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The 70th anniversary of General Marshall’s Nobel Peace Prize

The 70th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize to George C. Marshall.

The United States and the administration of Trieste.

Analysis by Silvia Verdoljak

George C. Marshall (John Edward Bannon)

«Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos.»

George C. Marshall, Harvard, June 5, 1947.

Trieste, December 30th, 2023. – It’s been seventy years since U.S. general George C. Marshall (1880-1959), “architect” of victory in World War II and of Europe’s rebirth in peace as the Truman Administration’s Secretary of State was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Few Nobel Peace Prizes were as deserved as that awarded in 1953 to George C. Marshall, who is also the only career soldier to ever receive the award.

He received the award on December 10, 1953, «for proposing and supervising the plan for the economic recovery of Europe», and for his efforts to promote world peace and understanding.

Indeed, the ethical and political principles, as well as the impressive funds of the “Marshall Plan” between 1948 and 1952, are the foundations of the reconstruction of 18 European States’ national economies and of the development of Community process in modern, democratic Europe, which otherwise would have succumbed to devastating economic and political chaos.

The debt of gratitude that all of us Europeans have to the US and to George C. Marshall is immense, and it is always present because the aid donated in an extremely harsh time has continued to multiplicate throughout time.

And Trieste, as the 18th Marshall Plan State, has special reasons of gratitude to the United States of America in the past and of hope for the future.

Yet, the vast majority of European public opinion is unaware of this debt of gratitude because the memory of it has been hindered or erased for decades by the propaganda of political formations that are hostile to the US for nationalistic or ideological reasons.

And this problem is more than just historical and moral, because those anti-US propagandas based on disinformation are still hampering political and strategic Euro-Atlantic balances on matters that are as urgent as they are current.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to George C. Marshall, we consider it duly offering our readers the basic information required to re-establish a correct memory of his efforts and the United States’ own actions for present-day Europe.

Victorious General and Secretary of State.

George Catlett Marshall Jr. was born in 1880 in Uniontown (Pennsylvania). In 1902, after graduating from the Virginia Military Institute, he joined the United States Army, and served as an officer in the Philippine–American War, in World War I and World War II, in the Chinese Civil War and in the Korean War.

From 1939, with the rank of General, he became Army chief of staff and the principal military adviser of President Roosevelt during WWII. In those roles, he reorganized the Army and directed operations on all fronts with such capability and efficiency that President Truman declared him the “architect of victory”.

In 1947, Presidente Truman nominates him Secretary of State, a duty Marshall carries out until 1949, becoming the architect of peace with an ethical and political outlook that goes beyond the new ideological, political, and military fracture of the world into two blocks—western and Soviet—in order to prevent Europe from suffering once again the devastating political and social destabilizations that followed WWI.

June 5th, 1947: the speech at Harvard.

On June 5ᵗʰ, 1947, with an historical speech at Harvard University, George C. Marshall officially invites all European countries, victorious and defeated, including the Soviet bloc, to agree on a program for economic reconstruction with the United States, which would fund it.

With courageous clarity, Marshall expresses the universal humanitarian principles of this offer of help without discriminations: «Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos».

However, after the earliest consultations, the Soviet Union, which during the war had obtained substantial aid from the US, rejected this offer of peace, and it also prevented its satellite States from accepting it.

The invitation was accepted by 18 European States: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany (Western), Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Trieste, Turkey, the United Kingdom.

Western Europe's Recovery. The 18 Marshall Plan States: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany (Western), Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Trieste, Turkey, the United Kingdom.

The Marshall Plan’s dimension, structure, and impact.

The European Recovery Program – ERP was officially announced by President Harry S. Truman on April 3rd, 1948. On April 16th, the recipient Countries undersigned the agreements establishing the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation – OEEC (now OECD), while Trieste and Western Germany joined on October 16th.

From 1948 to 1952, the United States financed the Marshall Plan’s aid to Western Europe and Turkey with more than $13 billions of public money (about $32 each year for each US citizen). 86% of the aid was used to provide free goods and service (grants) while the remaining 14% consisted of loans granted under highly convenient terms. The amount goes beyond 170 billion current dollars (2023).

The Government of each recipient European State was bound to deposit the value of the goods it had received for free by the United States in a counterpart fund, established in the recipient’s own currency to provide for the State’s recovery and development.

