STATEMENT BY FRANCO FRATTINI
ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER

Reply to the Government's report to the Senate
on developments in the Iraq crisis

ITALIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

March 19, 2003

This Government has, up until the last minute, sought a peaceful solution to the disarming of Iraq and the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, but Saddam Hussein, maintaining that he had complied with United Nations resolutions, has also responded negatively to pressures to recognize human rights. I cannot, therefore, share arguments in which the use of force would be held illegitimate – legitimacy, on the contrary, lies in the combined provisions of the 16 United Nations approved resolutions to which the proposal, later withdrawn, would only have added a final deadline. Italy cannot be accused of not having used every available instrument to find a peaceful solution, as is demonstrated by the commitment of 8,800 boys who are risking their lives all over the world to keep the peace. Moreover, Italy decided on its own not to participate in military operations, and has chosen to stand beside a democratic United States and against a blood-thirsty dictator. The position of the Italian Centre-Left is anomalous in Europe, given that even countries that have contrasted the decision of the American government have confirmed the minimal provisions foreseen by the Atlantic Alliance. These consist of the concession of the use of airspace and military bases, on which the Government is asking the Parliament for a vote to confirm Italy’s foreign policy. In the future the Italian Government will try to highlight whatever brings the countries of Europe together, in an effort to formulate a common position on international policy that might also favour the Middle East peace process. As a strongly Europe-oriented country and a friend to the United States, Italy will be in a position to play an important role in the upcoming semester of the European Presidency in restoring Euro-Atlantic relations, but also in reforming Union Treaties. These are results that the Government intends to pursue in unison with the opposition in as much as they would represent a success for the entire nation.