Press Conference on the petition of the I.P.R. F.T.T. to the European Parliament in defence of the banking rights of the present-day Free Territory of Trieste.
Trieste, 21 April 2026 – The International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste – I.P.R. F.T.T. has submitted a petition to the European Parliament concerning the defence of the fiscal and banking rights of the citizens, enterprises, and residents of the present-day Free Territory of Trieste.
In particular, the direct enforcement of Council Directive 2011/16/EU of 15 February 2011, Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 of 14 July 2016, and Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 conflicts with the higher-ranking provisions of international law that protect the economic independence of the Free Territory of Trieste and of its international Free Port.
Indeed, the Treaty of Peace with Italy of 10 February 1947, in force, forbids the Free Territory of Trieste from entering economic unions of an exclusive character with any State (art. 24.4, Annex VI); it follows that the direct enforcement of EU Treaties in the Free Territory and in its international Free Port constitutes an illicit interference in the internal affairs of a third State, as well as being in breach of international law and of the same EU Treaties.
Since 1954, the temporary civil administration of the present-day Free Territory of Trieste, which borders with Italy since 1947 and Slovenia since 1992, has been sub-entrusted to the responsibility of the Italian Government by the Governments of the United States of America and of the United Kingdom on behalf of the United Nations Security Council.
This means that the Italian Government, pursuant to the relevant EU Treaties, should have exercised the representation of the Free Territory as a State not belonging to the EU, concluding temporary agreements on economic and taxation matters that are compatible with the legal status of the sub-administered Free Territory.
The relevant provisions are set out in arts. 131 TEEC, 299 paragraph 4 TEC, now art. 355 paragraph 3 TFEU: “The provisions of the Treaties shall apply to the European territories for whose external relations a Member State is responsible”.
The petition of the I.P.R. F.T.T. will be presented in Trieste on Friday, 24 April 2026, at 11 a.m., in Piazza della Borsa 7, at the offices of the Free Trieste Movement.
I.P.R. F.T.T. – Information Service