Italy: controversial security decree approved
The parliament in Rome on Wednesday passed a new security and immigration decree with a vote of confidence. It comprises tougher regulations for migrants and is intended to boost security in cities. Italian journalists, however, doubt that it will fulfil this purpose.
Little to do with security
Italy's interior minister is pursuing a strategy of concealment, Massimo Giannini, La Repubblica's domestic affairs expert, observes:
“The minister of fear has done it. Another step on the path leading to the civil and moral downfall of this country has been taken. ... Matteo Salvini can finally express his 'immense satisfaction': the decree that bears his name is in place. It attained its validity through a vote of confidence that effectively also diverts public attention from the dishonourable 'strategic withdrawal' which the government is forced to make on its budget manoeuvre. With semantic subtlety the interior minister is presenting the measure as something that it isn't: as a law passed 'for security reasons', when in reality it is conceived as a measure 'against migrants'.”
The most racist law in a long time
A more fitting title for the law would be 'theinsecurity decree', Il Manifesto writes:
“We're used to the equation 'immigration equals public security problem'. An approach that is exemplified by this decree which Salvini has championed, making it the most racist law in the past 15 years. The automatic expulsion of those who have no residence permit was already stipulated in the previous legislation, the Bossi-Fini law. Under this legislation workers had to leave Italy once their contract ended. The reception centres are also nothing new. ... In a nutshell, the security decree contains nothing but rehashed principles that are only worse in this new form. Experience has taught us that all such instruments do is cause unease among migrants and a growing sense of insecurity among the general population.”