On the other side, the loans were granted in US dollars, were to be repaid in annual installments with a 2.5% interest rate. The repayment period, which started in the second semester of 1956, after the end of the E.R.P., was 35 years. Also, the contract with each receiving State included a waiver clause that allowed for further delay in the payment owing to exceptional economic conditions.

The United States managed the Marshall Plan through the Economic Cooperation Administration (E.C.A.), which was in charge of providing both the grants, thanks to the funds it received from Congress, and the loans, through the Washington Import-Export Bank, as an agency of the US Government.

In 1950, E.C.A. aid was extended also to Yugoslavia, which in 1948 had left the Soviet bloc getting closer to the US with the December 1950 Yugoslav Emergency Relief Assistance Act, and to NATO with the Treaties of Friendship and Collaboration Between Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey signed in 1953 and 1954. For those reasons, Yugoslavia received economic and military aid from the US even in later decades.

The three fundamental instruments for peace.

The day after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, George C. Marshall held his “Nobel Lecture” at Oslo University, offering his perspective about the instruments needed to establish and maintain peace.

Seventy years later, his December 11th, 1953, speech, also known by the unofficial title of “Essentials for Peace”, is still extremely relevant for the analysis and resolution of all later international conflicts and of the ongoing ones, from the Middle East to Ukraine, from the African continent, to Eastern Asia and the Pacific.

Facing the tension of his time, consisting of the increasing “cold war” tensions in the midst of a conventional and nuclear arm race (the USSR had just announced its hydrogen bomb), General Marshall openly criticizes militarism and the idea that deterrence is in itself enough to maintain peace.

To the strategy of military confrontation, Marshall opposes «a spiritual regeneration to develop goodwill, faith, and understanding among nations»grounded in three essential instruments.

The first fundamental instrument is school education, which must focus on the factors of war, not prejudice. And which prejudice is stronger than national prejudices?

Marshall does not shy away from mentioning a negative example in the US itself, where the Civil War (1861–1865) is described in two completely different manners in books from the North than it is in books from the South.

Indeed, in a democratic society, in which the State’s policy directly depends on decisions made by each citizen, the formation provided to them is decisive.

The solution to overcome national prejudice is, according to Marshall, an objective study of the events, which he regards as more scientific.

The second fundamental instrument for peace provided by Marshall consists of the United State’s national attitudes.

Indeed, the United States is geographically distant from the region of the world scourged by war; however, the American people mainly consist of individuals that come from those regions, where they were oppressed and persecuted.

And this is the reason why the American people, even if they were not directly affected by the horrors and devastations of WWII, rushed to defend with arms Europe’s liberty and to offer material assistance to it right after the conflict.

According to Marshall, those unique characters of the American people bound the United States to serve the cause of peace, becoming the cornerstone of international cooperation. Exactly as is happening today with the “Abraham Accords” to build peace in the Middle East (LINK).

Finally, Marshall identifies the third and last fundamental instrument for peace in the establishment and maintenance of peace to help the millions who live in misery realize their aspiration to build a better life, based on liberty and human rights.

According to Marshall, more favored States have the duty to offer disadvantaged and oppressed people not only material help, but also support through the ideals of democracy, opposing the moral and material uncertainties, distrust, and intolerance that lead to war.

Marshall regarded as necessary «a spiritual regeneration which would reestablish a feeling of good faith among men generally».

At the end of his “Nobel lecture” George G. Marshall explains that the three elements so described are not exhaustive and none can be achieved without effort.

Effort to do good, effort to analyze and research the factors that protect peace and those causing wars, but also a material effort to support those great economic and military undertakings on which depend world equilibrium.

And, in order to achieve those results, as confirmed this year, 2023, by the Secretary of State in office, Antony Blinken, it is fundamental «leading by the power of our example».

Trieste, the 18th Marshall Plan State.

The direct, special bonds between Trieste and the United States of America date back to the American War of Independence (1775–1783).

From 1382, Trieste was an autonomous city of the Austrian Crown (LINK) and, from 1719, it became also its prosperous Free Port, with global trade relations.

