Hands Off Cain Secretary-General Sergio D'Elia says...

Hands Off Cain Secretary-General Sergio D'Elia says the Italian EU presidency has passed up on what may be its last chance to score a success before the end of its term. D'Elia was reacting to the approval by the Italian parliament of two motions generically requesting the government to work for a consensus within the EU and the UN for a "pronouncement" in favour of a moratorium.
"There is one word to describe the government's handling of the moratorium resolution proposal: failure. The government should not try to justify itself by hiding behind the European dissent because instead of trying to overcome this dissent, the Italian presidency fed it, amplified it and as demonstrated in the Italian Chamber today, shares it.
"In July, Italy had six countries expressing dissent to the initiative. In the space of a few weeks it managed to make them 15, not just the European partners but even itself! With its doubts, its lack of conviction and therefore credibility, the Italian government not only consolidated in Europe the stance of the fundamentalist abolitionists, but literally killed off the only concrete and reasonable means of moving towards abolition in a shortened time-span, that is the worldwide moratorium on executions through a UN resolution.
"In judging the behaviour of the Italian government the choice is now limited to: a demonstration of political mediocrity or a lack of operative ability. In any case the Italian government has shown itself unequal to the situation in terms of both its beliefs, if it ever really held these beliefs, and its own convenience.
The end of Italy's term presidency is near and there does not seem to be any prospect of chalking up a result that the Italian government can describe a success."