Tuesday’s parliamentary debate on the European naval mission Aspides, a mission which will serve to protect commercial ships against attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
Tuesday’s parliamentary debate on the European naval mission Aspides, a mission that will serve to protect commercial ships against attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, represents a crucial step not only to formalize Italian participation in the mission, but also because Italy will play a leading role as the country will be in charge of tactical command of operations.
The mission was officially approved on February 19 by the European Union and Italy is therefore the last country to have a primary role in approving the mission, officially in Parliament, despite the fact that the Italian ship engaged in The mission is already operational in the Red Sea, where it will remain for 12 months.
The postponement of the parliamentary vote sparked criticism from opposition parties, particularly because the Italian ship found itself in recent days having to shoot down a Houthi rebel drone, even though it was not officially part of the mission.
Italy’s foreign minister spoke in the courtroom Tuesday, explaining that the delay was not intentional and that, crucially, the mission was necessary because 40 percent of Italy’s import-export business used the Suez Canal.
And that, therefore, the damage caused not only to Malian trade, but also to global trade, is significant, said the minister, who also recalled that the mission mainly has defensive tasks and, therefore, ships will not participate directly to the conflict and also declared the minister that this is an important step in the construction of a European defense.