The new tensions in Red Seaafter the attacks on cargoes by the Houthi Yemenis and the decision of several companies to suspend the passage of their ships through the Suez passageworry about the repercussions on world trade and above all, if you look at it from the Italian point of view, for those on the country’s ports. Concerns that were not hidden by the foreign minister, Antonio Tajaniwho in the press conference to illustrate the priorities of the Italian presidency of G7 thus justified the negotiations at European level for the creation of one protection mission of the boats in that stretch of sea. “The reduction in maritime traffic worries us – he said – The competitiveness of our ports is at stake”.
In particular, there is concern about the repercussions on national ports which risk losing their centrality like the entire eastern Mediterranean. It is, added the minister, an “economic problem that is not secondary because we have moved on from 400 ships per day to 250. They have increased and not by a little insurance costs and they lengthen travel times because circumnavigating Africa means wasting 15 days. The competitiveness of our ports is at stake, Gioia Tauro, Toasts, Trieste, Genova. We talked about it in the Council of Ministers, with the Minister of Defense Crosetto we presented the state of the art and explained our concerns”.
This is why the naval patrol mission, which, he specifies, “will be defensive and not offensive“, is increasingly urgent for the Farnesina. In that stretch of sea, in reality, there were already two Italian frigates, the Martinengo and the Tomb, who coordinate with shippers to ensure safe passage through those waters. But a European naval mission would not only guarantee a more effective rapid response capacity in the event of threats, but would represent a step in the direction of more concrete military coordination at the European level desired by many governments. This is also why Tajani says he is “optimistic” about the possibilities of an agreement on Monday Bruxelles on the proposal presented with France e Germania. On that occasion, after the general agreement reached between the Sherpas, an agreement will probably be reached at the Foreign Affairs Council, with the final ‘stamping’ scheduled for February 18th.
The mission would be added to the one already present and named Atalanta which, however, had the objective of preventing attacks by the Somali pirates to cargoes. “The hypothesis – explains Tajani – is to expand the active one to Hormuz (the mission Agenor) to protect commercial traffic. Ships in the Red Sea have no rules of engagement to attack but have the right to defend and protect, even with the use of weapons, merchant ships if they are ever attacked.” And he specified that he was ready “to go to Parliament to illustrate our actions on the Red Sea”.
The government’s action, however, cannot be limited to the military sphere, given that the new escalation in the Red Sea is linked to the regional crisis that has exploded again with the conflict in Gaza. For this reason, concludes the minister, a mission is being planned Israel, Palestine e Lebanon: “Not only military but also diplomatic action is needed to protect our exports – concluded Tajani – In the next few days I will be on a mission to Lebanon, Israel and Palestine to bring another message of peace and dialogue”.