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Italy & Romania Meet On Expulsions
Italy and Romania's Prime Ministers will meet tomorrow to smooth relations soured by Italy's expulsion of Romanian citizens.
Following the horrific murder of an Italian woman, Giovanna Reggiani, Italy's authorities pushed through an emergency decree allowing for the immediate expulsion without trial of any immigrants deemed to represent a threat to public safety. A Romanian migrant belonging to the Roma ethnic group has been charged with Mrs Reggiani's murder.
The decree follows several years in which concerns have been voiced about the disproportionate number of crimes committed by immigrants in Italy: A number of high-profile cases have caused particular outcry.
The issue has complicated relations between the two EU nations (Romania joined the Union as a full member this year). While most EU countries (including Italy and Britain) have refused to relax working restrictions on Romanian and Bulgarian citizens, there is no law preventing EU citizens travelling to and settling in another EU nation. Up to half a million are thought to have migrated to Italy. According to EU law, however, ejecting those immigrants once they've arrived can be a tricky business.
The BBC explains that members of other EU countries can live in an EU nation, with two exceptions:
"Firstly, the host country can deport them to their country of origin after 90 days if they do not have a job, sickness insurance or the means to support themselves (and if they have no family member in the host country capable of supporting them). This is to prevent people becoming a burden on the host country's social safety net.
"Secondly, they can be deported if they present a threat to public order, public security or public health.
"They must, however, have an opportunity to appeal, and must be given a month to leave, except in emergencies."
Italy's legislation allows judges to sign an order ordering the immediate expulsion of immigrants the police judge to be a threat. There is no trial, no appeal and no need for police to provide proof of a criminal record.
This would appear to go beyond the EU's regulations. As the Daily Mail reports,
"Previously, EU citizens could be deported to their own countries only if they posed a threat to the state - usually interpreted as a terrorist threat.
"Italy has changed its law to widen the scope enormously so that, potentially, thousands of undesirables could be quickly kicked out."
It seems, though, that the European Commission has waved through Italy's new law.
As the EU Referendum Blog notes, the commissioner responsible for monitoring the law is himself an Italian, which kind of helps:
"It appears that, if you want to drive a coach and horses through EU law, you must fulfil three essential conditions. Firstly, you must be the Italian government, secondly, you act against a friendless, largely penniless group of society – Romanian immigrants – and thirdly, you make sure you have the EU commissioner responsible for the law firmly on your side – i.e., Italian."
Perhaps the Commission will come under pressure from governments and MEPs who are keen to promote Human Rights or who fear calls for a similar law in their own countries. The leader of Britain's Liberal Democrat group in the European Parliament, MEP Graham Watson said that while he understood the reasons behind Italy's decree, he hoped "that a mature and honest debate in the Italian parliament will recognize that the power to expel people simply on suspicion goes too far and could lead to disproportionate outcomes punishing too many innocent people."
Indeed, many on Italy's left are deeply unhappy with the new decree, which they say exploits the emotions which followed Mrs Reggiani's killing. Furthermore, it is clear that the law is being targeted at the Roma ethnic group - Pope Benedict XVI has warned that the authorities must be aware of the rights and duties of immigrants.
The most vocal opposition to the law, however, has come from Romania. Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu has called on the EU to look again at the law, and is flying to meet his Italian counterpart Romano Prodi on Wednesday to discuss its implications. He called a special cabinet meeting to discuss the law todayA special squad of Romanian police is headed to Italy to assist Italian police. Romania's President, Traian Basecu, said "The Romanian state... will not accept the humiliation of hundreds of thousands, or millions, of people.
"We should fight against the wave of xenophobia that is manifesting itself in Italy and we must fight against the bad image that Romanians who are working in Italy have," he added.
So far, around twenty people have been deported. The BBC reports that perhaps 1,000 are at risk of being booted out of the country, though the Romanian President's remarks would suggest he believes that many more are likely to be targeted. His concern was probably provoked by demands by prominent voices on Italy's right who have called for the removal of up to 200,000 Romanians
Gianfranco Fini, of the National Alliance, said that all Roma camps in Italy should be closed down, arguing that they could never adapt to the Italian way of life. Another right winger called for vigilante patrols, the Mail reports, while former PM Silvio Berlusconi says that Italy should close its borders to Romanians.
British commentators have been watching events in Italy closely. Britain has deported around 300 EU citizens for committing crimes, but pressure to emulate Italy's decree will be seen as unwelcome by the government. Immigration minister Liam Byrne has been criticised for failing to enact laws which would allow the deportation of those who commit serious crimes, never mind those the police merely suspect of being ne'er-do-wells.
Supporters of the Italian law could argue that while it is doubtless true that Italy's decree is targeted at one particular group, a British version would not discriminate: There are fewer Roma in Britain, and the only equivalent-sized group, the Poles, are largely hard-working and law-abiding. Others might argue that it is precisely because of the decent nature of Britain's EU migrants that the country does not need a similar emergency law like Italy's.
"If the European Commission has ruled that it is perfectly acceptable to kick out people the police suspect are up to no good, then our Government needs to follow Italy's lead and introduce it here," said one Tory backbencher.
