The Quirinale and the Gulf War of 1990-1991: Francesco Cossiga, Article 11 of the Constitution and the Prerogatives of the President of the Republic

Abstract

This essay examines the attitude of the president of the Republic, Francesco Cossiga, regarding article 11 of the Italian Constitution during the Gulf crisis of 1990-1991. Cossiga saw the provisions of article 11 as the fundamental legal parameter to evaluate every military Italian involvement in the Gulf and he inspired the political and military choices of the Andreotti's Government to this parameter. From the beginning of the crisis, the Italian Government sent a naval military mission to the Gulf to take part in the enforcement of economic sanctions against Iraq deliberated by the United Nations Security Council. Cossiga opposed sending ground-based forces to Saudi Arabia, because it was incompatible with article 11; he then suggested the dispatch of a unit of Tornado aircrafts with the only purpose of supporting the naval contingent. Cossiga also did not consider lawful the use of Italian forces to cooperate in the US military operations within the framework of the Atlantic Alliance. In the views of Cossiga and Andreotti, every economic sanction or military operation had to be deliberated and enforced within the UN's legal system, which constituted one of the rare exceptions to the repudiation of war prescribed by the Constitution.