It seams like a political trick allowing your soldiers to use this kind of armament if you previously have given up the atomic bomb with a public international treaty.
I would like to say that it was a “double face” strategy: for the public opinion our countries were good because they did not want to use the “terrible” weapon but for the military side we were all ready, full trained and equipped to use it.
Certainly public opinion and military needs do not concur on a regular basis. However the deciding factor in this arrangement simply was maximum deterrence and availability of enough aircraft at the right time to asume the part of the delivery systems. Keep in mind that the US, while having had significiant forces in Western Europe, still would have been forced to transfer more of their forces from CONUS in case of war.
Still these procedures do not form a nuclear capability of its own, so the NPT would be to no effect. In times of peace as well as in times of war every decision upon the use of these nukes would still have been first and foremost with the US government.
The problem is moreover that the people of this host countries were not formally and clearly informed about this policy. Military Secrets? I have strong doubts because it was perfectly clear that if an Army or an Air Force has vectors and armaments (like Tornado or heavy howitzers) suited for nuclear war that country will be ready and inclined to use it.
I cant speak for Italy, but in Germany (FRG) this was not considered a secret. All the basic information about this arrangement was and is available to the public domain. Actually in terms of procedures this wasnt that much different from the hundreds of N-tipped missiles located in West-Germany, where an approval of the german government was necessary as well. Of course such decisions created quite a fuss, especially with the political left and greens but this is only proof to the rather public handling of these questions.
(Please forgive me for my poor English)
No need to worry, at times I have to struggle myself...