Italy: a decree against raves, or more?
The government of Giorgia Meloni has passed a restrictive ordinance in response to an illegal rave party near Modena. Participants at gatherings with more than 50 attendees could face up to six years in prison for invading other people's property or buildings or endangering public order or public health. The press sees the decree as a bad omen.
Paving the way for surveillance
The authorities are being given the power to use repression at will, fears La Stampa:
“This is a legal provision aimed at surveillance, tracking, preventive repression, deterrence and punishment of anyone who assembles in public or private (private!) places and endangers 'public order, security or health'. That means anyone at any time. Any student gathering or activity, picketing at factories or at workplaces. ... But also private parties: even a stag party at a friend's house if, for example, a neighbour sees it as a risk to people's health (his own? the guests'?) or to public order and safety, whatever that may be. Who sets the criteria for what constitutes a danger?”
This must be fixed
Parliament, which has until the end of the year to turn the decree into law, will have to improve the wording of the decree, writes legal expert Giovanni Bianconi in Corriere della Sera:
“Forty-eight hours after its adoption by the Council of Ministers, the anti-rave decree presented by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi has at least two critical points on which even representatives of the governing coalition are calling for intervention: The excessive vagueness of the provision in defining 'arbitrary invasion of another person's land or buildings, public or private' and the possibility of wiretapping in the search for alleged perpetrators of the offence.”
Further harsh measures to come
Meloni is looking for policy areas where she can implement her own extreme views; the Salzburger Nachrichten suspects:
“The prime minister is aware of her country's limited room for manoeuvre. The energy crisis, inflation and recession prevent Meloni from pursuing extravagant policies. But all this doesn't mean that Italy will remain a reliable partner in other policy areas, for example, migration and security policy. The excessively harsh decree against rave parties is an indication that numerous severe decisions are yet to come. And the blockade of rescue vessels in the Mediterranean is not just a problem for the detained migrants but, above all, for the partners in the European Union.”