The people of Trieste, already multiethnic and of many faiths, increased even more when Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II issued the Edicts of Toleration (1781 – 1785), granting freedom of belief and faith to Jews, non-Catholic or reformed Christians (Orthodox Christians, Evangelicals, Calvinists) and to secular orders (Freemasons). 

Count Charles-Albert de Moré, aide-de-camp of Lafayette, in a letter addressed to his brother described that Austrian Trieste as «the Philadelphia of Europe, the typical pioneer city of our old continent, the port in which castaways find shelter and a new, promising life», and the Triestines as «true pioneers […] flocking from the most diverse of lands in order to make a different life for themselves».

Triestine merchants, together with merchants from the Austrian Netherlands (the present-day Belgium), supported before the Austrian Government the cause of the American Revolution, even proposing trade agreements to support it.

In 1797, on President Washington’s order, the United States intensified its commercial, political, and cultural ties with Trieste, and opened its second European diplomatic representation there.

Maritime traffic between the US and Trieste intensified to the point that on February 22, 1814 the Austrian city celebrated President’s Day as 14 US ships were moored in the port.

In the early 20th century, the port of Trieste had passenger lines connecting it with the main US ports, run by Austrian, American, and German shippers, as well as by the “Austro-Americana” a company that offered a fast, weekly Trieste-New York line.

After World War II, Trieste was liberated by the Allied Forces on May 1st, 1945, and, from June 12th, it was under the care of a British-US Allied Military Government.

With their third proclamation, issued on July 3rd, 1945, the new British-US Authorities did also take care to repeal the anti-Jewish legislation of the Kingdom of Italy.

The Treaty of Peace of February 10, 1947 between the Allied and Associated Powers and Italy has established Trieste as a new sovereign State with an international Free Port, the Free Territory of Trieste, placed under the direct protection of the United Nations Security Council, and entrusted to a Provisional Regime of Government.

On September 15th, 1947, at the coming into force of the Peace Treaty, the mandate of provisional Government was entrusted, on the UNSC’s behalf, to the existing British-US Allied Military Government, which therefore became the first Government of State of the present-day Free Territory of Trieste.

This is why Trieste was soon included among the European Member State of the new pre-EU and international organizations (OEEC, EPU, ECMT, ICEM, Interpol, and the World Health Organization), as well as receiving the support of the US with the Marshall Plan.

Until 1951, the Marshall Plan provided Trieste and the Triestines with 37.5 million dollars, (worth more than $ 400 million in 2023), equal to $ 126 pro capita (worth about $ 1400 today). Trieste is the second State for aid pro capita after Iceland.

The Marshall Plan aid was invested in the development of shipyards, of industries, of railroads, and the international Free Port, creating jobs and improving welfare, lifting the war-thorn city and its economy.

Trieste, however, did more than just receiving aid; with its new international Free Port it played an active role in its Mitteleuropean Hinterland’s reconstruction.

In 1950, the international Free Port of the Free Territory of Trieste welcomed the four millionth ton. of ERP aid, directed to Austria (LINK). Triestine refineries did also process crude oil, providing Austria with petrol.

In 1954, the primary administering British and US Governments withdrew their troops, sub-entrusting to the Italian Government (not to the Italian State) Trieste’s temporary civil administration, and its military defense to NATO.

The sub-mandate of temporary civil administration entrusted to the Italian Government includes the correct management of the international Free Port of Trieste, at service of ships and freight from all States, without discrimination.

The sub-mandate of military defense assigned to NATO includes respect for the neutrality and demilitarization of the present-day Free Territory of Trieste.

To date (2023), both the Italian Government and NATO are exercising their respective sub-mandates, for the correct enforcement of which they are responsible to the people of  the Triestine State, to the primary administering British and US Governments, and, with respect to the international Free Port, to the whole International Community of States.

The Governments of the United States and of the United Kingdom are therefore responsible to Trieste, to all other States, and to the United Nations Security Council for matters relating to the correct enforcement of the mandates they have sub-entrusted to the Italian Government and to NATO.

In particular, these supervisory responsibilities regard the fact that the Italian Government’s bodies in charge of the temporary civil administration breach their sub-mandate and the relating international obligations, simulating that the administered State does not exist and that Trieste and its port belong to the Italian State.

