Issue of Italian marines and the fight against international piracy
13.8.2014
Question for written answer E-006296-14
to the Commission
Rule 130
Nicola Caputo (S&D)
It has recently been reported that the umpteenth hearing relating to the Italian marines who have been in custody in India for over two years has been postponed to 14 October. Given the low profile the Italian Government has adopted in relation to this specific case and given the sensitivity of the issue, it is important to get to the source of the problem, which is that of international piracy, defined in Article 101 of the Montego Bay Convention (ratified by both Italy and India) as ‘any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship (…) and directed against a ship (…)’.
Can the Commission say:
- 1.whether and how it intends to carry out, together with the Member States and the United Nations, an in-depth analysis of the system used to combat international piracy;
- 2.whether it does not consider it important to coordinate also with the Council, during the Italian Presidency, given that the latter’s programme states: ‘In the field of cooperation on counter-terrorism and other global threats (i.e. transnational organised crime, illicit trafficking, corruption, cybercrime and piracy), the Presidency will seek to enhance European inter-agency cooperation and facilitate the EU’s engagement with its international partners’?