Italian Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Margherita...

Italian Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Margherita Boniver, speaking on behalf of the government, replied to a parliamentary question tabled in the Italian Senate by Ottaviano Del Turco with regard to the progress of the Italian EU presidency's initiative for the presentation of a pro-moratorium resolution at the UN General Assembly.
On October 16, Boniver appeared in the Chamber of Representatives to reply to a similar PQ tabled by Socialist MP Enrico Buemi and backed by MPs from diverse parties.
In both cases the government cited "widely-held and strong doubts" expressed by the European partners on the proposal of the Italian EU presidency to present a resolution for a moratorium on executions to the UN General Assembly.
In particular, the government echoed the preoccupation of some European governments that a defeat on the moratorium resolution could put in jeopardy the final goal of the complete abolition of the death penalty.
Boniver stated that the Italian government has not lessened its commitment to obtain a "unanimous and necessarily unanimous European consensus" on the presentation of the pro-moratorium resolution to the ongoing General Assembly.
The Foreign Affairs Under-Secretary informed Parliament that the survey carried out by the
Ministry on the voting positions of UN member-states "indicate a partial consensus" specifying that "we have arrived to 99 indications of a favourable vote, considering that the UN voting members are 192 [in fact they are 191 - Ed.] in the case of the presentation of the resolution to the General Assembly."
Boniver said that "the degree of uncertainty is accentuated by the fact that a number of countries, which are favourable in principle, have reserved the right to reconsider their position in light of the debate at the General Assembly and eventual amendments that may be made to the resolution."
In reply, Del Turco pronounced himself "disappointed" with the government's reply whereas Buemi said he was "absolutely dissatisfied." Both pointed out the possibility of entrusting to former EU Commissioner Emma Bonino the responsibility of spearheading the moratorium campaign on behalf of the Italian government at an international level and at the General Assembly, as had been the case in 1994, when the resolution was beaten by only 8 votes in a worldwide situation that had 33 more retentionist countries than there are today.