As is known, this question is the subject of an ongoing, complex legal dispute initiated versus the Italian Government by the International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste (LINK) which, for this purpose, acts as a subject of international law.

Yet, it is evident that the principles expressed by George C. Marshall in 1953 should also apply to the settlement of this dispute, through the legitimate and duly active vigilance of the United States of America on the conduction of the sub-mandate of temporary civil administration of the 18th European Marshall Plan State and on the management of its strategic international Free Port.

It is in this light that Trieste, the 18th European Marshall Plan State, has good reasons to owe the United States special gratitude for the past as well as hope for the future.

Since May 1964, General Marshall’s Nobel Peace Prize is entrusted by his family to the George C. Marshall Foundation. The Marshall Foundation permanently displays the Prize at its Lexington building (VA).

Analysis by Silvia Verdoljak

30.12.2023 Il Corriere di Trieste

TRIESTE: SEVERE BREACHES OF LAW IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THE “OLD PORT”

TRIESTE: SEVERE BREACHES OF LAW IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THE “OLD PORT”

28 February 2023. – In Trieste, the Municipal administration of mayor Roberto Dipiazza, who has been in office since 2016, is committing with impunity severe breaches of law in the management of the areas and buildings of the Northern Free Port (the so-called “old port” or “porto vecchio”), causing damages and loss of revenues in the measure of dozens million Euro, and it does so with the direct or indirect support of the local authorities that should prevent those crimes. This is, in short, the state of “public lawlessness” denounced on 20 February 2023 by the I.P.R. F.T.T. (LINK) with a document that calls for the re-establishment of the rule of law, addressed, in English and in Italian, both to the involved public authorities and officers of the Municipality, the Region, and the Port Authority, as well as to the Commissioner of the Government and Prefect of Trieste, and to the General Prosecutor at the Court of Appeal.

The notified document’s subject is: «breaches of law regarding the management of port assets assigned to the Municipality of Trieste’s available assets under art. 1, paragraph 619 of Italian Law No. 190/2014 as amended by art 1, paragraph 66, letter b) of Italian Law No. 205/2017 – criminal, civil, and administrative (including for lost revenue) liabilities of the public servants and officers involved – request to re-establish law and order».

In view of the extraordinary seriousness of the facts denounced, which have obvious public relevance, as well as in view of the news blackouts that are shielding them since years, we publish the complete document (HERE) and summarize its contents and context.

It should be pointed out that the illegal actions denounced in this act aren’t related to the legal disputes opened by the I.P.R. F.T.T. since 2017 (LINK) with three civil lawsuits for demonstration of the rights and the obligations regarding the present-day Free Territory of Trieste and its international Free Port.

Indeed, the latter legal action challenges the inconstitutionality of the 2014 Italian provisions of law, amended in 2017, which ruled the removal from permanent public property (the s.c. “sdemanializzazione”) of the Northern Free Port’s areas and buildings, transferring them to the Municipality under obligation to sell them and hand all revenues over to the Port Authority, which is itself bound to invest them in the development of other sectors of Trieste’s international Free Port, which is subject to the rights of all States.

Indeed, the I.P.R. F.T.T.’s latest complaint revolves on the fact that mayor Dipiazza’s Municipal administration, after receiving those assets bound to be sold under those provisions of Italian law, is openly violating them by using those assets as its own or for the advantage of third parties with acts regarding their disposal or ruling expenditures which, therefore, are illegitimate and constitute severe damages to public accounts.

Consequently, the complaint does also regard the behavior of the local administrative authorities and of the local judiciary, because, despite being vested with the legal obligation to prevent the breaches of law committed by the Dipiazza municipal administration, they either avoid to prevent them, or go as far as becoming active accomplices (in particular, the Port Authority of Zeno D’Agostino, in charge since 2015, and the Regional Administrations of Debora Serracchiani from 2013 to 2018 and Massimiliano Fedriga’s from 2018 to 2023).

In its act, the I.P.R. F.T.T. highlights that all of this «does also carry implications for the personal criminal, civil and administrative (including lost revenue) liabilities of the public servants and officers who either took part in those crimes or disregarded their legal obligation to prevent them».

