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DEATH PENALTY: DECISION BY ITALIAN COUNCIL OF MINISTERS. BONINO DISSENTS
April 13, 2007:
the Italian Minister of the European Policies Emma Bonino told Radio Radicale she is "perplex and is dissenting" regarding the decision made by the Italian Council of Ministers to "postpone to April 24 (therefore right after the Bruxelles' EU Council of General Affairs) any committed stance by the Italian Government over the UN moratorium on the death penalty. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Massimo D'Alema, will instead have the task of explaining to all other European Countries the Italian proposal.
In her first speech at the Council of Ministers, Minister Bonino asked the Italian Government to immediately take a stance; a stance that would see it desirable but not determining that all member Countries adhere to the proposed moratorium on capital executions.
Bonino continues: "In the end though, on Minister Rutelli's proposal, the Government decided to leave the decision on what to do to the next Council of Ministers, already scheduled for April 24, that is, immediately after the debate in Bruxelles.
Believing that it would have been useful to make our determination to proceed with this great battle of civilisation more explicit, I expressed my perplexities and my dissent in a second speech. I did this because I thought it would be useful for both the campaign and the other member Countries to be faced with a determined position taken by the Italian Government".
"This is a fight to strengthen a will, not to allow a delay till next September; a delay that might never end.
(Sources: Ansa, 13/04/2007)
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