Trieste, 10 March 2014. – The decision is near. On January 8th, judge Leanza announced that on March 19th he is expressing himself about the 1954 Memorandum of Understanding of London.
The Memorandum of Understanding regarding the Free Territory of Trieste.
In the courtroom, filled with people, the judge promised a decision “based on law, not on politics” and this is exactly what we are waiting for: LINK
The Court’s own experts assessed in their official translation that the 1954 MoU establishes a temporary civil administration. Since 1954, Trieste and then “zone A” of the Free Territory of Trieste are sub-entrusted to the Italian Government under a special trusteeship mandate.
The authorities that sub-entrusted the Italian Government are Trieste’s primary adminsitering Governments: the British and the US Governments, on behalf of the UNSC.
And there is more: even the bilateral 1975 Italian-Yugoslav agreement confirms it (art. 7):
On the date of the entry into force of this Treaty, the Memorandum of Understanding signed at London on 5 October 1954 and its annexes shall cease to have effect in relations between the Italian Republic and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Each Party shall so notify the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government of the United States of America and the United Nations Security Council within 30 days from the entry into force of this Treaty.
This means the 1954 MoU ceased to have effects only in relations between Italy and Yugoslavia (which are two States, not the Government that signed the MoU). This means the MoU is in force in the Free Territory’s legal order and in relations between its 4 signatory Governments (3 since 1992).
TRIESTE IS FREE: ON MARCH 19th MANY THINGS ARE CHANGING, FOR THE PEOPLE OF TRIESTE AND MANY OTHERS.
Update: a photo gallery and Roberto Giurastante’s comment about the successful hearing.
