The Treaty of Osimo was signed on 10 November 1975 by
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
and
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
in
Osimo
Osimo is a town and ''comune'' of the Marche Regions of Italy, region of Italy, in the province of Ancona. The municipality covers a hilly area located approximately south of the port city of Ancona and the Adriatic Sea. , Osimo had a total pop ...
, Italy, to definitively divide the
Free Territory of Trieste
The Free Territory of Trieste was an independent territory in Southern Europe between northern Italy and SFR Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia, facing the north part of the Adriatic Sea, under United Nations Security Council Resolution 16, direct responsib ...
between the two states: the port city of Trieste with a narrow coastal strip to the north-west (Zone A) was given to Italy; a portion of the north-western part of the Istrian peninsula (Zone B) was given to Yugoslavia.
The full name of the treaty is Treaty on the delimitation of the frontier for the part not indicated as such in the
Peace Treaty of 10 February 1947. The treaty was written in
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and became effective on 11 October 1977. For the
Italian government
The government of Italy is in the form of a democratic republic, and was established by a constitution in 1948. It consists of legislative, executive, and judicial subdivisions, as well as a Head of State, or President.
The Italian Constitu ...
, the treaty was signed by
Mariano Rumor
Mariano Rumor (; 16 June 1915 – 22 January 1990) was an Italian politician and statesman. A member of the Christian Democracy (DC), he served as the 39th Prime Minister of Italy from December 1968 to August 1970 and again from July 1973 to No ...
,
Minister for Foreign Affairs
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between countr ...
. For Yugoslavia, the treaty was signed by
Miloš Minić, the
Federal Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
Criticism in Italy
The Italian government was criticized harshly for signing the treaty, particularly for the secretive way in which negotiations were carried out, skipping the traditional diplomatic channels. Italian nationalists rejected the idea of giving up
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian and Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian, Italian and Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic betwee ...
, since Istria had been an ancient "Italian" region together with the Venetian region (''
Venetia et Histria
Venetia et Histria (Latin: ''Regio X Venetia et Histria'') was an administrative subdivision in the northeast of Roman Italy. It was originally created by Augustus as the tenth ''regio'' in 7 AD alongside the nine other ''regiones''. The region h ...
'').
Italian nationalists state that the antique Italian eastern borderline lies in Istria and is defined as the river
Arsia (today
Raša). Furthermore, Istria had belonged to Italy for the 25 (1919–1943) years between
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
and the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, and the west coast of Istria had long had a sizeable Italian minority population.
Some called for the prosecution of the then Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the crime of
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
, as stated in Article 241 of the Italian Criminal Code, which mandates a life sentence for anybody found guilty of aiding and abetting a foreign power to exert its sovereignty on the national territory. The treaty did not guarantee the protection of the
Italian minority in the Yugoslav zone nor for the
Slovenian minority in the Italian zone. The question of the protection of minorities was to be dealt with later via the signing of separate protocols.
Slovenian and Croatian independence
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...
declared its independence in 1991 and was recognized internationally in 1992. Italy quickly recognised Slovenian independence and accepted the accession of the new Slovenia to treaties concluded with Yugoslavia.
The treaty's applicability was now in question, but Slovenia then released a declaration on 31 July 1992 saying that it would recognize the treaty.
Both it and Croatia have opposed any changes to the treaty. Slovenia claimed that all debts owing to Italy for property transferred to Yugoslav sovereignty after 1947 had now been paid. By 1993, however, 35,000 Italians still claimed that money was owed to them.
In 1994, the Italian government, led by
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...
, demanded that adequate compensation be paid, or efforts to integrate Slovenia into Western Europe would be halted. To that effect, it blocked talks for Slovenia's accession to the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...
until March 1995, when the new government, under
Lamberto Dini
Lamberto Dini CGMG (born 1 March 1931) is an Italian politician and economist. He was the Director General of Bank of Italy from 1979 to 1994, Minister of Treasury from 1994 to 1996, the 51st Prime Minister of Italy from 1995 to 1996, and For ...
, retracted the Italian demand. A cooperative pact was signed (led by
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
), with the effect of allowing Italian nationals who had resided in Slovenia for three years to purchase property there for up to four years after the pact was signed. It came into force during Slovenia's attempts to join the EU.
No similar declaration was made by the Croatia government, but the Parliament of Croatia on 25 June 1991 accepted the borders of Croatia as part of Yugoslavia.
However, Italy did not insist on a declaration from Croatia, and the treaty was never questioned by Croatia, which considers it to be a valid treaty.
References
External links
The full text of the Treaty United Nations Treaty Series Vol. 1466, 1-24848
*
{{Authority control
1975 in Italy
1975 in Yugoslavia
Osimo
Osimo is a town and ''comune'' of the Marche Regions of Italy, region of Italy, in the province of Ancona. The municipality covers a hilly area located approximately south of the port city of Ancona and the Adriatic Sea. , Osimo had a total pop ...
Italy–Slovenia border
Borders of Yugoslavia
Treaties concluded in 1975
Treaties entered into force in 1977
Osimo
Osimo is a town and ''comune'' of the Marche Regions of Italy, region of Italy, in the province of Ancona. The municipality covers a hilly area located approximately south of the port city of Ancona and the Adriatic Sea. , Osimo had a total pop ...
Osimo
Osimo is a town and ''comune'' of the Marche Regions of Italy, region of Italy, in the province of Ancona. The municipality covers a hilly area located approximately south of the port city of Ancona and the Adriatic Sea. , Osimo had a total pop ...
Free Territory of Trieste
Osimo
November 1975 events in Europe
Italy–Yugoslavia relations