May 2, 200521 yr From DefenseNews Italy Finds Fremm Funds By TOM KINGTON, ROME Italy’s Cabinet agreed April 29 to allocate long-awaited funds to launch construction of 10 multimission frigates for the Italian Navy. The Ministry of Industry will provide around 400 million euros ($515.9 million) to kick-start the program with France, which is building 17 of the so-called Fremm frigates. Rome’s Ministry of Defense will then continue paying for the Italian frigates, which will cost around 350 million euros each. Sen. Giovanni Lorenzo Forcieri said the decision confirmed funding for the first tranche of six Italian frigates. The cabinet decision followed pressure from politicians such as Forcieri and unionists, who feared that if no money was found, agreements to sign final joint contracts with France this year would be breached. France has already budgeted its costs on the program, while no funds were inserted in Italy’s 2005 defense budget.
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