The consequences of political choices. When last January the Conte bis government had blocked arms exports to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates there was a bit of a rush to get the credit for a popular action, which took place, among other things, precisely in coinciding with Matteo Renzi’s much talked about Saudi trip, highly criticized in particular by the Five Star Movement.
Towards the lifting of the embargo on arms exports to Arabia and the Emirates
Now, however, the Draghi government has decided to reduce the weight of the embargo. In a move shared by Palazzo Chigi and the Ministry of Defense, the Foreign Ministry informed companies that already had export permits to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi that the January “freeze” was at least partially lifted. And in the coming weeks, shipments will be able to resume towards a profitable market that was targeted for the use of weapons even in the bloody war in Yemen.
The revenge of the Emirates on the Italian military
In recent months, the Emirates in particular had retaliated with a series of actions that had made Italy understand that the move by the Giallorossi government had not gone unnoticed. A few weeks ago, for example, Abu Dhabi denied an Italian military plane bound for Afghanistan to fly over its territory. Not only. The very operation of the Italian contingent in the Emirates, as part of the European Maritime Awarennes in the Strait of Hormuz (Emasoh) mission, seemed in the balance with the Emirati government ready for the showdown.
The case of the Milanese businessman detained “for no reason”
Then there is the case of Andrea Costantino, a 49-year-old businessman from Milan, who has been imprisoned for three months in the Abu Dhabi prison “without a charge being made against him”. Perhaps, as the family’s lawyer, Cinzia Fuggetti, hypothesized in recent weeks, “his story is part of the climate of tension between Italy and the United Arab Emirates” following the Italian arms embargo. Costantino allegedly lost 18 kilos in prison.
Di Maio approaches Abu Dhabi via Saudi Arabia
And here then is the journey towards the release of the embargo, to restart bilateral relations. It was already understood that something was moving last week, when Di Maio received the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia at the Farnesina, who acted as an intermediary to try to dissolve the tension between Italy and the Emirates.
Di Maio removes the responsibilities of the export block
Now the new step, with Di Maio speaking before the Foreign and Defense Committees of the House and Senate, he explained that the embargo was not his choice. The Foreign Ministry “has only followed up on a resolution of the Parliament” and “until the Parliament decides the opposite with a similar act, we will not be able to change this regime as regards bombs and missiles”.
The cases of Alitalia and Piaggio on Italy-Emirati relations
Di Maio stressed that “the Emiratis did not like the action carried out by the Italian Parliament, not by the Foreign Ministry or the Italian government, which with two resolutions in the last two years has asked the government to stop the export of missiles and bombs towards Saudi Arabia and the Emirates “, he recalled, before mentioning the Alitalia and Piaggio cases, with the possible Emirati investors rejected, episodes that” were not brilliant operations to attract investments by Italy “because our Country “invited a foreign investor but was then unable to guarantee him what he had assured him”, ending up “affecting our attraction and investment relationship not only with the Emirates but also with other Gulf countries”.
Now, however, it seems that the wind has changed. And Italy is preparing to return to export arms to the Emirates, which in the meantime had turned elsewhere (in particular France and Germany). With all due respect to moral and ideological positions.