This is why the I.P.R. F.T.T. ends its note inviting them «to take care, within [their] respective responsibilities, to re-establish law and order on the matter, and to annul in self-defense all acts drafted in breach of the provisions at art. 1, paragraph 619 of Italian Law No. 190/2014, as amended at art. 1, paragraph 66 letter b) of Italian Law No. 205/2017».

The act itself does also foresee the involvement of the European Union’s antifraud offices for the cases in which the Trieste Municipal administration released European contract notices or sought European funding for works in the “old port” simulating their legitimacy or that the Municipality enjoys unconditioned ownership over those assets (for instance, a recent cableway project: LINK).

Our readers can learn more about the whole question by reading the full document directly (LINK), however, we think it is duly adding to the new further considerations regarding two particular aspects of this case.

The first aspect is that a state of public lawlessness as the one consolidated in Trieste may only take root and remain in power by the doing of a “system” of transversal networks of power that are able to interfere with the activity of democratic authorities as well as to influence the free press.

It is no coincidence that, since 2010, the reports of investigative journalists on this matter were only published by us, or that the local judiciary has systematically ignored or covered up complaints regarding those crimes and others related to them, going as far as punishing the press that was denouncing them to public opinion.

It is no coincidence wither that in 2015 the local “system” went as far as threatening openly the new, energetic Prosecutor of the Republic, Mr. Carlo Mastelloni, and we were the only ones to stand in his defense, publishing two analyses titled «Trieste: the “system” of corruption attacks Chief Prosecutor Mastelloni» (LINK) and «Trieste: the “system” of corruption threatens Chief Prosecutor Mastelloni»(LINK).

The most interesting explanation is the one we received from high-ranking State investigators who observe also our work. They say our investigative reports about crime in Trieste have one only flaw: the crimes we denounce are «only the tip of the iceberg».

Furthermore, it doesn’t seem negligible that certain of the local public servants and officers involved in the aforementioned unpunished breaches of law are the same who engaged in commercial and port agreements with the regimes of Iran (2016) of Venezuela (2018) and of Communist China (2019).

The cases’ other particular aspect is that the abuses of Mayor Dipiazza’s Municipal administration on the assets of the so-called “old port” and at the expense of all are public; however, the only one to oppose them with effective acts is the I.P.R. F.T.T., because it appears that no other authority or organization has the freedom, capability, or the courage to do so.

And maybe it is time for the people of Trieste to see it.

F.W.

Author of the English version: Silvia Verdoljak.

La Voce di Trieste © 28 Febbraio 2023

Trieste’s taxation rights and Free Port: impugned the “political” judgment of the Court of Cassation in Rome

Trieste-Rome, 29 October 2022 – The International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste I.P.R F.T.T. has presented its appeal for annulment against judgment No. 8600/2022, with which last March the Italian Court of Cassation refused to review the Treaties and laws in force, which establish the Italian Republic’s and the Italian Government’s obligations towards the present-day Free Territory of Trieste, including the rights of all other States over its international Free Port.

Furthermore, in that decision, the Italian Court of Cassation attempts to endorse certain well-known political claims according to which the Free Territory of Trieste “does not exist and never existed”.

However, such political claims are manifestly false, and if they were true, they would also imply the international Free Port’s nonexistence, because it is legally established since 1947 as a State corporation of the Free Territory of Trieste.

The writ of summon for annulment, dated 15 September 2022 and lodged before the Italian Court of Cassation under RG No. 23050/22, is published here (in English and in Italian) and does also reserve further action before the competent international and European courts.

Indeed, the impugned decision is abnormal, because domestic judges, as well as all of the Italian State’s public officers, are constitutionally bound to know and enforce, as part of their duties, also the domestic laws enforcing their State’s international obligations, however, they have no authority to violate, annul, or amend them.

This does also mean that, regardless of the judgment’s nature or instance, an Italian Court’s refusal to review and to enforce the aforementioned international obligations has no effect on them, and does not justify further violations committed by other Italian judges or Italian public officers.

Furthermore, any Italian court refusing, on political grounds, to review and enforce legislation in force would also violate its Constitutional obligations of fairness and independence, consequently denying the appellants the universal and fundamental human right to a fair trial before an independent and impartial tribunal.

