The Italians ready to send a frigate
(B2) The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Franco Fratttini, confirmed this on January 28. Italy is ready to participate in the European operation EUNAVFOR Atalanta, to fight pirates off the coast of Somalia. A frigate with 114 people on board should be sent. She would be present by the summer according to a diplomat from the Czech presidency.
This sending is not totally spontaneous. During the force generation of the EUNAVFOR operation, there was talk of an Italian ship. But the Italian government is caught by the throat financially. And the Minister of Defense is very reluctant to engage in new external operations. The Italians are already present - quite significantly in Lebanon (Finul, Euromarfor and TF 448), in Afghanistan and in Sinai (where they constitute the naval force of the multinational force and MFO observers).
Pressure from shipowners was very strong. For several months, the Confitarma - the confederation of Italian shipowners - has been fighting for the Italian navy to (re)enter the area. Nicola Coccia, its president (who has just been re-elected to his post) was already saying this very clearly this summer (read Corriere della Serra). Managing the company "Gestioni armatoriali" (based in Naples), one of its tankers, the Mare Di Venezia, had been attacked by pirates and managed to escape (read the account of the attack). "A security system must be found. Of course it costs a million euros a month. But the government must find a solution...before it's too late" he said then to Procida TV (small island in front of Naples where the pilot of the attacked ship is from).
(NGV)
(Photo: "Maritime Patrol of the MFO" © Italian Navy)
