As reported by the website of the Italian Ministry of Justice, a bilateral meeting took place on the 27th of November between Mr. Carlo Nordio, the Italian Minister of Justice, and Mr. Marco Buschmann, his German counterpart.
The meeting focused on two main points, namely the cooperation in support of the international investigations over war crimes in Ukraine and the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”). On this second issue, the press release of the Italian Ministry of Justice states that “the two ministers agreed on the need to continue working for the prompt solution of the last pending procedural issues before the system comes into effect. Minister Nordio also reiterated to his German colleague the extreme relevance for the Italian Republic of the establishment of the third seat of the central division of the Unified Patent Court in Milan, together with Paris and Munich”. The press release goes on noting that “the Treaty establishing the UPC, which has already been ratified by the Italian Parliament, provides for the start-up of the system with three seats for the Central Division”. The press release, in Italian, is available here.
This meeting takes place after the meeting Mr. Nordio had last week in Paris with the French Minister of Justice, Mr. Éric Dupond-Moretti. During this meeting, Mr. Nordio reiterated “the significance for Italy of the timely establishment in Milan of the third seat of the central division of the UPC, alongside Paris and Munich”. Both Mr. Nordio and Mr. Dupond-Moretti “agreed on the need for continuing to work toward the entry into force of the UPC”. The press release concerning the Paris meeting, again in Italian, is available here.
These meetings signal that the location of the third seat of the central division of the UPC continues to be a priority for the Italian government, even after the new government led by Mrs. Meloni has replaced the government led by Mr. Draghi, who had apparently secured a political agreement toward a relocation of the third seat to Milan, seen as one of the reasons prompting the Dutch government to drop its UPC bid (see here). The reference by Mr. Nordio to the contents of the UPCA as ratified by Italy is possibly an indication of one of the arguments the Italian government is relying on to object to temporary solutions implying a split of the cases of the third seat between Paris and Munich.