migrants on Lampedusa and other Italian coastal areas. He pointed out that the issue of managing migratory flows to Italy cannot be considered a merely national issue and asked for the cooperation of the European Union and bodies of the United Nations. He said:

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The Position of the Ministry of Justice on the Prohibition of Extradition of Terrorist Suspects

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CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, XVII LEGISLATURE, 17th MEETING, 16 MAY 2013 – QUESTION TIME.

On 16 May 2013, the Undersecretary of State for Justice, Mr. Cosimo Maria Ferri, outlined before the Chamber of Deputies the reasons leading to the Decreto Ministeriale of 24 April 2013, which granted the extradition of a Spanish terrorist suspect to Spain. In such country, special detention conditions, which have been the object of ECHR judgments and criticisms by human rights NGOs, apply for terrorist suspects. The extradition had been previously approved by both the Court of Appeal of Rome and the Supreme Court of Cassation. In his statement, Mr. Ferri referred to the decision of the Court of Cassation as follows:

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