Narendra Modi-Matteo Renzi's top men negotiated on Italian Marines issue

NEW DELHI: Italy has revealed before an International Tribunal that "behind the scenes" negotiations happened between the "most senior representatives" of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to settle the Italian Marines issue before India said it would not pursue the same given the matter was in Supreme Court.

Italy argued so during ongoing proceedings at the International Tribunal for Law At Sea (ITLOS) on Monday. "Following the assumption to office in early 2014 of Prime Minister Renzi's government in Rome and PM Modi's Government in Delhi, renewed efforts were made at the highest level to resolve the dispute in a negotiated manner…in mid-2014, the Italian government sought to engage the Indian government about negotiations on a possible diplomatic solution. Italy was carefully minded of the involvement of the Indian Supreme Court (SC) on the matter, even though it disputed India's jurisdiction, and Italy sought to formulate proposals for a settlement that would have been taken to the Indian SC by both Governments as a reflection of their agreement not just on issues of law but also with regard to the interests of all those engaged by the incident,” Italy told the ITLOS.

It added that the Italian initiative to engage India on a possible settlement took place both on "a visible track", in correspondence to the Indian MEA, and, "separately, behind the scenes, between the most senior representatives of Renzi and Modi” but it became clear this May that a negotiated settlement would not be possible. "At this point, India indicated to Italy that it had no latitude to pursue a negotiated settlement given the engagement of the Indian SC. This impasse is a matter of regret as Italy was and remains convinced that a negotiated settlement was possible," Italy told ITLOS. Italy has also objected to India calling the marines as "murderers", saying "this cavalier attitude to due process is chilling."

ET was the first to report last year that the Italian government has sought a consensual solution to the issue of its two marines facing murder charges in the case of killing of two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast in 2012. In August, Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj confirmed the same saying the proposal was under examination.