The new Italian government headed by third-time prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has started off it's five year term in office with a bang, laying out a program of harsh new measures against illegal immigrants and announcing a decision to co-opt the Italian army in renewed attempts to find a solution to the ongoing trash emergency in Naples and the surrounding Campania region. "The state must return to being the state", Berlusconi said in a forceful speech Wednesday at a news conference following the first cabinet meeting of his government which, as promised during his election campaign, was held in downtown Naples.
The Naples debacle has tarnished Italy's image and threatened that area's traditionally vibrant tourism. It is a situation that has been building for at least 15 years, largely ignored by both right wing and leftwing governments, including those headed by Berlusconi in the past. Now the 71-year old politician and media magnate is attempting to turn it around, he said, by dealing with the situations exactly as he would if there had been an earthquake or another national calamity.
The Berlusconi plan means bringing in the army to guard landfill and incinerator sites against protesters, threatening the latter with jail terms and speeding up procedures for the construction of the thermocycling plants that exist in the north of Italy and throughout Europe. These recycle solid wastes and also produce low cost energy. But it is unclear if he will succeed. It is hard to imagine the army firing on the region's not-in-my-backyard protesters. To deal with the ongoing influx of illegal immigrants, at the moment primarily from Africa but also from Asia and from parts of Eastern Europe, the new government has decide to punish foreigners living in Italy illegally with jail terms as well as with swifter expulsion. Italians have become increasingly concerned about an increase in crime by illegal foreigners, particularly Rumanians and Rumanian gypsies, and the new government is seeking its electorate by adopting more draconian measures that may affect other Europeans as well, requiring them to show they have the means to support themselves. Detention of immigrants without documents, - the Italians call them "clandestini" - will now be possible for up to 18 months, compared to the present 60-day term. And a DNA bank will be set up to make sure that when legal immigrants seek to bring family members in to join them, the applicants are indeed relatives. Italians who rent illegally to clandestine will also be punished. The measures were criticized by immigrant groups and opposition politicians. It is also not clear how practical they are since Italy's jails are already overflowing. It is likely that the Italian government is trying to send a message abroad so that would-be immigrants realize that the sweeping amnesties that took place regularly here are now - they say - a thing of the past. |
