Italy: Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered to release IOM’s financial reports for projects financed by the Italian Government in Libya

Date: 
Wednesday, May 13, 2020

On 13 May 2020, the Italian Supreme Administrative Court published its decision following the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ refusal to grant ASGI (Associazione Studi Giuridici Immigrazione) access to the IOM Annual and Financial projects in Libya funded by the Italian government.

In the first instance appeal, the Administrative Regional Tribunal of Lazio upheld the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the basis that the duty of transparency of the Public Administration was not legally applicable in the case.

However, the Supreme Administrative Court found, inter alia, that the Public Administration may refuse to share expense reports only for precise reasons of public interest that the judge can assess in case of appeal. Moreover, the Court held that in the context of international cooperation the principles of efficiency,  transparency, and cost-effectiveness must be respected in the light of legitimate interests of the collective knowledge regarding how public funds are invested.

For these reasons, the Supreme Administrative Court ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to grant ASGI the access to the financial documentation.

Thank you to Francesca Zalambani, Legal Assistant at ECRE, for assisting us with the summary. Based on an unofficial translation by the EWLU team.


This item was reproduced with the permission of ECRE from the ELENA Weekly Legal Update. The purpose of these updates is to inform asylum lawyers and legal organizations supporting asylum seekers and refugees of recent developments in the field of asylum law. Please note that the information provided is taken from publicly available information on the internet. Every reasonable effort is made to make the content accurate and up to date at the time each item is published but no responsibility for its accuracy and correctness, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by ECRE.