For all those reasons, the I.P.R. F.T.T. considers the impugned decision «a political judgment that goes against the law, as well as subversive of legality and of the international legal order established by the port-WWII Treaties of Peace, which recognize the present-dayFree Territory of Trieste as an independent and neutral European sovereign State, with an international Free Port open to the ships and freight of all States, without discrimination».

The present-day Free Territory of Trieste borders with Italy and with Slovenia, and since 1954 its temporary civil administration is sub-entrusted to the Italian Government under a special trusteeship mandate by the Governments of the United States of America and of the United Kingdom as its primary administering Governments on behalf of the UN Security Council.

The subject is ruled by a coherent, univocal body of laws (LINK) and it is not an internal matter of the Italian State, because it regards another, recognized sovereign State, as well as its rights and roles within the international law, and the deriving rights of all States.

In particular, the correct administration of both the present-day Free Territory of Trieste and of its international Free Port has an increasing strategic relevance in the consolidation of the European Three Seas region (Baltic-Adriatic-Black Sea) and for the Western Balkan’s own stabilization, both of which are fundamental condition for Euro-Atlantic balances within the global strategic context.

This is why, since as early as 2017, the I.P.R. F.T.T. opened a complex legal battle summoning before Court the Italian Government to have it comply with its mandate’s obligation in regards to Trieste’s taxation regime (LINK) the Italian Value Added Tax – IVA’s collection (LINK), and the international Free Port’s management (LINK)

The third lawsuit is the most embarrassing for Italian Courts, because it accuses the Italian Government of port frauds and illegitimate agreements with Communist China, as well as because denying the Free Territory’s legal action would also mean denying the legitimacy of the international Free Port’s regime and, by extension, the rights of all States and their enterprises over it, including Italy’s.

So far, more than 1600 citizens, organizations, and enterprises from Trieste and from other States have joined the three legal actions to support the I.P.R. F.T.T.

Adhesions to the lawsuit regarding the international Free Port’s management remain open until Tuesday, November 29th, at the Free Trieste Movement’s office in Piazza della Borsa 7: LINK.

F.W.

English version by Silvia Verdoljak

La Voce di Trieste

29th October 2022

Free Trieste has joined the civil lawsuit for the international Free Port and is organizing further interventions of citizens and enterprises

Source: Free Trieste Movement – Official Website

The Free Trieste Movement has officially joined civil lawsuit No. 5209/2019 RG, registered at the Court of Trieste on 6 December 2019 by the International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste – I.P.R. F.T.T. which has summoned before Court the Italian Government, some of its Ministries and bodies, including the Port Authority, and the Municipality of Trieste for breaches of the legal and fiscal status of the international Free Port of Trieste (LINK).

This lawsuit is the most tangible and effective instrument to obtain the respect of the rights of Trieste, of all other States, and of their enterprises over the international Free Port, which exists since 1947 as a State corporation of the present-day Free Territory of Trieste, sub-entrusted to the temporary civil administration of the Italian Government by the Governments of the United States and of the United Kingdom for their role of primary administering authorities on behalf of the UN.

This initiative has already attracted more than 100 intervention, and all citizens and enterprises can join the lawsuit by scheduling an appointment with the Office of the Free Trieste Movement by email (LINK) or by phone at 040/2470772 – cell. 333/3337776 during the usual office hours

Trieste tax rights: the Cassation’s judgment is to be impugned

Source: La Voce di Trieste

Author of the English version: Silvia Verdoljak.

Trieste, 21 March 2022 – The Italian Court of Cassation lodged its decision, awaited since 8 February, in the first of the three civil legal actions for demonstration lodged by the International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste – I.P.R. F.T.T. versus the Italian Government and regarding breaches of Trieste’s legislation on taxation and on the international Free Port.

The judgment avoids any review of the laws and evidence on which the legal action is based, instead, it declares the Italian courts have no jurisdiction when it comes to the behavior of bodies of the State, and it surreptitiously invokes infamous, nationalistic political theses, which claim the alleged lack of legal existence of the Free Territory of Trieste, despite those claims lacking legal foundation. This means the judgment is absolutely abnormal under multiple respects, starting with the unexpected fact that it subjects legality to politics, thus breaching the Constitutional principles of independence, neutrality, and function of the judiciary.

