Thread: ITALY: Berlusconi cabinet approves tough immigration rules

Berlusconi cabinet approves tough immigration rules
Wed 21 May 2008, 14:57 GMT


NAPLES, May 21 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's cabinet approved on Wednesday a package of tough measures against illegal immigration and crime which have raised concern in the European Union that they could foment racism.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the measures, which need approval by parliament where the conservative government has a solid majority, include making it a jailable offence to be an illegal immigrant.
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnRAT003821.html

Berlusconi decamps to Naples for immigration talks
Wed May 21, 2008 3:07pm

By Phil Stewart

NAPLES, Italy, May 21 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi held his first full cabinet meeting in Naples on Wednesday to focus on a stinking garbage crisis there and draw up tough new controls on illegal immigration.

Topping the agenda for Italy's new conservative government is a crackdown on illegal immigrants, especially Roma people portrayed by government right-wingers and much of the media as a criminal problem. Rights groups and Italy's European Union partners warn this will foment racism.

The 71-year-old media billionaire, who secured a third term as premier by beating the centre left in April's election, will also announce tax cuts to help Italians weather an impending recession in the euro zone's third largest economy.

But locals in Naples were looking for urgent solutions to a refuse-collection crisis going back more than a decade that has peaked in recent months, choking the streets, fouling the air, making children ill and scaring away tourists.

Waist-high piles of rubbish sacks have been set on fire by locals fed up with authorities' inability to clear the streets. The problem is complicated further by the involvement of the "Camorra" or local mafia in illegal disposal of toxic waste.

Naples province topped the list of southern Italian areas most affected by organised crime in a study released by the Eurispes research institute on Wednesday.

As ministers gathered in central Naples, architect Raffaele Rusciani sipped coffee nearby and doubted they could provide a miracle cure, beyond the quick clean-up of the city centre in readiness for Wednesday's government guests.

"Our problems can't be fixed from one day to the next. We've been dealing with this garbage for the last 15 years and I don't expect anything to change in any real way soon," he said.

Rosaria Crispina, who runs a shop selling lottery tickets and cigarettes, saw the cabinet meeting as a publicity stunt.

"Coming to Naples was all about appearances," she said.

EUROPEAN WARNINGS

Naples has been the focus of a violent backlash against illegal Roma camps depicted by right-wingers in Berlusconi's new government as dens of criminality. Police evacuated one camp after people set fire to shacks over news reports of an apparent attempted kidnapping of an Italian baby by a Roma girl. A similar case of attempted baby- snatching was reported in Sicily this week, with a young Roma couple arrested.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, from the anti-immigrant Northern League party allied to Berlusconi's People of Freedom, will present the cabinet with measures that could include making illegal immigration a jailable offence, tougher sentences for immigrants who commit crimes and tough new border controls.

A draft seen by Reuters included measures apparently aimed specifically at the Roma such as making it a crime to make children beg, punishable by up to three years in prison.

The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, criticised the planned package -- whose main details have been reported by the press -- saying "arrests should be used against criminals, which immigrants are not".

"I have written to the Italian government. I believe that politicians shouldn't inflame this situation," he said in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais.

A European human rights watchdog expressed concern about discrimination in Italy on Tuesday and European Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said Brussels would scrutinise the new laws, warning against "any type of racism or xenophobia".
http://uk.reuters.com/article/latestCri ... 3520080521

Due to sheer physical geography, political boundaries, etc. Italy has one of the most difficult situations in the EU regarding border security.

They have: Lots of coastline, isolate islands - some are large (eg. Sicily), some are small (eg. Capri, Elba, etc) and they are rather close - in terms of transit time for casual boaters from places like Tunisia, Libya, Algeria - just across the Mediterreanean (sorry about my misspelling... )

So, they have probably THE most difficult situation in Europe in terms of policing and controlling movement in/out of the country. Greece and Spain also have many of these same problems to a similar degree.