Unrest in Italy with Casademont Zaragoza for sponsorship of ‘The Mafia sits at the Table’
The Italian Ambassador in Madrid, Giuseppe Buccino Grimald i, has published a very harsh Open Letter in which he expresses the discomfort of the Italian Government and his own with Casademont Zaragoza, a team from the ACB League, over the collaboration agreement that The Maño club signed on February 23 with the restaurant company ‘La Mafia sits at the Table’.
Italy reproaches Casademont Zaragoza for having signed this sponsorship, explaining that the mafia “represents a criminal phenomenon. Numerous efforts and considerable resources are dedicated to the fight against it, not only by the Italian Government, but also at the level of the European Union “, organized crime being a serious threat to security, the legal economy and coexistence.”
The mafia represents a criminal phenomenon. Numerous efforts and considerable resources are dedicated to the fight against it, not only by the Italian Government, but also at the level of the European Union, with organized crime being a serious threat to security. Italy’s indignation is total with this agreement and with the restoration brand itself, and it justifies it emphatically: “The Court of the European Union has addressed the issue of the registration of “The Mafia sits at the Table” and both organizations have highlighted how this mark is contrary to public order and offensive, not only for the victims of this criminal organization and their families, but also for any person who, in the territory of the Union, is faced with said mark and has average thresholds of sensitivity and tolerance
Open Letter from the Italian Ambassador in Madrid:
Mr. Don Reynaldo Benito, president of Caademont Zaragoza:
I would like to address you, in your capacity as President of the Casademont Zaragoza club, with this public letter following a statement that was published in February 2023 on the team’s official website and in which it refers to a collaboration agreement and sponsorship with ‘The Mafia sits at the Table’. In this text, which I attach, we read that we would be facing “an Italian-Mediterranean restaurant brand” and a group that has become “a benchmark and faithful importer of Italian gastronomy in Spain, guaranteeing quality raw materials and a menu with authentic Italian flavor. The company also appears with its logo among the club’s “collaborators.”
Allow me to convey to you, as the Italian Ambassador recently arrived in Spain, that the news of the collaboration between an important Spanish basketball team and this chain has disturbed me and, in this regard, I would like to share some reflections, to a large extent extracted from the sentence issued by the General Court of the European Union, which I obviously subscribe to and which also reflect the opinions of many Italians who live and work in Spain.
First of all, the Mafia represents a criminal phenomenon. Numerous efforts and considerable resources are dedicated to the fight against it, not only by the Italian Government, but also at the level of the European Union, with organized crime being a serious threat to security, the legal economy and coexistence.
In this context, associating the Mafia with concepts of cordiality and relaxation, based on the fact that the Mafia would “sit at the table” to share a meal, contributes to the trivialization of the illicit activities and misdeeds committed by said organization, that go against – I want to emphasize – the fundamental values of the European Union, such as respect for human dignity and freedom. In this sense, the image of the Mafia that sits at the table is also detrimental to the culture of the Mediterranean diet, shared by Spain and Italy, which makes food an important moment of social exchange and growth of the person.
Both the EUIPO, based in Alicante, and the Court of the European Union have addressed the issue of the registration of “The Mafia sits at the Table” and both organizations have highlighted how this trademark is contrary to public order and offensive, not only for the victims of this criminal organization and their families, but also for any person who, in the territory of the Union, is faced with said mark and has average thresholds of sensitivity and tolerance. This brand and its association with sport, as if it were something normal, are then something that does not go unnoticed and that causes a feeling of discomfort in any Italian, even if they are in a country as loved and close as Spain, and that affects many more people regardless of their nationality.
Giuseppe Buccino Grimaldi (Ambassador of Italy in Madrid)