Fishing boats Artemide, Aliseo and Nuovo Cosimo, what is wrong between Libya and Italy
The relations between Italy and Libya between institutional emphasis and reality (with an increasingly pervasive presence of Turkey in Libya). Italics by Giuseppe Gagliano
The recent episode that could have had a dramatic ending – we refer to the story of the three Italian fishing boats Artemide, Aliseo and Nuovo Cosimo – is yet another demonstration of the irrelevance in the context of our country's international politics.
We must first consider that there is no official position on the part of the Italian authorities regarding the Libyan claim of the fisheries protection zone (in acronym ZPP) which extends to 62 miles and which was established in 2005.
Secondly, what actually exists are a series of recommendations to Italian ships not to sail in waters off the coast of Libya because they are explicitly defined by the Interministerial Coordination Committee as high-risk areas.
THE DIRECTIVES OF THE ITALIAN NAVY
Thirdly, there are no explicit political directives to the Navy. Precisely for this reason the Navy has avoided resorting to an armed intervention that would have determined an inevitable escalation. And it was avoided precisely because – in the absence of explicit written directives from the political power – it would be necessary by the aforementioned political authorities to contest the Libyan ZPP in writing, which at present is completely absent.
THE INTERVENTION OF THE ALPINE FRIGATE
However, and this is the fifth aspect, this episode follows the one that occurred a few days ago when the Italian frigate Alpino intervened in defense of Mazara del Vallo fishing boats that had been threatened by a dinghy of the Libyan national army of General Haftar the same as he had our compatriots kidnapped.
THE POSITION OF THE DRAGONS GOVERNMENT
Regardless of the completely unsubstantiated denials by the Libyan navy, according to which only warning shots were fired at Italian fishing boats, the reactions of bewilderment and surprise by some Italian ministers, however legitimate and understandable, demonstrate however the inability of our political class – yesterday as today – to resolve a question of this kind with the Libyan government after fifty years. That is, they demonstrate the political and contractual weakness of our government.
The fact that Draghi – praised and praised as much as Matteo Renzi was – went to Libya to sign contracts for our companies does not prove that our country has regained relevance and centrality in Libya.
This centrality and this importance have been won over by other nations – including Turkey – with which we will have to deal for a long, long time.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/pescherecci-artemide-aliseo-e-nuovo-cosimo-che-cosa-non-va-tra-libia-e-italia/ on Tue, 11 May 2021 07:44:29 +0000.