A handshake to the firefighters on their return from the special mission in Turkey devastated by the earthquake and a caress to Nikita, the female labrador who worked in the rubble. A day of meetings and official appointments at the Viminale for Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, who has reduced his lunch break, as is his habit, to a small white pizza consumed on his desk. Gray suit, white shirt and blue tie with white motifs, he agrees to speak to the «Giornale» about the immigration bomb and the anarchist threat.
Minister Piantedosi, never so many landings of immigrants as in the first weeks of 2023: over 13 thousand. Boats arrive every day in Sicily, Calabria, Lazio, Sardinia, Abruzzo. Is Italy under attack?
«Italy is at the center of the Mediterranean. For those who want to arrive in Europe from Africa we represent the first landing point. Historically, due to this geographical position, we suffer the consequences of the political, economic and social crises that the countries of the African continent experience cyclically.
Faced with acute phases of such crises, such as the one we are experiencing these days, we can above all counteract our traditional organization to mitigate the impact on public order. This is what we are doing, but it is clear that it is necessary for other measures that we are adopting to block departures to be fully effective”.
The government has announced a hard line on the landings of illegal immigrants, its restrictive decrees are contested for their harshness by NGOs and the radical left, yet the emergency is growing. Is there something not working?
«Since taking office, the government has made the fight against irregular immigration one of its priorities. The first tangible result is that, after years of underestimating the migratory phenomenon, it has returned to the center of critical discussion of the EU.
This happened thanks, above all, to President Meloni. Colleague Tajani of Foreign Affairs, in some cases with myself, has launched important and too long neglected initiatives to connect with countries, especially African countries of origin and transit of migratory flows, to contribute to and support their maintenance and social and economic. This in order to overcome as soon as possible the causes and motivations that push people to leave, even putting their own lives at risk, in the mirage of a future in Europe that too often proves to be illusory. It is an ambitious program that involves long-term actions that cannot be judged after only 4 months of commitment by this government, which has also begun to glimpse some tangible results on this front. Also thanks to our cooperation, albeit in a context of numerous arrivals, the Tunisian and Libyan authorities, from 1 November to today, have averted the arrival, respectively, of almost 13,000 and over 9,000 migrants.
This is an important result because they are numbers that would have added to that of the people who managed to escape the controls arriving on our shores”.
There are reports of possible infiltration of Islamic extremists among migrants. Have the latest waves triggered the alarm?
«The possibility that people with criminal or terrorist intentions can also arrive in Italy and Europe with boats is a long-standing discussion. But we must not be alarmed. The forces of order have on numerous occasions demonstrated their ability to identify people “at risk” upon entry into the national territory, subjecting them to the consequences of the law. The terrorist danger is an old story, which has often been the subject of distorted discussions: if the identification of dangerous subjects can only take place after disembarkation, the impossibility of controlling departures always makes this risk possible. And one of the reasons why uncontrolled crossings must be opposed in all possible directions. Basically, security in our cities also passes through a regulation of entrances and there can be no emotional approach or suggestion that can overcome this consideration”.
Now the gravity of the numbers imposes drastic remedies to contain the phenomenon. What can the government do more specifically right now?
«The government can and must remain firm in combating, in many directions, the phenomenon of irregular and uncontrolled immigration. And it will continue to do so. It may seem like an obvious answer, but it is not: there are many declarations which limit themselves to pointing out the drama of journeys of hope by underestimating everything that follows the moment of disembarkation and in particular the reflections of degradation, marginalization and unease which manifest themselves in our cities.
As I have already said, I am sure the firm will to govern migratory flows will produce its effects as soon as possible. I find the claim to judge us after only 4 months of work superficial and sometimes even a little exploitative».
In the whole great geopolitical game of migrants, are there subjects who hold back or break their word?
«If the question underlies the lack of attention that there has been in Europe on the specificity of the problem of a country like Italy which experiences the geographical condition of being the main maritime border, my answer can only reiterate my previous considerations: the Meloni government has among its merits that of having changed the narrative and consideration of this problem. It is evident that the facts and the results will arrive as soon as possible.
In America, the Biden administration has cracked down on the granting of visas to asylum seekers for those who will cross the border without a prior online request. Is this a model that can be exported to Italy?
«The announcement of such initiatives by a country like the United States of America confirms that the problem of the distorted and instrumental use of refugee status and international protection is a global problem. The transposition into our legal system of such a measure, which I believe worthy of further study, must necessarily pass through the revision of the framework of European rules that govern the matter in our continent: the so-called common asylum system imposed by the Dublin regulation”.
What do you reply to those who criticize the system of detention in the prisons of citizens awaiting expulsion in some television investigations?
«I think it’s the usual squint of those who, on the one hand, judge negatively the difficulty of repatriating irregular foreigners and, on the other, invoke different solutions without proposing anything really constructive. In any case, I would like to point out that the detention in these centers takes place for reasons largely self-induced by the interested parties themselves: irregular entry and refusal to collaborate for their complete identification.
It would be enough for the detainees to collaborate with the police forces by showing their documents and being identified, or by adhering to assisted voluntary repatriation proposals, to interrupt their stay in the centers in a very short time. In any case, in the cpr, due to regulatory provisions and organizational choices, those who add to the condition of irregularity also prerequisites of danger linked to the previous commission of the crime are mainly detained”.
Tomorrow it will be decided on maintaining the 41bis to the anarchist Cospito. How would you welcome a possible revocation?
«With the utmost respect for any decision that will be taken by those responsible. In a complete democracy, administrative and judicial decisions are contested and appealed in the competent offices, not in the squares or by threatening the institutions”.
Are anarchist threats a communicative strategy to put pressure on the judiciary or are they the tip of the iceberg of a dangerous subversive return season?
“Definitely the first. As for the second, Italy has already demonstrated over the years that it is a country equipped to defend citizens and republican institutions».