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Treaty of Osimo
The Treaty of Osimo was signed on November 10, 1975 in the splendid room of the Arms in the castle Leopardi Dittajuti in Osimo (near Ancona, Italy) by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Italy, definitely dividing the Free Territory of Trieste. The treaty was written in French and became effective on October 11, 1977. Following World War II the city of Trieste and surrounding territory was administered by the British and Americans as the "Free Territory of Trieste. The London Memorandum of 1954 placed Zone A under Italian administration and Zone B under Yugoslav civil administration, divided between the republics of Slovenia and Croatia. The treaty of Osimo was based on the "Memorandum of Understanding" that was signed in London on October 5, 1954, which gave a provisional civil administration of Zone A to Italy, and Zone B to Yugoslavia. The Treaty of Osimo merely made this situation definite. Zone A, including the city of Trieste, became the Italian Province of Trieste, but Yugoslavia was be granted free access to the port of Trieste. Thus, Italy gave up all claims to coastal lands south of Trieste. The treaty was signed by Eugenio Carbone for Italy and the Yugoslavian minister of foreign affairs Miloš Minić. Criticism in ItalyThe Italian government was criticized harshly for signing the treaty. Italian nationalists rejected the idea of giving up Istria, which had long had a largely Italian population and had belonged to Italy for the 25 years between World War I and the end of World War II. Furthermore, the treaty did not guarantee the protection of the Italian minority in the Yugoslav zone - while it also did not do this for the Slovenian minority in the Italian zone. The question of protection of minorities was postponed for later discussions. This delicate situation led to the treaty not being signed as usual by the minister for foreign affairs. Instead, Eugenio Carbonee Slovenia's and Croatia's independenceSlovenia declared its independence in 1991 and was recognized internationally in 1992. Though the treaty's applicability was now in question, Slovenia then released a declaration, saying it would recognize the treaty. Solving this question had been made a pre-condition for Slovenian entry into the European Union. No such declaration was made by the Croatian government. However, Italy did not find this as important. The treaty was never questioned by Croatia and considers it a valid treaty. Note: The main body of the above text is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia.Sources: |
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This page compliments of Marisa Ciceran Created: Wednesday,
May 23, 2007; Updated
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
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