Granting the Exequatur of Ecclesiastical Judgments Would Have Been Contrary to the Italian Public Order for Breaching Supreme Pr

486 ITALIAN PRACTICE RELATING TO INTERNATIONAL LAW granting the exequatur of Ecclesiastical judgments would have been contrary to the Italian public order for breaching supreme principles of constitutional law.41 FEDERICO DI DARIO and LUIGI D’ETTORRE

XIV. CO-OPERATION IN JUDICIAL, LEGAL, SECURITY, AND SOCIO- ECONOMIC MATTERS

1. ITALY’S INVOLVEMENT IN POST-CONFLICT LIBYA. THE LIBYAN COAST GUARD TRAINING MISSION

Post-conflict Libya has been riven by internal conflict, institutional, political and social instability as well as a grave humanitarian crisis. The achievement of stability in Libya has been of concern to the international community, in particular in light of the serious consequences of internal conflict and fragmentation on, inter alia, the fight against terrorism and the Islamic State, as well as against human trafficking and migrant smuggling across the Mediterranean Sea.42 Historically a prominent international actor in the country, Italy has strongly supported the Government of National Accord, formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement signed in Skhirat, Morocco, on 17 December 2015,43 and endorsed by the United Nations (UN) Security Council as the sole legitimate executive authority in Libya.44 On 8 May 2017, during a briefing at the UN Security Council on the situation in Libya (7934th Meeting),45 the Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations, Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi, de- clared:

There is a need for a sustainable political solution to the crisis in Libya, one based on the Libyan Political Agreement. That is the sole framework in which solutions to the most pressing issues can be found, and the Presidency Council and the Government of National Accord, headed by Prime Minister Serraj, are the sole legitimate executive authorities of Libya, in line with resolution 2259 (2015).

In particular with regard to the ﬁght against human trafﬁcking and migrant smuggling, Italy took initiative both at the European Union level and bilaterally

41 See, for example, Corte di Cassazione (Sezioni Unite Civili), 17 July 2014, Nos. 16379 and 16380. 42 For a recent description of the situation in Libya, see for instance the Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, UN Doc. S/2017/726 (2017). 43 An unsigned version of the Libyan Political Agreement is available at the website of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL): . 44 UN Security Council Resolution 2259 (2015) of 23 December 2015, para. 3. 45 UN Doc. S/PV.7934 (2017). DIPLOMATIC AND PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE 487 with Libya. At the European level, Italy supported, inter alia, the strengthening of the EUNAVFOR MED operation Sophia.46 On 8 March 2017, in answering a parliamentary question at the Camera dei Deputati (Chamber of Deputies, 755th Meeting, XVII Legislature), the Ministro degli Affari esteri e della Cooperazione internazionale (Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation), Mr. Angelino Alfano, explained:

Italy has promoted and continues to work for the transition to phase three of the EUNAVFOR MED operation Sophia, which, as is well known, provides for the entry of the vessels of the Operation into Libyan territorial waters in order to stop smugglers and their boats straight off the Libyan coast. So, this is our position. It also serves to dismantle more efficiently the business model of human trafficking networks. These tasks would be in addition to what Sophia has already been doing, namely the prevention of arms trafficking and the crucial task of training the Libyan Coast Guard so that it can itself operate within its own territorial waters as soon as possible.

Mr. Alfano stressed the importance of certain legal requirements for the development of the operation advocated by Italy:

It does not depend only on us; that is to say, we need the consent of the Libyan institutions and we need, this is essential, a vote by the United Nations Security Council.

At the bilateral level with Libya, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on 2 February 2017 between the Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri (President of the Council of Ministers), Mr. Paolo Gentiloni and the Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj.47 As explained by the Ministro dell’Interno (Minister of Internal Affairs), Mr. Marco Minniti, on 5 July 2017 before the Senato della

46 The EUNAVFOR MED operation was first established by Council Decision (CFSP) 2015/778 of 18 May 2015 on a European Union military operation in the Southern Central Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR MED), lastly amended by Council Decision (CFSP) 2017/1385 of 25 July 2017. Its mission, as laid down in Article 1 of Decision 2015/778, is to “contribut[e] to the disruption of the business model of human smuggling and trafficking networks in the Southern Central Mediterranean […], achieved by undertaking systematic efforts to identify, capture and dispose of vessels and assets used or suspected of being used by smugglers and traffickers, in accordance with applicable international law, including UNCLOS and any UN Security Council Resolution”. 47 The full title of the MoU is Memorandum d’intesa sulla cooperazione nel campo dello sviluppo, del contrasto all’immigrazione illegale, al traffico di esseri umani, al contrabbando e sul rafforzamento della sicurezza delle frontiere tra lo Stato della Libia e la Repubblica Italiana (Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of development, in the fight against illegal immigration, human trafficking, smuggling, and on the strengthening of the security of the borders between the State of Libya and the Italian Republic). The text of the MoU is available (in Italian) at the website of the Italian Government: . On this issue see the comment by MANCINI in this Volume, pp. 259 ff.