Immigrants as if they were an earthquake. With a decree, the government declared a state of emergency throughout the national territory in the last few hours to deal with the issue of immigration.
The decision, which is bad news for migrantswas approved at a meeting of the Council of Ministers after more than 3,000 people arrived in precarious boats on the Italian coast in the last three days.
Although migration policy has always been in the sights of the government led by Giorgia Meloni and formed part of the electoral platform of her campaign, now, after the increase in the flow of people from North Africa through the routes of the Mediterranean Sea, the government it gains more power through the state of national emergency, which enables certain exceptional procedures, including increasing the structures available for the repatriation of migrants who do not have the right to stay in Italy.
State of emergency
The implemented measure has a duration of six months and will allow the executive to face an “invasion”, how the government itself describes the increase in the flow of migrants arriving by water in southern Italy.
“We have decided on a state of exception in immigration matters to give more effective and timely responses to the management of flows”, explained Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The emergency also allows the release of funds with the authorization of 5 million euros to more quickly manage the issues that have arisen with the multiplication of arrivals and speed up the processes of identification and expulsion of migrants, given that since the beginning of 2023 there are 31,200 migrants, registering +300% compared to last year, filling all the reception centers currently present in the country.
Warning to Brussels
The consequences of the measure promoted by Meloni also aims to firmly warn the European Parliament based in Brussels and the rest of the community partners on the issue that “Italy cannot be the recipient of the whole of Europe of the migratory wave that enters through the Mediterranean Sea, which has seen its number grow in recent days” warn spokesmen for the national Executive.
like an earthquake
The declaration throughout the national territory contemplates the “emergency” with extraordinary means and powers, from humanitarian crises to natural events such as earthquakes or floods.
This is an administrative act regulated by the Civil Protection Code, given the continuous flow that transports people in critical situations from North Africa to Italy.
The precedent of 2011 during the Berlusconi government
At this moment in Italy about twenty measures of this type are in force, from the emergency of refugees in Ukraine to several cases of floods, often decided even after the request of the president of a Region or an Autonomous Province in question . The only precedent in terms of migrants dates from 2011 with the government of Silvio Berlusconi and provided for a plan for the equitable distribution of refugees from North Africa in the different regions, although at that time the law provided for different rules.
Source: Ambito
