Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato has responded that Italy will be participating in the Nautilus II operation.

A few days ago, Arnold Cassola, Maltese Green MP in the Italian Parliament, asked Italian Interior Minister Amato why, in the context of the humanitarian tragedies in the Mediterranean sea between Libya, Italy and Malta, Italy had not yet confirmed its participation in the Nautilus II sea operation.

Minister Amato has responded that Italy strongly believes in this mission and is only waiting for the operational rules at technical level to be defined this week, as regards the Nautilus II operation. Minister Amato stated that Italy really wants this operation to be as efficient as possible and augured that Libya would allow the EU patrols, coming from Germany, France, Greece, Malta and Italy, to get as close to the Libyan shores as possible.

Arnold Cassola expressed his satisfaction at Minister Amato’s response and stated that this act of responsibility on the part of Italy would certainly contribute to avoid further tragedies and loss of human lives in the Mediterranean sea.

Arnold Cassola augured that other EU countries, apart from Malta, Italy, France, Germany and Greece, will give their strong contribution to the patrolling of the Mediterranean sea with the scope of avoiding further humanitarian tragedies and saving human lives.