«I hope that the repetition of decisions such as that of the Court of Rome, which in recent days did not validate the detention of migrants within the CPR in Albania, does not happen. In the hope of the Keeper of the Seals Carlo Nordio there is the rationale with which the government has launched a law decree to include the list of safe countries no longer in an interministerial decree but in a primary law, which «the judge cannot disapply: if he deems it unconstitutional he can resort to the Consult.” Nigeria, Cameroon and Colombia were eliminated from the list of 22 countries, updated in May. While awaiting approval by the Quirinale on the provision, the executive’s objective will be put to the test in the coming weeks. Whose strategy he clarified Giorgia Meloni, it remains to “defend the borders” and “re-establish a fundamental principle: you can only enter Italy legally, following the established rules and procedures”.
The prime minister’s clarification comes as a comment on an operation that targeted human trafficking in Calabria. Other arguments were expected in the press conference on the manoeuvre, already scheduled for the day marking the two-year anniversary of the government’s oath and canceled the day before. Inevitably the theme of access would have emerged in the questions clash between the government and the judiciary, which has flared up in recent days following the decisions of the Court of Rome which have effectively emptied the CPR which had just opened in Albania. “Politicised magistrates who want to be in opposition” is the majority’s line. «As long as we have the support of the citizens – said Meloni in a morning tweet -, we will continue to work with determination, with our heads held high, to implement our program and help Italy grow, become strong, credible and respected. We owe it to the Italians, to those who chose us and to those who, despite not having voted for us, hope that we do our job well. At work, without stopping, without fear.”
The day between Palazzo Chigi, the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Justice took place to define in the utmost confidentiality the rules of the provision (in the end it was decided to exclude those on appeals), announced last Friday by the Prime Minister: the “solution”, the term used , to prevent verdicts such as those of the Court of Rome from “preventing any migration policy to defend the borders”. According to the provisions of the Court of Rome, “the repatriation mechanism simply no longer exists and we should account at European level for why we do not protect our borders”, observes Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano at the end of a decidedly intense day.
Unlike usual, the Council of Ministers was not preceded by the agenda nor by a real pre-Cdm. The approval was rather quick. The list of safe countries “becomes a primary norm and allows judges to have a parameter with respect to a vague interpretation”, summarizes the Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, it is certain that the new rule serves to «settle an age-old issue: it serves to seek an acceleration of the procedure, to ensure that the use of the request for protection is not largely exploited to evade the expulsion system». Nordio, for his part, is convinced that the ruling of the European Court of Justice cited by the Rome rulings, “very complex and detailed and also written in French, was probably not well understood or well read” by the judges.
Meanwhile, migrant transport operations in Albania will proceed and Piantedosi rejects the criticisms on costs, also raised by the opposition, with the M5s having presented a complaint to the Court of Auditors. «But how much does it cost us – he observes – to distribute migrants every day from Lampedusa to Pozzallo or Porto Empedocle? And how much does the reception system cost us? The Interior Ministry spends 1.7 billion euros every year to provide assistance to people who in 60-70% of cases are destined to have their asylum application rejected.”