Crosetto writes to Kallas to request, by the end of today, more EU funding for Aspides. Preview

Italy is ready to take action in Bab el-Mandeb even without waiting for Europe, but is first asking Brussels to make a final effort to strengthen Aspides. This is the gist of the letter that Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has sent to the EU’s High Representative, Kaja Kallas, and which Il Foglio is able to reveal in advance. Crosetto is calling for “decisive and extremely urgent action by the European Union today” to secure new resources and contributions from member states for the European mission in the Red Sea.

The letter follows the move announced yesterday by the minister: Italy, said Crosetto after consulting with the Chief of the Defence Staff, no longer intends to wait for Aspides to determine when Italian ships may pass through Bab el-Mandeb. The aim is to swiftly restore the passage of Italian merchant ships through the strait; the possible deployment of further military vessels to protect them will, however, be assessed in consultation with the government and Parliament.

The problem, Crosetto explains to Kallas, is that Aspides is operating with resources that are now insufficient to cope with the pressure in the area. At Bab el-Mandeb, the letter states, there are currently only “one Italian FREMM and one Greek frigate” present. Requests for the escort of merchant ships can therefore only be partially met, resulting in long delays and “immediate damaging effects” on European trade.

Hence the call for “immediate and additional contributions” from other EU countries to be secured without delay. But Crosetto also sets out Plan B in black and white: if the other states continue to fail to provide what he describes as “the expected and necessary response”, Italy is ready “to shoulder a further burden” and to deploy additional assets to the area.

With one specific condition: if Rome were to shoulder greater operational and logistical burdens, as well as greater risks, on its own to guarantee a route that Crosetto describes as ‘vital for the WHOLE of Europe’, the cost must be shared by all Member States. Hence the call to strengthen Aspides comes first; if Europe fails to act, Italy is prepared to do more, but will ask Europe to at least share the bill.