Italy tightens rules on migration. The project also expands the list of convictions for which a foreigner can be deported
Giorgia Meloni Photo: Marco Iacobucci/SOPA Images/Shut / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia
The government in Rome proposed on Wednesday a tightening of migration rules, with a draft that would give ministers the power to ban arrivals by sea in “exceptional” circumstances, according to the document seen by AFP.
The draft law approved by the Italian government foresees the possibility of establishing a temporary prohibition “of crossing the territorial waters in cases of serious threat to public order or national security”.
The ban, which should be issued on the recommendation of the Ministry of the Interior, can last up to six months.
The bill also expands the list of convictions for which a foreigner can be expelled from Italy.
If approved by the parliament, the project will also facilitate the relaunch of the “return centers” initiative in Albania. The approach is deadlocked after a series of legal challenges.
The draft approved by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's ministers on Wednesday states that migrants arriving by sea from abroad who are denied access to Italian waters can be taken to countries with which Rome has a detention or repatriation agreement – namely Albania.
Italy – as well as Romania – is among the 19 EU states that requested the European Commission to allocate funds for the creation of migrant return centers outside the bloc, AFP wrote, quoted by Agerpres, on December 17, in the context in which the member countries of the bloc agreed to tighten the migration policy.
Tens of thousands of migrants come by sea every year
One of the promises Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the Brotherhood of Italy party, was elected in 2022 was to stop the tens of thousands of migrants who arrive on Italian shores in small boats every year.
His government has signed agreements with North African countries to limit departures, while restricting the activities of charities that operate lifeboats in the central Mediterranean.
The new law could further hamper the work of non-governmental organizations, which in reality rescue a small percentage of migrants, most of whom are rescued by the Italian authorities.
The project was approved a day after the European Parliament adopted two texts tightening EU migration policy that Italy had pushed for.
“Italy's borders are Europe's borders. Defending them is a duty,” Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said in a post on X Wednesday night.
This year, in Italy, almost 2,000 migrants arrived by sea. The number is down from 4,400 in the same period last year, according to government data.
