Italian Migrant Policy Changes

The right-wing Italian Government recently declared a national migrant emergency because of a recent increase in migrants coming to Italy, usually intent on going on to other European Union States. Migrants are coming from Africa and Asia. The opposition criticized the declaration’s implication that migrants, including refugees seeking asylum, are an “emergency.” Several Regions exercised their prerorgatives to reject national the appropriation of funds for the national commissioner for the territories. The influential Catholic Bishops’ Conference observed that the increase in migrants was not an “emergency,” to which the Government agreed, citing only the technical matter of Lampedusa, the island off Sicily where the migrant acceptance facility is not large enough to handle an increase in the flow. The Government, which enacted through Parliament its proposals for some minor measures against migrants and refugees seeking asylum, also enacted an increase in legal immigration, which is necessary because of population decline and a labor shortage, which would thereby discourage illegal entry. The United Nations meanwhile warned Italy against its policy of making it more difficult for non-governmental organizations’ ships rescuing migrants to land with restrictive regulations that risk lives. The European Union, of which Italy is a member, also opposes the restrictions. Italy has been pleading for EU support for the costly rescues and migrant processing, while working with Tunisia and other States where migrants embark and targeting human smugglers. One of the main parties in the ruling coalition, the League, is a Trumpist anti-migrant party.