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France sees ‘no reason’ not to extradite Italian militants

France has changed its position on extraditing those wanted on terrorism charges by Italy or Spain, a French minister said today.

Published: 18 February 2019 13:57 CET

France sees 'no reason' not to extradite Italian militants

The French Embassy in Rome. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

France now sees “no reason” to oppose the extradition of former Italian militants sought by Rome, one of the irritants between the neighbours, French European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau said in an interview published today.

She added that the country had until now “underestimated the trauma of terrorism” on its neighbours.

She revised France's long-standing position not to extradite political militants who had renounced their armed struggle.

French minister Nathalie Loiseau. Photo: AFP

“Judges will work this out among them, case by case… but there is no reason to oppose a possible extradition,” the minister told Le Monde newspaper.

“I think that our country has for a long time underestimated the trauma of terrorism in Italy or Spain, which we have treated with indifference.”

Italian authorities said in January they were still hunting 30 “terrorists” on the run abroad after far-left militant Cesare Battisti was jailed, ending his 37 years as a fugitive.

Italy's populist coalition government has repeatedly sparred with French President Emmanuel Macron on a number of issues, including rising nationalism in Europe and the migration crisis in the Mediterranean.

Earlier this month, France recalled its ambassador to Rome in protest over an unannounced meeting between Italy's deputy prime minister and anti-government protesters in Paris.

The envoy returned to Rome last week, marking a decline in the tensions.

French “yellow vest” protesters demonstrate next to the Italian border in Ventimiglia. Photo: Valery Hache/AFP

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Can foreign residents in Italy vote in the European elections?

Across Europe, people will go to the polls in early June to select their representatives in the European Parliament, with 76 seats up for grabs in Italy.

Although European elections usually see a much lower turnout than national elections, they are still seen as important by Italian politicians.

Giorgia Meloni will stand as a candidate this year, hoping use her personal popularity to give her Brothers of Italy party a boost and build on her success in Italy to “send the left into opposition” at the European level too.

When to vote

Across Italy, polling takes place on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June 2024.

Polling stations will be set up in the same places as for national and local elections – usually town halls, leisure centres and other public buildings.

You have to vote at the polling station for the municipality in which you are registered as a resident, which should be indicated on your electoral card.

Polling stations open at 8am and mostly close at 6pm, although some stay open later.

Unlike in presidential or local elections, there is only a single round of voting in European elections.

Who can vote?

Italian citizens – including dual nationals – can vote in European elections, even if they don’t live in Italy. As is common for Italian domestic elections, polling booths will be set up in Italian consulates around the world to allow Italians living overseas to vote.

Non-Italian citizens who are living in Italy can only vote if they have citizenship of an EU country. So for example Irish citizens living in Italy can vote in European elections but Americans, Canadians, Australians, etc. cannot.

Brits in Italy used to be able to vote before Brexit, but now cannot – even if they have the post-Brexit carta di soggiorno.

If you have previously voted in an election in Italy – either local or European – you should still be on the electoral roll.

If not, in order to vote you need to send an application more than 90 days before the election date.

How does the election work?

The system for European elections differs from most countries’ domestic polls. MEPs are elected once every five years.

Each country is given an allocation of MEPs roughly based on population size. At present there are 705 MEPs: Germany – the country in the bloc with the largest population – has the most while the smallest number belong to Malta with just six.

Italy, like most of its EU neighbours, elects its MEPs through direct proportional representation via the ‘list’ system, so that parties gain the number of MEPs equivalent to their share of the overall vote.

So, for example, if Meloni’s party won 50 percent of the vote they would get 38 out of the total of 76 Italian seats.

Exactly who gets to be an MEP is decided in advance by the parties who publish their candidate lists in priority order. So let’s say that Meloni’s party does get that 50 percent of the vote – then the people named from 1 to 38 on their list get to be MEPs, and the people lower down on the list do not, unless a candidate (for example, Meloni) declines the seat and passes it on to the next person on the list.

In the run up to the election, the parties decide on who will be their lead candidates and these people will almost certainly be elected (though Meloni would almost definitely not take up her seat as an MEP, as this would mean resigning from office in Italy).

The further down the list a name appears, the less likely that person is to be heading to parliament.

Once in parliament, parties usually seek to maximise their influence by joining one of the ‘blocks’ made up of parties from neighbouring countries that broadly share their interests and values eg centre-left, far-right, green.

The parliament alternates between Strasbourg and Brussels.

Find out more about voting in the European elections from Italy on the European Parliament’s website or the Italian interior ministry’s website.

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