Italian Member of Parliament Marco Grimaldi said the European Union’s designation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as a terrorist organisation was a mistake, as Tamils in Italy marked the 50th anniversary of the Vaddukoddai Resolution this month.
Speaking at a commemorative event in Genoa on 7 June 2026, Grimaldi said that during his university years in 2008 and 2009, the LTTE had been presented to him as extremist armed militants rather than as the national liberation movement of a people.
According to organisers, he said it was only after 2010 that he gained a clearer understanding of the LTTE, and that following the event in Genoa he had obtained even greater clarity on the matter.
Grimaldi also stated that the same countries now at the forefront of carrying out genocides around the world had provided technological and military assistance for the genocide of the Tamil people.
He added that as long as a nation possesses its identity, language and culture, that nation cannot be destroyed.
Concluding his remarks, Grimaldi requested that he be given the Tamil Eelam national flag. The flag was then presented to him by the organisers.
The event was held at a multicultural events hall in Genoa with the support of the organisation Amaithikkana Isai, or Music for Peace, organised by the Tamil Coordinating Committee.
Organisers declared 2026 as a year to strengthen the legacy of the Vaddukoddai Resolution, which affirmed the demand for an independent Tamil Eelam as the permanent political solution to safeguard the Tamil homeland and the existence of the Tamil nation.
The programme began with cultural performances, followed by a moment of remembrance and a seminar on the political history and continuing relevance of the mandate for Tamil Eelam.
Representatives from the Italy Tamil Coordinating Committee, Italy Tamil Association, Italy Eelam Tamil People’s Assembly, Italy Tamil Youth Organisation, Italy Women’s Organisation and Italy Thileepan Thamil Cholai took part, alongside members of the Italian and Eelam Tamil communities.
Among the special guests were Grimaldi and Genoa City Council’s representative for foreign affairs, Simohamed “Simo” Kaabour.
During the seminar, Tamil youth delivered presentations on the Vaddukoddai Resolution, the Tamil Eelam mandate and the history of the Eelam Tamil people.
The presentations also addressed the Tamil armed struggle, structural genocide by successive Sri Lankan governments, the current governing structures of the Tamil national movement and the deaths and disappearance of 146,679 people at Mullivaikkal, as well as ongoing allegations of genocide.
The Vaddukoddai Resolution, adopted by the Tamil United Liberation Front in 1976 under the leadership of S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, remains a landmark in Tamil political history. It declared that a free, sovereign, secular and socialist state of Tamil Eelam had become inevitable to safeguard the existence of the Tamil nation.
The demand was later given a democratic mandate by the Tamil people at the 1977 parliamentary elections, when the Tamil United Liberation Front won overwhelmingly across the Tamil homeland on a platform calling for Tamil Eelam.
Earlier this year, Tamils across the diaspora marked the 50th anniversary of the resolution, including at a Westminster event where British Tamil speakers reaffirmed the continuing relevance of the mandate and the right to self-determination.
At the Genoa event, Kaabour said it was encouraging to see members of the second and third generations of Tamils speaking about the suffering and history of their people.
He said much of the credit and responsibility for this belonged to those who had raised them. He also encouraged Tamil youth to continue advancing the liberation struggle with clarity and determination.
The event concluded with participants reaffirming their belief that an independent Tamil Eelam remained the only permanent solution to the national question on the island.
For organisers, the commemoration in Genoa was part of a wider effort to preserve the political legacy of the Vaddukoddai Resolution, strengthen Tamil national consciousness among younger generations and reaffirm the demand for Tamil Eelam before European political representatives.