In addition to this, the judgment is not final, and it does not close Question Trieste, because it is being immediately impugned for annulment. This does also mean that it cannot affect the other pending lawsuits on the matter, especially not the one regarding the international Free Port and, if that judgment is confirmed, it would strengthen the previously announced, and already possible, further actions before the competent European and international Courts.

News and statements alleging that this judgment of the Italian Court of Cassation closes Question Trieste are therefore mere disinformation and false political propagandas, as we reserve to demonstrate publishing at the earliest possible time a clear and accurate analysis of the abnormal judgment and of the grounds for its impugnation and for further appeals before superior European and international Courts.

F.W.

Taxes and international Free Port of Trieste: why victory is near

Analysis by Paolo G. Parovel

Trieste, 29 June 2021 – The first of the three civil lawsuits initiated by the I.P.R. F.T.T. – International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste versus the Italian Government for the demonstration of the taxation rights of Trieste and of its international Free Port has reached the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation.

Taxes and international Free Port of Trieste: why victory is near weiterlesen

Das Movimento Trieste Libera – Bewegung Freies Triest unterstützen

The Free Trieste Movement in the biggest political organization in Trieste, and the only one that works tirelessly since 2011 for the full activation of all civil and economic rights of the Free Territory of Trieste and of its international Free Port, of its citizens, and of its enterprises, as well as to put an end to the serious judicial and fiscal violations of the Italian Government, which is still sub-entrusted with its temporary civil administration.

The work of Free Trieste does efficaciously develop on the local level, but also in respect of provisional Italian authorities and on the international level, with an intense elaboration of legal instruments, suitable acts, public actions and demonstration  both concrete and very symbolic, all promoted both in Trieste and abroad through conventional media and especially on line, receiving back many contacts and interest, constantly increasing.

The Movement is exclusively active  thanks to volunteers whee work without pay, asking to everyone to help as they can, because that is always useful, and according to their time and economic resources.

Those who cannot directly partecipate can also help by sharing information in their environment, or with economic helps to cover the administrative costs of the organization.

Each donation to the Free Trieste Movement makes a differnece and is greatly appreciated: donations can be either given to the secretary office (in Piazza della Borsa 7, Trieste), sent via bank transfer (IT94F0306909606100000075057, BIC/SWIFT: BCITITMM929), or with Paypal, using the following button:

 

As you can see from the material published on this website, only Free Trieste defends tenaciously and seriously, with competence and efficacy, the true rights of employment, welfare, dignity and freedom of the citizens, of the enterprises and of the State of the Free Territory of Trieste!

 

Trieste taxation lawsuit: appeal before the Court of Cassation

Trieste, 23 June 2020. – The Trieste Court of Appeal lodged its decision in civil lawsuit RG 139/2019, with which the International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste – I.P.R. F.T.T. and 599 natural and legal persons, including businesses, request the demonstration of the general system of taxation that is to be enforced in Trieste. The information comes from the I.P.R. F.T.T. with the announcement of an immediate impugnation of the judgment before the Italian Court of Cassation Trieste taxation lawsuit: appeal before the Court of Cassation weiterlesen

COVID-19: the I.P.R. F.T.T. addresses the Italian Government

The International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste – I.P.R. F.T.T. has sent to the Italian Government a note regarding the enforcement of the measures to contain and manage the COVID-19 epidemic emergency in the present-day Free Territory of Trieste and in its international Free Port.

The temporary civil administration of the present-day Free Territory of Trieste is sub-entrusted to the Italian Government by the Governments of the United States of America and of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on behalf of the UN Security Council.

The note is published in English here| and in Italian here

I.P.R. F.T.T.

Port of Trieste: the I. P. R. F. T. T. joins the EU procedure regarding the taxation of Italian Ports

The International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste – I.P.R. F.T.T. has submit an official intervention in the European Commission’s procedure State aid SA.38399 (2018/E) Corporate Taxation of Ports in Italy. The intervention of the I.P.R. F.T.T., lodged on 8 February under protocol number 2020/01608, revolves on the international Free Port and the customs port of Trieste, and is now published both in the original English version (LINK) and with an Italian translation (LINK).

The EU procedure considers that Italy Port of Trieste: the I. P. R. F. T. T. joins the EU procedure regarding the taxation of Italian Ports weiterlesen